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American Implements, and 
as superior to the plain English scythe and bow as the Minie 
rifle to the old musket. 
The length of the scythe is 4 feet; the cradle is formed of five 
finely-tapered ash fingers, of length and curve corresponding to 
the blade ; the snaith, as light as is consistent witli strength, 
is bent into an elegant curve : it is a perfect implement of its 
kind; price five dollars (1/.). 
It is common in these Eastern States to cut the grain by 
harvesting " bees" — that is to say, the farmer collects as many of 
his neij-hbours as he can, each of Avhom brings his own favourite 
" cradle," the snaith of which is curved to his fancy ; and it is 
refreshing to see with what a will a large company thus formed 
mow down the grain. On these occasions each man calculates" 
to cut his two acres a day ; some men will do more, and the 
quantity that is credibly reported to have been cut in the day for 
a wager would not be believed in England : two acres, however, 
are a fair average for men working in company. In the South, a 
negro's task is usually one acre a day, a fair criterion of the 
difference between free and slave labour. It must be borne in 
mind that the average crops in the States are much lighter than 
in England, 20 bushels of wheat being there considered a 
good crop, and 25 a large one ; the average quantity of straw 
is not so much less than in England, the difference being prin- 
cipallv caused by the shortness and want of filling in the ear, 
owing to the rapid ripening of the grain beneath their hot sun. 
The use of this grain scythe, undoubtedly, requires a peculiar 
knack ; it is accomplished with a great swing of the body, and 
the grain is tipped out of the cradle at the end of each cut; but if 
our people could learn the art of using it, ir would prove a most 
valuable substitute for the sickle, or the common scythe, particu- 
larly in the Eastern counties, and still more in the Cape and 
Australian colonies, where the crops are not apt to be laid. In 
fact, one cannot watch the operations in an American harvest field 
without being impressed with a conviction that, if English 
farmers and our colonists are to compete with tlie American in 
growing corn, they must adopt some of those implements which 
American ingenuity stimulated by necessity has aheady invented 
and proved. 
It is not the grain-cradles alone that are superior to the 
corresponding implements of this country, but the common tools, 
such as hay-forks and rakes, dung-forks, and digging-forks, 
display a lightness combined with strength, a beauty of proportion 
and high finish, which is not seen even in our most improved ones, 
and is lar superior indeed to those commonly used here. Their 
best five-pronged forks are cut out of a single piece of steel, and 
when swung round and dashed against the floor, a common test. 
