Gl-2 
Hainault. Scythe. 
" Chrislchurch {Hanfs) AgricnUural Society. 
" The Report of the Committee of this Society for the year preceding the 
31st of October, 1814, to the General Meeting of the Society held on 
that day. 
" Your committee report that the gentlemen appointed a committee for 
conducting the exhibition of the Hainault scythe, appointed a meeting 
for the 23rd of August. There were 15 candidates for the premiums, 
13 men and 2 boys ; and the premiums were awarded by the judges, 
G. R. Eyres, Esq., &c. &c., as follows : — 
£. s. d. 
To Feli.K Edgell, of Christchurch, who learned last har- 
vest, and completed half a statute acre in 5h. 12m. .220 
To a foreigner, who came to instruct Sir G. H. Rose's men, 
and vvho cut the same quantity in 5h. 16m. . .1116 
To John Fell, of Christchurch, aged 40, who cut the same 
quantity in 4h. 39m., but not so even . ..110 
To — Hiscock, aged 21, a learner of this harvest, who 
cut the same in 5h. 40m. . , . . ,0150 
To Hen. Footner, under 16 years of age, a learner of this 
yearonly, who cut his proportion within the time allowed 1 11 6 
To J. Hascall, a boy of the same description • .110 
" That three men with reap-hooks contended against the scythe, but 
none of them, though all picked men, nearly completed the half acre 
within ne limited time. 
"Ti 3 judges also signed the following opinion, which, with the above, 
was published in the respective newspapers: — 
" 'We, the judges, consider the superior advantages of the Hainault 
scythe to consist — 1st, in dispatch nearly one half; 2nd, in saving straw 
and corn ; 3rd, in the sheaves being tied with a single band and hooded 
in style, and thereby less liable to injury by weather.' 
" That your committee, on account of the expense of this exhibition, 
are of opinion that it can only be exhibited at a time of year when farmers 
are necessarily otherwise engaged, and do not think it necessary to con- 
tinue the premiums, particularly as so full and fair a trial of its powers has 
now been made." 
Sir, — As you will be so good as to lay before the Board of Agriculture 
my letter on the Hainault scythe, I will, with your leave, offer a few 
particulars respecting it, which I omitted I believe. I say nothing of 
it as compared with tlie common scythe for mowing wheat, a practice 
now gaining much, as I understand ; but 1 should doubt, from the facts 
stated in the Christchurch Report, which I sent to you, whether it (the 
scythe) would beat the Hainault scythe in speed, half a statute acre 
having been completed by a novice lad in 5h. 12m., by a Fleming in 
5h. 16m., and by a mere novice in 5h. 40m. 
The Flemish scythe-man stands with the corn to the left hand, lays 
the staff in his left hand against the corn to steady it to receive the 
stroke, turning the iron crook from it, and swings his scythe against the 
corn ; but the blade is so contrived, that the point enters first, and the 
