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handles were hewed and 

 shaved by hand. The 

 scythe cut the hay, the 

 sickle the grain. The grain 

 cradle is quite recent, but 

 the scythe and the sickle 

 were ancient, and the flail 

 which thrashed such of the 

 grain as the horses and 

 oxen did not tread out, was 

 the main dependence in 

 separating grain from 

 straw. Rakes were of 

 wood, both handles and 

 teeth, and most pitchforks 

 were of wood, both handles 

 and tines. Thousands of 

 years were necessary to 

 bring them to the degree 

 of perfection in which the 

 beginning of the nineteenth 

 century found them. Com- 

 pared with the correspond- 

 ing tools of today, they 

 were crude and clumsy. 

 But their use served one 

 good purpose at least: the 

 man who made and used 

 the tools learned by ex- 

 perience what woods were 

 best, and these woods still 

 furnish the handles and 

 part of the other materials 

 of which tools are made. 

 Ash is the leading wood 

 for the farm tool handles, 

 and more than one-fifth of 

 all the ash cut in the United 

 States goes into such han- 

 dles. It is strong and does 

 not snap easily and has 

 plenty of spring. Fork 

 handles are of various 

 lengths to suit different 

 kinds of forks. Two gen- 

 eral styles of shovel han- 

 dles are in use, the long and 

 the "D." The latter name 

 is due to the shape of the 

 grip for the hand at the 

 end of the handle. Hoes 

 and rakes also have handle 

 styles ranging through 

 many lengths and diame- 

 ters. 



The invention of agri- 

 cultural implements did not 

 drive tools out of existence. 

 Perhaps as many are made 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



SMOOTHBARK HICKORY FOR HANDLES 



Thia picture shows a Urge, straight trunk from which the finest handles 

 are made. Ai a usual thing the largest hickory trees are not the best 

 for handles, because the sapwood becomes thinner with age and size, and 

 he sapwood is the best part, or is so held in popular opinion. 



now as ever before. Even 

 the sickle is still sold in 

 country stores for use in 

 some rural communities, 

 and cutting lawns in towns. 

 Grain cradles and flails 

 may be bought, and most 

 farms possess a scythe or 

 two to be employed in 

 mowing weeds from fence 

 corners, trimming round 

 trees and stumps, and oc- 

 casionally for mowing 

 grass. The scythe handle 

 is called a snath, which is 

 a name handed down from 

 t h e Anglo - Saxon hay 

 farmers. The snath is the 

 most crooked handle in ex- 

 istence, if it is well formed. 

 Formerly the farmer who 

 wanted a handle for his 

 scythe went into the forest 

 and searched until he found 

 a sapling with natural 

 crooks conforming to his 

 idea of what they should 

 be, and no artificial bend- 

 ing was attempted. Now 

 the snath maker steams his 

 ash, hickory, cherry or' 

 mulberry, and bends it ac- 

 cording to a regulation 

 pattern. In some of the 

 parishes of Louisiana de- 

 scendants of the French 

 settlers still use homemade 

 snaths and wooden pitch- 

 forks. The same styles are 

 sometimes seen in the 

 mountainous regions of 

 eastern states. 



The proper seasoning of 

 wood is highly important 

 in the manufacture of farm 

 tool handles. The long and 

 slender spindles of wood, 

 if not thoroughly dry, will 

 bend out of shape when 

 strain is put on them, and 

 they never regain their 

 form. When farmers 

 made their own forks 

 and rakes, it was cus- 

 tomary to air season the 

 handle woods for years, or 

 at least for a year, before 

 whittling the handles into 

 final shape. Manufacturers 



