THE GOOD REAPER. 179 



but when the scythe is used in reaping, men only are 

 equal to the task, which is a very laborious one. In 

 this, as in all other farming operations, very different 

 degrees of skill are shown by the work-people. In 

 some cases the reaper may be seen merely bowing his 

 body towards the ground, and drawing the sickle up- 

 wards at every stroke, in the direction of his knees. 

 This attitude causes him to make very bad work, and 

 to leave the stubble in a series of notches; The posi- 

 tion of a good reaper, at his task, is not very easy to 

 describe, but is seen in a moment to give him every 

 advantage, and to enable him to leave an even and 

 a clean field. Crouching down on his right leg, and 

 extending the left to steady himself, he seizes small 

 portions of corn with his left hand, and holds them, 

 while with his right he draws the sickle across their 

 stems as near to and parallel with the ground as pos- 

 sible, pulling it towards him as he does so. Without 

 changing his position, he now makes a sort of creeping 

 movement towards the left, and cuts another portion of 

 corn, which is gathered as before in the left hand. He 

 proceeds thus until he has cut as much as can well be 

 kept together with the left hand, when he lifts it up 

 by the aid of a sickle, and lays it on a band made 

 of corn stalks, which is used to bind up the sheaf. 

 Another person follows the reaper, for the purpose of 

 making the sheaves. The reaper's art seems chiefly to 

 consist in making a sweep with his sickle which shall 

 be as near the ground as possible, and also parallel with 

 it. This cannot be done without bringing the body 

 into the crouching posture just described, for, by stoop- 

 ing merely the shoulders and back, the arm is not 

 brought low enough to take an even cut. 



The old form of sickle, with a jagged edge, is still 

 preferred by many labourers, especially the Irish. The 

 smooth-edged sickle (oftener called the reaping-hook), 

 when in the hands of a good reaper, cuts closer to the 

 ground, and leaves a smoother stubble. There is one 



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