By Jacquie Foote Garden tools are not a modern invention.…

June 13, 2013

By Jacquie Foote

Garden tools are not a modern invention. In fact, we believe that the first garden tool came to be around 10,000 years ago, during the Neolithic period when we believe plants were first domesticated. Archeologists call this tool a microlith. It resembled a small spade and consisted of a small sharp stone blade that was set into a handle made of wood, bone or antler. The microlith was a multi-use tool, equally useful for digging, clipping and cutting plant material.

This time period gave birth to many other gardening tools, including: the hoe, the garden plow and the scythe. All these tools were made the same and consisted of a shaped stone that was attached to a handle made from natural material.

The Bronze Age marked the invention of smelting, the process by which raw materials like tin, copper, and later, iron are separated from their ores, and then purified into workable materials. This development meant sharper, harder, more durable tools for agriculture.

During the 3rd century B.C., a wooden version of the seed drill was developed in China. About 100 years later, in the 2nd century B.C., the wheelbarrow was developed, also in China. (The wheelbarrow itself really has not changed from those created so long ago.)

The invention of the first cast iron shovel occurred not long after America was colonized. This shovel, created by John Ames, consisted of a broad blade on a long handle, which is still characteristic of modern shovels. During the same period, a unique type of pest control was developed called the cloche. This large glass bell-shaped jar-tool was used to keep pests off the plants and to help trap in the heat of day necessary for plant growth.

Naturally, gardening was very popular during colonial times and right through to the 1900s, so new time saving tools were constantly being invented and improved. Early on, budding and grafting knives, edging irons and cultivating forks were invented. In fact, by the end of the1700s, there was a tool for almost every gardening purpose.

Most of the hand tools used in the garden today were developed in this period. In early times, tools were typically made by the local blacksmith. There might have been local design preferences (since each blacksmith had his own creative eye), but the basic shapes were much the same. Early garden tool catalogs listed hundreds of task-specific tools including, but not limited to, dibbers, mattocks, potato hoes, onion hoes, daisy grubbers, claws, weeders, forcers, straighteners, garden row markers, garden reels, rakes, watering cans, water tanks, lawn mowers, lawn rollers and weed whackers.

These tools improved the way people gardened and improved the yield. When the most common way of planting garden seeds or bulbs (think onion) was simply to scatter them on the ground, think of the improvement in yield when a dibber was invented. Also known as a dibble or dibbler, this simple garden tool is perfect for planting bulb, seedlings and seeds. Just push the dibber’s pointed end into the soil to the desired depth, drop a seed, seedling or bulb in the hole and cover. For larger holes, just swirl the handle in a circular motion to get the hole size one wants. Earliest dibbers were made of wood. Modern dibbers have a steel pointed end with a comfortable wooden handle.

More on these specialized tools next time!

For information on the events at the Geauga County Historical Society’s Burton Century Village Museum, call 440-834-1492 or visit www.geaugahistorical.org.