68 FLAIL 



bark his own shins while scutching the flax. The strap, 

 also, by its elasticity, causes the blow to rebound, and so 

 aids the labourer in continuing his work. By these 

 means, and by turning it about, the woody refuse is got 

 rid of, and little else but the pure fibre remains. 



The scutch itself is a tool whose form varies consider- 

 ably in different countries. The 

 Irish scutch, which is as primitive 

 and inefficient a tool as can well _____ 

 be imagined (see fig 14), is a ^TTZIIlrish Scutch, 

 sort oi wooden kniie, or small, 



thin, cricket-bat, made of stout ash. It does its work 

 somehow in the hands of women, for whom, however, 

 the operation is much too laborious an employment, if 

 they do it properly. 



The most approved French scutch, or ecouche, consists 

 of three parts (see Jigs. 15 and 16) : la manclie, or the 

 handle, made of light willow- wood ; la table, or the table, 

 made of the "heart of walnut-tree ; and la queue, or the 

 tail, made of the branch of walnut-tree. The latter por- 

 tion is the great peculiarity of the implement, serving to 

 give impetus to the blow, and also to steady the course 

 of the scutch in its descent through the air, as the 

 feather steadies the course of an arrow. The extreme 

 length of the scutch from the end of the handle to the 

 tip of the tail is twenty-four inches and a quarter. The 

 greatest thickness of the tail, at the upper part, is a trifle 

 more than an eighth of an inch. The table is consider- 

 ably thinner. Our woodcuts are accompanied by a 

 scale of inches, to show the exact size of the tool. The 

 upper part of the table is as thick as a halfpenny-piece ; 

 the cutting edge, or lower part, as thick as a penny piece, 

 at an inch above the blade itself. When the tool is held 

 in the hand, the tail is up in the air, and the edge of the 

 table downwards. We give drawings of the two sides of 

 the French scutch, to show how the implement is put 

 together, as well as the difference of its surfaces. N 9 

 N, N, are iron nails or rivets. Besides these, the handle, 

 tail, and table are fastened together with glue. The 



