FORM AND USE OP THE SCYTHE. 139 



of a stout stick might often supply the form best suited 

 to the mower's purpose. The handle is fixed at an angle 

 to the plane of the blade, and is adjusted with a nicety 

 on which much of the usefulness of the implement 

 depends. Two short projecting handles are fixed to the 

 principal handle, and by these the scythe is wielded in 

 a convenient manner. The blades of scythes in other 

 parts of Europe are mostly made of natural steel, and 

 are so soft that the edge can be hammered to sharpen it 

 and keep it thin. Much time is, in such cases, lost in 

 sharpening the scythe, but it is not so with our imple- 

 ments. These being forged thin, and well tempered, 

 very seldom require the grindstone. 



The scythe is by no means confined to the cutting of 

 grass, but is frequently introduced in harvest, in prefer- 

 ence to the sickle or reaping-hook. But for this pur- 

 pose it has what is called a cradle attached to it, being 

 a sort of comb, with three or four long teeth parallel to 

 the back of the blade, and fixed in the handle. This 

 cradle raises up the bent straws, and lays the cut corn 

 evenly, so that the harvest people can afterwards easily 

 collect and bind it into sheaves. The common scythe, 

 without this apparatus, will cut oats and barley very 

 well, if they be upright crops, but it is difficult to 

 cut a wheat crop to advantage with the scythe, unless 

 there is a contrivance of this sort for laying it down 

 evenly. 



There is also another variety of scythe, smaller than 

 the foregoing, invented for the purpose of harvest work, 

 and called the Hainault scythe, from a province of that 

 name in Belgium, where it was first noticed. The 

 straggling corn is collected with a hook with one hand, 

 and severed by the scythe with the other, at a single 

 stroke. This scythe is a favourite implement in dif- 

 ferent parts of the continent, but has never been 

 much used here, although many trials of it have been 

 made both in England and Scotland with favourable 

 results. 



