Hedging tools

1742. Blaikie's hedge-bills are of five different kinds. The scimitar (fig. 376. a), which has a handle four feet long, but a little out of the direction of the blade, in order to admit of the free action of the operator's arm while standing by the side of a hedge, and cutting upwards; the axe (b), which is used for cutting strong boughs or small trees; the bill-hook (c), for faggoting and stopping gaps in hedges; the dress-hook (d), for cutting the twigs in very young hedges, and for dressing faggots; and the bill-hook (e) for lopping branches close at hand.