Ihe jointed Scythe is operated by two people, in water boots or rubber trousers, 

 standing in the water, who pull the scythe from side to side and forward. Its great 

 advantage is its firmness and its automatic maintenance of position on the ground 

 provided the links are correctly, that is, sufficiently heavily and bj-oadly worked. 

 Ihe Roessing scythe chain therefore always cut the plants closely above the roots, 

 which is generally regarded as very essential, and which cannot be done by any other 

 appliance, excepting perhaps the hand scythe, in so safe a manner. 



Uhere the water is too deep or too cold, the cutting can be done from two boats 

 fiimly bound to each other, but this requires two more men for poling the boats. The 

 work is therefore more quickly acconplished. In order to facilitate the difficxilt pole 

 work into the reeds, it is reccanmended to combine and use the boats as shown in Fig. i+5. 

 In Poland It is customary to couple three boats in a similar way, and have them drawn 

 by oxen amd using six men with three Pioesslng scythes for the cutting, Blohm and von 

 Rochow (according to Walter, 1922) have constructed contrivances for the reeling forward 

 of two firmly bound boats. 



Ever increasing efforts to operate Roessing chain scythes by hand or motor dirive 

 apparatus proves the great value of these scythes. A sia^^le apparatus of this kind is 

 that of Rochow. A 3.5 to U meter long cross beam rests on the tip of a ^ meter length 

 boat. The midpoint of the crossbeam is attached to a pin fastened to a plank, so the 

 beam is tamable. On the ends of the cross beam hang the draught lines of the Roessing 

 chain scythe which trails behind the boat. In the center of the cross beam there is 

 firmly fastened a longitudinal beam of 2 to 2.5 meter length which extends into the 

 boat, so that a T-shaped lever apparatus is formed. The jointed scythe is operated by 

 the sidewise back and forth movement of this longitudinal beam. Ihe man who carries 

 out this motion, sits on a bench in the center of the boat. A second man standing in 

 the rear of the boat poles the boat with cross beam in front into the eeds. Tlie 

 apparatus is suitable only for cutting loose stands of over-water plants, since the 

 boat must unfortunately ride over plants which have not yet been cut. Besides this the 

 back and forth motion of the lever is quite strenuous. A further disadvantage is that 

 stunts, reed residues, and other obstacles on the bottom retard the cutting. According 

 to von Rochow the performance amounts to 2 to 2.5 hectares (5 to 6 acres) of pond 

 surface in one day. A fundamentally similar machine was the "Harald", which also cut 

 with the Roessing scythe, but it has not been further introduced. 



The advantages of the Roessing scj-the, and also many disadvantages of the Rochow 

 apparatus are combined in the Oco Uotor-Keedcuttijig Machine (obtainable from the Nickel 

 Co., in Niesky, Lower Lusatia). In spite of this, it has become well established in 

 pond culture. The forward motion is produced by two paddle wheels on the sides of the 

 boat. Ttiey are driven by a strongly vibrating 10 horse-power benzol motor, and are so 

 constructed that they bring the boat over still unmowed reeds, without danger of tangling 

 the wheels. Oblique backward directed poles on each side of the boat, both of which 

 are alternately moved forward and backward by the same motor, operate the Roessing 

 jointed scythe irtiich trails in the rear and under the boat. The paddle wheels can be 

 rotated independently of each other, whereby an easy steering is made possible. Denser 

 stands of reeds, in spite of this, can hardly be cut close to the bank, because one 

 paddle wheel becomes very much retarded compared to the other, thus preventing steering. 

 According to von Eavier, who recently added inprovements on the machine, the "Oco" can 

 be operated by one man and mows U.5 to 5 hectares (11 to 12-1/3 acres) in eight working 

 hours. Von Lavier. 1929, figured the total costs of the mowing at 8.^0 marks per hectare 

 (81 cents per acrej. The machine is built in two sizes and is quite lightly constructed. 

 Its weight amounts to 800 to UOO kilograms (1,760 to 3,080 pounds). The depth drautht is 

 very small; the machine operated unrestrictedly in a water depth of 30 to 35 centimeters 

 (11. ii to 13.77 inches). 



The Dreilich reed scythe consists of two ordinary scythe blades welded together into 

 a half moon and attached at the welded joint to the end of a lever which dips into the 

 water. Mostly two levers are placed on two boats as may be seen in Fig. ^6. Both people 

 must mow in unison and must change off with the polers who have a more arduous task. A 

 combination of three boats with two pole men and three mowers, as Uehring states, is 

 therefore also suitable only if cutting is done regularly and if the not too strongly 

 developed above-water plants do not too greatly in5>ede the poling. According to von 



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