HARVESTING AND MARKETING CROPS 357 



drilled or'dibbed. The advantages of both methods were still hotly 

 denied. A man who used a drill would be asked by his neighbours 

 when he was going to sow pepper from a pepper-caster. From the 

 time the seed was sown and harrowed in, the infant crops waged an 

 internecine and unaided strife with weeds. Even the hand-hoe 

 rarely helped cereals in the struggle, for the cost was heavy, and the 

 work, unless carefully supervised, was easily scamped. 



In 1837 hand-labour alone gathered the crops. Corn was cut by 

 scythes, fagging hooks, or sickles ; if with the first, each scytheman 

 was followed by a gatherer and a binder ; a stooker and raker com- 

 pleted the party. When a good man headed the gang, with four 

 men to each scytheman, two acres a day per scythe were easily 

 completed. Threshed by the flail, the grain was heaped into a head 

 on the floor of the barn. The chaff was blown away by means of 

 the draught of wind created by a revolving wheel, with sacks nailed 

 to its arms, which was turned by hand. Thus winnowed, the grain 

 was shovelled, in small quantities at a tune, into a hopper, whence it 

 ran, in a thin stream, down a screen or riddle. As the stream 

 descended, the smaller seeds were separated and removed. The 

 wheat was then piled at one end of the barn, and " thrown " in the 

 air with a casting shovel to the other extremity. The heavy grain 

 went furthest ; the lighter, or " tail," dropped short. To some of 

 the corn in both heaps the chaff still adhered. These " whiteheads " 

 were removed by fanning in a large basket tray, pressed to the body 

 of the fanner, who tossed the grain in the air, at the same time lower- 

 ing the outer edge of the tray. By this process the whiteheads were 

 brought to the top and extremity of the fan, whence they were 

 swept by the hand. Lastly the corn was measured, and poured into 

 four-bushel sacks, ready for market. The operation of dressing was 

 slow. As the sun streamed through a crack in the barn-door, it 

 reached the notches which were cut in the wood-work to mark the 

 passage of time and the recurrence of the hours for lunch and dinner. 

 The operation was expensive as well as slow, costing from six to seven 

 shillings a quarter. Hay was similarly made in all its stages by 

 hand, and with a care which preserved its colour and scent. The 

 grass, mown by the scythe, fell into swathes. These were broken 

 up by the haymakers, drawn with the hand-rake into windrows, 

 first single, then double. The double windrows were pulled over 

 once, put first into small cocks, then into larger which were 

 topped up and trimmed so as to be shower proof, and finally 



