A History of the Garden in Fifty Tools Bill Laws

A HISTORY OF THE GARDEN IN FIFTY TOOLS BILL LAWS A green thumb is not the only tool one needs to gar- material. We find out that wheelbarrows originated den well—at least that’s what the makers of garden- in China in the second century BC, and their ba- ing catalogs and the designers of the dizzying aisle sic form has not changed much since. He also de- displays in lawn- and-garden stores would have us scribes how early images of a pruning knife appear believe. Need to plant a bulb, aerate some soil, or in Roman art, in the form of a scythe that could cut keep out a hungry critter? Well, there’s a specific through herbs, vegetables, fruits, and nuts and was tool for almost everything. But this isn’t just a prod- believed to be able to tell the gardener when and uct of today’s consumer era, since the very earliest what to harvest. gardens, people have been developing tools to make Organized into five thematic chapters relating planting and harvesting more efficient and to make to different types of gardens: the flower garden, the flora more beautiful and trees more fruitful. In A kitchen garden, the orchard, the lawn, and orna- History of the Garden in Fifty Tools, Bill Laws offers mental gardens, the book includes a mix of horti- entertaining and colorful anecdotes of implements culture and history, in addition to stories featuring that have shaped our gardening experience since well-known characters—we learn about Henry David the beginning. Thoreau’s favorite hoe, for example. A History of the Gar- As Laws reveals, gardening tools have co- den in Fifty Tools will be a beautiful gift for any home evolved with human society, and the story of these gardener and a reassuring reminder that gardeners fifty individual tools presents an innovative history have always struggled with the same quandaries. of humans and the garden over time. Laws takes us back to the Neolithic age, when the microlith, the first “all-in-one” tool was invented. Consisting of Bill Laws lives in Hereford, England. His other a small sharp stone blade that was set into a han- books include Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of dle made of wood, bone, or antler, it was a small History, Fifty Railroads that Changed the Course of History, spade that could be used to dig, clip, and cut plant and The Field Guide to Fields. 7 x 9, 224 pages, For a review copy or other publicity To place orders in the United Illustrated in color throughout inquiries, please contact: Carrie States or Canada, please contact Olivia Adams, Publicity Manager, your local University of Chicago ISBN-13: 978-0-226-13976-0 University of Chicago Press, Press sales representative or Publication Date: April 2014 1427 East 60th St, Chicago IL contact the University of 60637. Email: cadams@press. Chicago Press by phone at Cloth $25.00 uchicago.edu; Telephone: 1-800-621-2736 or by fax 773-702-4216; Fax: 773-702-9756. at 1-800-621-8476. Contents CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FIVE The Lawn Structures & Accessories Lawn mower .................................................. 112 Potting Shed ................................................... 174 Sickle and Scythe ........................................ 117 Glasshouse ....................................................... 178 Grass and Hedge Shears ......................... 121 Cloche ................................................................ 182 Introduction ...............................6 CHAPTER ONE Daisy Grubber .............................................. 125 Terrarium ......................................................... 186 The Flower Garden Weed Killer ..................................................... 129 Plant Container ............................................ 190 Fertilizer ........................................................... 134 Terracotta Pot ................................................ 195 Fork ......................................................................... 10 Tape Measure................................................. 138 Stoneware Urn .............................................. 200 Bulb Planter ....................................................... 15 Wheelbarrow ................................................. 203 Trowel .................................................................... 19 Patio Brush ...................................................... 207 Hand Pruning Shears .................................. 23 CHAPTER FOUR Sundial ............................................................... 211 Garden Basket .................................................. 28 The Orchard Hose ..................................................................... 214 Soil-Test Kit ....................................................... 32 ................................................................ Watering Can ................................................ 218 Dibber ................................................................... 35 Ladder 144 .............................................. Wellington Boot ............................................. 39 Grafting Knife 147 ................................................... Hat and Gloves ............................................... 43 Pruning Saw 151 ...................................................... Index ................................................................... 222 Garden Catalog ............................................... 46 Fruit Barrel 155 .................................................................... Picture Credits .............................................. 224 Garden Journal ................................................ 50 Label 159 Thermometer ................................................. 164 Scarecrow ......................................................... 168 CHAPTER TWO The Vegetable Garden Spade ...................................................................... 56 Hoe .......................................................................... 60 Mattock ................................................................ 65 String Line .......................................................... 68 Billhook ................................................................ 72 Rake ........................................................................ 76 Mechanical Tiller ........................................... 80 Composter .......................................................... 84 Hotbed .................................................................. 89 Latin ....................................................................... 94 Raised Bed .......................................................... 99 Soil Sieve ........................................................... 104 Radio ................................................................... 107 The Flower Garden Fork As the most widely used tool in the he fork comes in many shapes and sizes: Thief-Punisher Definition T there are two-tined forks for lifting One theory on the origins of the word fork garden, the fork has appeared in A multi-use tool for turning soil, aerating parsnips without gashing them; fork-hoe suggests a derivation from the Latin fur, a thief, many forms: flat-tined garden or lawns, dividing perennials and moving combination tools for working quickly around as “originally the instrument for punishing compost and manure. flower borders between the buried bulbs; and thieves” (Gresham English Dictionary, 1931). Be spading forks, two-handled broadforks, sharp-ended, scoop-shaped forks for gathering that as it may, the Romans were industrious in four-tine manure forks and pitch, or Origin up manure or compost. Forks designed to be throwing out their old, worn-out wood and bone Although the name originates from the used on heavy clay soils tend to have straight tools, and replacing them with iron substitutes. hay, forks among them. It is a strong Latin furca, the implement was a relative tines to provide better leverage, whereas slightly And, once they had occupied the Celtic kingdom contender to be the most useful tool latecomer to the garden shed. curved tines suit lighter soils. While North they called Noricum (which now forms part of Americans are happier with their D-shaped Austria and Slovenia), they had access to the in the garden. handle grips, this design frustrates gardeners notoriously hard Noric steel. Understandably, the with large hands: like the traditionalists of Romans devoted most of their steelworking skills northern England, they prefer a T-shaped grip. to the manufacture of the gladius, the sword that Many gardeners left their fork on the table helped them subjugate Europe. Yet out of swords and managed without in the garden: back in came plowshares and garden tools. The Romans 1657 an inventory of items owned by the who first moored their boats on the harborside at governor of the New Haven colony in Connecti- Londinium in England around A.D. 43 not only cut, one Theophilus Eaton, listed garden shears, brought their steel swords with them, but their sickles, hooks, hoes, “sithes,” stone axes, brick ideas on civic buildings, roads, villas, villa axes and a trowel, but neither fork nor spade. gardens and even the flowers and vegetables that One reason may have been the indifferent quality were to grow in them. By this time the wild of metal available at the time. A fork was a cabbage (Brassica oleracea) had been tamed, tricky tool to make, while a long-handled and the Romans introduced its domesticated shovel was much simpler and more reliable. cousin into northern Europe along

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