Sunday, February 8, 2015

Old Photos of Gardeners With Their Hoes, plus some Hoe Advice

The photos of the men who proudly stand with
the hoe as if on parade are my favorites,

but this first photo is wonderful!
Look at that grape arbor!

I have been tossing photos of gardeners using tools into a folder. Today I noticed that all but one were using a hoe! It seemed a blog post made in heaven so I found this advice from Samuel Wood to round it out.

The Plain Path to Good Gardening; or, How to grow vegetables, fruits, & flowers successfully by Samuel Wood (gardener.) 1871

HOEING—When And How To Do It.

I Shall speak of this in reference to earthing up crops under "The Potato;"—general hoeing should be done carefully and constantly, but never in wet weather, for then few weeds fail to seed; nevertheless let hoeing be done in time,—

'' For one year's seeding 
  Brings seven years' weeding." 

Besides taking the nutriment out of the soil which the crop should have, every inch of weed is destructive of so much of its virtue, and in conjunction with the crop acts like two crops; therefore ply the hoe freely as soon as weeds appear above ground, whether the land is cropped or not.

Do not draw the hoe too deeply into the soil, for then some weeds only become partly buried with sufficient earth to nourish their growth and seeding, especially some of the grasses, chickweed, &c.

In hoeing it is important to draw the hoe just under the roots of the weeds, and to hoe every inch of the surface, if the land is foul, but do not hoe six inches and leave three inches untouched, with simply some earth drawn over it, as this is easily and frequently done by mistake.

Cast-steel hoes are the best for light land and among crops. Use short, square, and long-necked hoes for earthing up, the half-moon short-necked for drilling, and for stiff and beaten", old-cropped land, a good, heavy, short-necked, steel faced bean-hoe, as it is called by farmers.

To handle a hoe well choose a straight and inflexible stick four feet long; and of a size a trifle larger than the ring of the hoe; drive the handle into the hoe, set it up on the end of the handle, and draw the edge of the hoe by one corner on the wall, or a door, making a mark; keep the handle in the same place on the ground, and try the other corner of the hoe; if this come exactly in the same mark the hoe is handled correctly, if not, re-adjust it, otherwise it will not wear equally. The hoe should be kept flat; that is, the whole edge, and not the corners only, of the hoe should be made to do the work.