WEEDS AND WEED-CUTTING 345 



and work it down to a rounded blunt end. When 

 the ordinary sharp-pointed scythe is used it is found 

 in practice that a number of trout lying in the weeds 

 are wounded and sometimes killed while the scythes 

 are being used. A small scythe fixed to a light 

 bamboo-handle, about 16 feet long, is a handy tool for 

 cutting out small weed patches or for getting rid of 

 the rushes which grow in great profusion, especially 

 at the end of the summer and during the early 

 autumn. 



Chain-scythes or, as the Hampshire keepers gene- 

 rally call them, gang-scythes, are necessary for the 

 thorough weed-cutting required at the end of the 

 fishing season and at any time when a wholesale 

 clearance of any part of the river is desirable. The 

 chain-scythe consists of a number of blades bolted 

 together. At each end of the chain of scythes there 

 is an iron ring about three inches in diameter, and to 

 these rings ropes are fastened. To work the chain- 

 scythes one or two men on each bank working in 

 time draw the rope backwards and forwards, at the 

 same time moving slowly along the banks. If the 

 chain-scythes are worked downstream they will as a 

 rule only cut the tops of the weeds, but if it is desired 

 to cut them very short, each length of the fishery 

 should be cut first downstream and then upstream, 

 and these operations should be repeated as often as is 

 necessary to complete the work. The chain-scythes, 

 especially when worked upstream, are most efficacious 

 in moving some of the mud. It must, however, be 



