SCYTHE. 



455 



SCYTHE. 



as May. Having selected a piece of ground 

 open but sheltered, trench it 3 feet deep, 

 using plenty of manure at least a third 

 part mixing it thoroughly with the soil ; 

 when ready, strike the ground into 4-foot 

 beds, and sow two rows of seed in patches 

 2 feet apart. As soon as the plants come 

 up, thin out to two or three in the patch, 

 and when fairly established, remove all but 

 one. In the course of the season use 

 abundant supplies of liquid manure, and 

 keep the surface well stirred. In autumn 

 the beds will be covered with fine healthy 

 leaves and plump crowns. Pick off the 

 leaves as they decay, and as soon as they 

 are ail off, the crowns should be slightly 

 covered with ashes or tanner's bark till 

 wanted for forcing. In November, the 



machine, the scythe is comparatively little 

 used, and is regarded rather as an agri- 

 cultural instrument than a gardener's tool. 

 But even now there are times when the 

 use of the scythe on a lawn is necessary, 

 and that is when the grass has been 

 allowed to grow to too great a length to 

 permit of its easy and ready removal with 

 the mowing machine. This happens 

 when a lawn or grass plot has been 

 neglected owing to the house to which 

 it is attached being without a tenant, or 

 when the grass has been left too long in 

 the previous autumn, not having been cut 

 to the latest possible date as it should have 

 been. The scythe may be described as a 

 long curved blade, thin at the edge and 

 for the greater part of its breadth, but 



BOYO'S PATENT SCYTHE. 



plants will be ready for forcing, either on 

 the beds or in some more shaded corner. 



Forcing Seakale. Treated in the manner 

 described above for asparagus, seakale may 

 be produced as a Christmas vegetable, for 

 it may be put in hotbeds for forcing much 

 earlier than asparagus, indeed as early as 

 November. At the same time, it should 

 be said that January is the best month in 

 which to begin forcing seakale, for if forced 

 earlier, it is neither so good nor so abun- 

 dant, and if left till March artificial heat is 

 almost unnecessary. In forcing seakale the 

 light should be excluded entirely from the 

 frame, otherwise it will not acquire that 

 whiteness and delicacy which it is desirable 

 that it should possess. 



Scythe. 



Since the introduction of the mowing 



having a back of considerable thickness, 

 projecting on the side that is uppermost 

 when the scythe is in use, like a flange. 

 This blade is set at the end of a long 

 handle, the handle being bent in such a 

 way as to enable the operator to maintain 

 a semi-upright position, and attached to 

 the handle by two iron rings are two short 

 and upright cylinders of wood, by which 

 the instrument is grasped and worked to 

 and fro with a swinging motion of the 

 body. The edge is soon dulled, and 

 requires sharpening from time to time 

 with a scythe stone, a round stone of 

 coarse grain, like the spoke of a ladder 

 in shape and costing about 4d. Scythe 

 blades are supplied separately at 35. 6d. 

 each. It should be said that blades are 

 cranked or not cranked ; when cranked, 

 there is a hinge between the blade and 



