THE WHEAT CTTLTUMST. 351 



A good cradler must exercise no little skill in adjusting 

 every part of the cradle to hang exactly right, or he 

 cannot do neat work. Do not put the scythe and fin- 

 gers out too far, especially if the grain does not stand 

 erect. When all the parts of a cradle are made right, 

 properly adjusted, and correctly handled, almost every 

 straw will be gathered, as the scythe cuts them off. 



A good cradler walks close up to the standing grain — ■ 

 within a foot of it. He keeps his body nearly erect. 

 He puts his right foot forward when he steps, and never 

 the left foot first. There is a philosophical reason for 

 this. I studied it out when I first began to cradle, 

 when I was only fourteen years of age. Point-in low 

 and point-out low. Cut the stubble a uniform height 

 across the swath ; and do not scoop out a swath, by 

 pointing-in high and pointing-out high. Keep the 

 scythe level ; and bring the cradle around, at every clip, 

 as close to the left leg as you can. Lay the grain evenly 

 at the butts ; and do not throw the tops around too far. 

 Let your movements be rather slow and careful, until 

 you can make every clip with as much precision as if the 

 work were done by machinery. There are many things 

 about cradling which I cannot write out ; but which 

 can be learned only by the actual use of a good cradle. 



Cradle Fingers, and how to Make them. 



There are two kinds of cradle fingers: bent and nat- 

 ural crook. Those having a natural crook are made by 

 first sawing the log into plank thick enough for four 

 fingers, or about two and three-fourths inches thick. 

 Then, pieces are sawed out of the plank, with a scroll 

 saw, of the desired curvature, which are then slitted tli6 



