For small beds of flowers or vegetables, hand-weeders of various patterns are essential to easy and efficient work. One of the best patterns, with long and short handles, is shown in Fig. 102. Another style, that may be made at home of hoop-iron, is drawn in Fig. 103. A finger-weeder is illustrated in Fig. 104. In Fig. 105 a common form is shown. Many patterns of hand-weeders are in the market, and other forms will suggest themselves to the operator.
Small hand-tools for digging, as trowels, dibbers, and spuds, may be had of dealers. In buying a trowel it is economy to pay an extra price and secure a steel blade with a strong shank that runs through the entire length of the handle. One of these tools will last several years and may be used in hard ground, but the cheap trowels are generally hardly worth the buying. A solid wrought-iron trowel all in one piece is also manufactured, and is the most durable pattern. A steel trowel may be secured to a long handle; or the blade of a broken trowel may be utilized in the same way (Fig. 106). A very good trowel may also be made from a discarded blade of a mowing machine (Fig. 107), and it answers the purpose of a hand-weeder.
