214 A FARMER'S YEAR 



good deal of judgment and experience, especially in the case of a 

 rather scrappy lot of thinnings, which includes every class of 

 wood, such as we have to saw this year. One or two of the best 

 oaks are set aside lo rip into three-inch planks, and others to be 

 converted into the backs and ledges of gates, while the tops and 

 butts make gate- or rail-posts. What we chiefly need this year, 

 however, are long posts to carry the galvanised iron roofs of the 

 sheds which I hope to cover over, so most of the oaks are to be 

 devoted to this purpose. The inferior woods, such as elm and 

 beech, cut into very good bed- or wall-plates, rafters, and scant- 

 lings ; indeed, if kept dry under cover, they will last for two genera- 

 tions. Limes, again, may be sawn into boards to be used for 

 inside work in sheds, while all the refuse that can he i)ut to no 

 other use is sliced into blocks for firewood. I forgot to mention 

 that the ash, which is our most valuable timber, is ripped into 

 three-inch stuff and then laid aside under shelter to season, with 

 little pieces of wood between the planks to keep them apart and 

 allow the air to circulate. Ash is the best wood in the world, or 

 at any rate in England, for use in the frames of agricultural 

 implements, the shafts of carts, or for any purpose where tough- 

 ness and pliability — ' twig ' is the local term — are needed. 



To-day we have been baulk-splitting, cutting out thistles, and 

 shearing the sheep. This latter is done by a gang of shearers, four 

 in number, who travel with a pony and cart from farm to farm, clip- 

 ping the sheep at a charge that averages about threepence a 

 fleece. The operation is carried out thus : first the ewes — for of 

 course the lambs are not clipped — are penned in one-half of the 

 All Hallows barn, their offspring remaining outside, where they 

 make a fearful din, auguring the very worst from this separation. 

 A boy— the invariable boy who always appears upon these occa 

 sions — steals in delightedly to catch a ewe. As soon as they see 

 him the whole flock rush about madly, as though they were 

 executing a particularly confused set of kitchen lancers ; but when 

 once he has gripped one of them, after a few struggles she more 

 or less resigns herself, and without any great resistance is half led. 



