I'm jealous of all you scythers in those green, well-watered places. I'm in northern New Mexico, USA, where scything sometimes raises poofs of dust! It's high-altitude desert here. The climate is dry, and getting drier*.
Grass and weeds can be so dry that they don't resist the blade - they just flop over and let the blade pass by, then spring back up, laughing.
A scythe does do a good job of cutting cactus.
* The mayordomo (manager/boss) of one acequia (ancient, hand-dug agricultural water ditch) said that only eight years ago, he would be releasing snow-melt water up until early June, and in July would have monsoon water in the river to put into the ditch. Maybe in August they would have to release water from the dam. Now the snow-melt doesn't last through April; they've already released dam water. And it's questionable whether there will be a monsoon season.
