CUTTING AND TRUSSING HAT. 155 



hay-rick to supply the wants of hungering animals in 



winter. 



" The cattle mourn in corners, where the fence 

 Screens them, and seem half petrified to sleep 

 In unrecumbent sadness. There they wait 

 Their wonted fodder ; not like hungering man, 

 Fretful if misapplied ; but silent, meek, 

 And patient of the slow-paced swain's delay. 

 He from the stack carves out the accustom'd load, 

 Deep-plunging, and again deep-plunging oft 

 His broad keen knife into the solid mass : 

 Smooth as a wall the upright remnant stands, 

 With such undeviating and even force 

 He severs it away ; no needless care 

 Lest storms should overset the leaning pile 

 Deciduous, or its own unbalanced weight." 



The hay-knife employed for this operation (which is 

 represented among the hay-making implements at page 

 138) is a strong and sharp implement, about two feet 

 and a half long and six inches wide. In using it the 

 labourer mounts a ladder, and cuts perpendicularly 

 through the thatch, leaving the side of the rick from 

 which he has been cutting, literally "smooth as a wall." 

 This is a task requiring considerable strength and some 

 skill. In this, as well as in other farming operations 

 where much mechanical dexterity is required, it is pleas- 

 ing to observe the skill of labouring men, by whom the 

 cutting-up of the hay and making it into trusses is, in 

 many cases, performed with great nicety and precision. 

 That side of the rick is chosen which is the least 

 exposed to the weather, and, generally, the cutting is 

 begun at the left-hand corner. For tying up the hay, 

 thumb-bands are formed of inferior hay, in the following 

 manner : A wisp of damp hay is held at both ends by 

 a boy, or other assistant. The binder then catches hold 

 of the wisp with the crook of an instrument, called a 

 windle or twiner, or (in some places) a thrmv-cock. 



This tool consists of a piece of iron, about a foot and 

 a half long, with a handle at one end and a crook at 



