A Farmer’s Life 
“closed his last day’ when he died. It is not 
unlikely that the phrase my uncle attributed to 
present-day industrial customs had in fact been 
wandering to and fro across the country for 
centuries. 
Now and again details about farm-work were 
mentioned in the course of his talk. A truss of 
hay, he said, should weigh fifty-six lbs., or, of 
“new hay,” sixty Ibs. The hay is “new” if 
it is cut out before the next Odtober following 
the hay-making. After that it is “old.” My 
uncle had known a hay-tier who could cut out 
and “‘tie”’ as many as seventy trusses in a day, 
with a boy to help him twisting the bands. 
Again, with more antiquated suggestiveness 
(for the implement was all but obsolete already) 
he spoke of a flail and named its parts. The 
““ handstaff ” led off, followed by the “ start ”— 
an iron knob or button in the upper end of the 
handstaff. Next was the “ capping ’’—a piece 
of bent wood turned over the end of the hand- 
Staff with a slot in it to receive a leather conne¢tion 
fixed on to the start. This leather strap was 
called the ‘‘ middle band.” Finally, hanging 
to the leather, was the loose-swinging staff, called 
the ‘‘swingel,” that word being pronounced 
with a soft g, as in angel. To hear these old 
words was to be carried back in fancy to the barn 
at Farnborough, where they must have been 
familiar enough to John Smith while he was Still 
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