Keep them well sharpened, and it will be surprising to note how much less muscle it takes to push them and how much better the work is done. I have tried several different makes, as I work an acre or more each year with one of these hoes and a “Fire-fly” hand plow, which is run before the wheel hoe when the ground is very hard, and Lee’s is the only one that works satisfactorily. When the ground is in the best condition a man can hoe the acre in a single day, so that it will readily be seen what a labor saver it is. The FIRE-FLY HAND PLOW just spoken of is a very convenient tool for making drills, and will plow out a furrow from one to four inches deep, for sowing peas, corn, beans, etc., and coming back alongside of the open furrow will cover them nicely, not taking one-quarter of the time necessary to make the drill with a hoe and cover with a rake, as it is ordinarily done. It is also very handy to strike out a furrow in this way when planting strawberries, cabbages, tomatoes, etc., especially where two are employed on the same work, as one can strike out the furrows, and drop a plant where each one is to stand, while the other, following, sets the plant with one hand and with the other pulls in and places the loose covering dirt, and finally tramps the soil firmly round the new-set plants with his feet. These two last-mentioned tools are very useful in the ordinary small garden; they enable the work to be done much more quickly and very much more thoroughly than is often the case, the spring spading being generally the only good stirring the soil gets in the season. A SEED DRILL is a very handy tool, but it is quite expensive. In the kitchen garden there is seldom more than one or two rows across the garden to be sown with any one kind of seed, and this can be done almost in the time it would take to adjust the drill, although the drill works a great deal more evenly than the seed can be sown by hand. On a farm where root crops are raised for soiling, the drill will be a measure of economy, even for a single season, and can readily be used in the garden. The combined implements, with plowing and hoeing attachments, are “a delusion and a snare;” if you want a tool that will do good work, and will not get out of order or break, do not have it “combined” with anything else. Of HAND-HOES, STEEL RAKES, TROWELS, SPADES, SHOVELS, ETC., there should be enough to furnish each man employed, as it is frequently desirable to have all hands working on the same job. Of these, the hoes, spades and trowels should have an intimate and frequent calling acquaintance with the grind-stone. It is much easier to work with a _sharp_ hoe or spade, and the work is much better when done.