170 



merly, where the manufacture of pails was carried on extensive- 

 ly, the bucket-makers could cut out the bottoms of their pails 

 successfully only at the time of a full moon. The snaith-makers 

 had not even such an advantage, unless they had taken one of 

 the constellations, but were obliged to proceed as it is said by 

 guess, or to depend on mere skill to fashion two alike or even 

 to fashion one well. 



Every good mower knows how much the character of his 

 work and his own ease in working depend upon the hang of his 

 scythe, and these improved snaiths are on every account a val- 

 uable invention. The difference between one of these beauti- 

 ful and graceful frames by which the scythe is balanced like a 

 feather upon the hand, and the old-fashioned almost straight 

 handle by which it hung like a dead weight, is remarkable. 



These snaiths are made of the wood of the white ash. They 

 are split out and sold in the rough at five dollars per hundred. 

 The nibs or handles are made of black or yellov/ birch, and cost 

 ^2 50 per hundred. The irons for the nibs and ends are fin- 

 ished at fifteen cents a set. Men finish the scythe-snaiths — that 

 is, after they are taken from the oven — at two cents a-piece, 

 being boarded in addition : and a man will finish forty, or sixty, 

 or sometimes one hundred, per day. 



About 75,000 are manufactured per year. The article in the 

 rough state is first steamed three hours ; then placed in a cast 

 iron frame to give it the proper shape, four being put into one 

 mould at a time. A number of these moulds are then placed 

 in a frame, which moves upon a railway, and is shoved directly 

 into a drying-room or oven, where they remain forty-eight 

 hours. They are then taken out, shaved smooth, and rubbed 

 with sand paper, and returned again to another drying-room, to 

 remain forty-eigbt hours longer. The nibs or handles are then 

 put on, and the work finished. 



The article is very beautiful. Great improvements have 

 been made in fitting the ring to the scythe, by which it can be 

 driven tight without the use of wedges, always objectionable 

 in former modes ; in sinking an iron socket to receive the claw 



