X 



WOODCRAFT 



THE woodlanders and their families at one 

 time, and that not very long ago, gained the 

 whole of their living in and about the woods, at 

 all times and seasons, by the practice of wood- 

 craft : which term comprised timber-felling and 

 planting, copse-cutting, hoop-making, or, as they 

 termed it, hoop-shaving, hurdle-work, making 

 plashed banks, and clearing out the wide 

 dykes that ran at the foot of these, together 

 with trug-making. Trugs are shallow wooden 

 baskets or trays most cleverly made out of wood 

 strips or laths the wood of the ash is best for 

 these rounded at each end, with a half-hoop 

 handle fixed in the centre to slip the arm 

 through, or to hold by the hand, as the case 

 may need. They range in size from those that 

 would hold half a bushel to tiny trugs just large 

 enough for a child to carry a root of primroses 

 or a few wild flowers home in. In fact, it is 



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