J ^2 IlfFlMWED E?APIN9^00K. 



S'.ckle. Jl?e ^ckle i« pf tlj(9 gr^v^test ^ntiquity^ though itj^ tjse ts 



]^w i»uch i)pon thje Recline iu j^nglaiid. It is alniost in the 

 ibrw 0f. .^ Ijalf circle, from tyyeuty to thirty inches long, 

 about three fourths of an ia,G|i. broad, with teeth cut,iu %\ip 

 edge frpra twenty to 4)^if|^y^i^j,^n inch, inpjining from the 

 hant]l^ tj» the point, i .*! " ^i: 



Sith«. The fjth^ is an in^trufflent ^^j. generally ^^^pwp, ^s to 



neefj no description, farther than that som.e pre made longer, 

 and pthpr^ f^foader, a$ necessity or paprice requires. 



Reapingh«ok. The Qomijaon reap-hook is a half-circular piece of if.op 

 and steel, from twenty to thirty inches long, about pne in<;h 

 and a half broad, aad has a smooth even edge, like that of 

 a sithe. 



Badginghook. The badging or baging-hook is broader than the com- 

 mon reap-hook, particularly at the point, where it is most 

 used, and straighter than the sickle or reap-hooks generally 

 are. 

 '. Upeof ihe The reaping of wheat with the sickle is yet continued in 



;^*|#iifcie.' Yorkshire, Durham, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Lan- 



"*' cashire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, 



Jlntland, Nottinghamshire, and part of Lincolnshire J it is 

 performed by putting the sickle into the corn with the right 

 hand, aj^ee^ing j^ with the left hj^nd, gathering the porn 

 into the elbow of the ^ic^y^'ne^r the ji^ht han^, holding the 

 corn fa^t jwitii the lpi,'t hatidf «»^t»l H isi cut, t^ep ,\\^e p/ergofi 

 • — . repeats his cj^tting uijt-il hp.ha§ obtained a l#rge hpncjfuj, 



which is generally one thii'd fif ii ^heaf, which he hy^^i^Xkp 

 straw binding ready prepare^, j^^ > r' -'t 



t'seefdie The common reap-hook is used in the manner abovje 



rei:fin^l>ock. gpeqfj^d, bplt \ts ejects are far different, 4hp sickle, j^nying 

 a toothed edge, does not cut $AJch stem^^^^ are not imijiedi- 

 ;^t«.ly collepted ifito th;e left ha^fj ; fpi' it i^ hnposgiiblp to p«)J- 

 Ifct all .w.l;i^|.e disp^atpj) is. required, particularly in tjiip 

 straggling crops, for the teetl^ pf the sickle bein^incline/d, it 

 i^ not so fh.'f'P ip cutting frori> point to handle, as ffom 

 i^^ndle tp point, ^hich js evident f^-onj a feel yvitjj the finger. 

 The r^pp-hoplf , J)fiying fi ^nfipptji even efjae, PW^s l^oth ways 

 alike, and cuts the straggled stems before they are collected 

 in the gatfiering hunc^, conspqueptjy the Ipgs of gr^in is 

 great. The hpok is id}owed tp perform its .work with more 



-nA. 



t^ase 



I 



