Fork
This is one of the most useful of garden implements, made in various sizes and shapes to specially suit the work for which any particular one is intended. Those with two prongs are best for light litter, and for mixing manure, &c. The four, and sometimes five-pronged Forks are those mostly used, being frequently more serviceable for digging or levelling down soil than the spade. It is an indispensable tool for removing earth from the roots of trees or shrubs when transplanting, as, if carefully worked from the stem outwards, the soil is loosened, and the roots uninjured in the process. The Fork is not in general use for digging, as it does not so thoroughly remove the earth at the bottom as the spade; but in many cases where the latter cannot, for various reasons, be properly worked, the former will be found a certain substitute. A good form for ordinary kitchen garden work, and for lifting crops, such as Potatoes, &c., is that made with four flattened prongs The quality of the steel, with the proper mode of manufacturing the implement, is of much more importance when purchasing than the difference in price would suggest; consequently, those from the best makers should be obtained. Some are easily bent when under pressure: others just as easily snap. A good Fork should be made of steel, so combined in the manufacture as to wear evenly, and in such a way that the prongs will neither snap nor bend when in ordinary use. Forks for loading leaves are specially made with four or five long tines, and are very useful in winter where large quantities have to be collected and taken away. Hand Forks are useful for plunging, planting out, &c.; they are made with three short flattened prongs, and a handle of the same size, like that of a trowel.