154 HAY-BINDING. 



The other end of the bow has a sort of hook, 

 over which the man doubles a small bundle of 

 the wetted hay. As this is turned round, it is 

 twisted in his hand, and would form a rope 

 only a few inches long, if he did not briskly 

 supply the receding end with fresh parcels of 

 hay from the heap. The boy steps backward, 

 as the band lengthens ; and, when at the dis- 

 tance of about three yards, it is detached, and 

 another is as speedily prepared. Seventy-two 

 of these bands that being the number for a 

 load of hay have been made thus, by a mat! 

 and boy, in twenty minutes ; but half an hour 

 is not too much for the work. 



And now the cutter takes up his knife, con- 

 sisting of a broad blade, about two feet long, 

 with a handle standing square with the upper 

 end. He thrusts this in where his cut begins, 

 and, sawing it up and down, soon detaches a 



