THE SCYTHE

A nearly forgotten tool of American Farmers and others is the SCYTHE, which is somewhat kept alive by handmowing contests in the New England Area. Not only is hand mowing hay and other grasses,etc. an excellent exercise but it does not require the use of fossil fuels or gasoline powered machines,etc. In the old days, horses were used to do things, like pull wagons upon which the hay was pitched with pitchforks,etc. Oxen and other beasts of burden were employed in harvesting crops, hauling logs, etc. This has gone on all around the world until the complete takeover of farming by machines, which were touted as 'LABOR SAVING' but what labor is saved? Actually, such machines increase labor, intensify and speed up the processes involved. a chain saw,for example, is easier to use, but at a certain cost, BUT more trees can be 'havested' or cut down and forests denuded and jungles cut down,etc. This speeded up process is going on all over the world and some would say is leading to the present climate conditions in various ways. The man with the scythe is more in tune with nature than the tractor driver with a mowing machine! Same goes with the man with the hoe!