140 SKETCHES OF RURAL AFFAIRS. 



Of these three descriptions of scythe, the first and 

 simplest is that which our mowers use in hay-making. 

 But even this simple implement requires some skill in 

 its management. If you watch the regular movements 

 of a set of mowers, and the wide and easy sweep they 

 take from right to left, as they level successive portions 

 of grass, it may seem no difficult task to do as they do ; 

 but if you take up a scythe, and attempt to follow their 

 example, it will soon appear that practice and expe- 

 rience are wanted before you can handle the instrument 

 so as to level the grass without danger of inflicting on 

 yourself some grievous bodily injury. The scythe is 

 a dangerous tool in unaccustomed hands, and many a 

 young beginner has found it so. In this, as in most 

 other cases, however, constant practice, with care and 

 attention on the part of the learner, soon makes that 

 easy, which at first seemed difficult, if not impossible. 



The hay-rake may seem too simple to require notice, 

 but there are two or three ways of making it, some of 

 which are stronger and better than others, and these 

 need description. The head of the rake generally 

 measures more than two feet across, and is made of hard 

 wood, about an inch and a half in thickness, into which 

 are inserted twelve or thirteen oak or ash teeth, at the 

 distance of about two inches apart ; these are properly 

 secured by wedging. The shaft or handle is usually 

 made of ash, neatly smoothed and rounded, and is 

 between five and six feet long, and as slight as is con- 

 sistent with strength ; it being very desirable to have 

 it light. That end of it which is intended to fit into the 

 head is kept square, and let in by a tenon. It is plain 

 that this is not sufficient security for keeping the head 

 and handle of the rake together. Therefore the handle 

 is sometimes split at the bottom, and the two ends then 

 stretched out in a curved form, and made fast to the 

 head at two points. This makes a pretty looking rake, 

 and has the advantage of being a very light one ; but 

 there is still a better form, as regards the strength and 



