154 SKETCHES OF RURAL AFFAIRS. 



wholesome, and nutritious food for our own tables, so 

 must every humane man feel pleasure in knowing that 

 a stock of wholesome provender has been laid up for his 

 cattle. He would wish that the creatures dependent on 

 his care should not only receive that which is necessary 

 for their subsistence, but should also find enjoyment in 

 their food, and thrive well upon it. 



The material for thatching a rick is generally straw, 

 drawn straight into bundles, which are handed up, one 

 at a time, on a hay-fork, for the use of the tbatcher ; 

 but when straw is deficient, rushes, ferns, or other tall 

 wild plants will answer the purpose. Where thatching 

 is performed in the best manner, it is carried on at the 

 same time on both sides of the rick, by two men who 

 begin at the same end, and work from the eaves to the 

 top. They lay the straw on in handfuls, taking care to 

 let each row overlay the former, as in slating or tiling a 

 roof. In this way they work upwards, and to a width 

 that can be conveniently reached with their arms, until 

 they meet at the top, where they lay some straw along 

 upon the ridge. The piece of thatch thus completed is 

 next switched down with a willow rod, and then se- 

 cured with a straw rope thrown across the rick and made 

 fast to its sides. As the work proceeds, other ropes are 

 stretched, both in a perpendicular and a horizontal di- 

 rection, interlacing each other, and keeping the thatch 

 quite secure from wind or rain. Where neatness of ap- 

 pearance is greatly regarded, the ends of the thatch are 

 cut evenly just below the eaves, leaving a sufficient 

 depth to allow the rain-water to run off quite clear of 

 the rick. If the situation of the rick is thought to be 

 too damp, a trench of six or eight inches in depth is 

 sometimes dug round the rick, and nearly close to it, 

 for the purpose of carrying off the water. 



When the hay-rick, at a later period, (perhaps in the 

 depth of winter,) comes to be cut up for use, it then 

 appeal's how well and closely packed have been the con- 

 tents. The poet Cowper well describes the cutting of a 



