214 SKETCHES OF KURAL AFFAIRS. 



for drying damp or damaged sheaves in this country 

 would be very trifling. A frame-work of rough material 

 might be filled in with clay or turf, while any ordinary 

 roof would serve to cover in the building ; and where 

 peat is plentiful, the fuel would be of small cost. This 

 kind of kiln might likewise be employed in drying other 

 kinds of seeds, and also various provisions. 



The importance of securing the straw in good con- 

 dition will not be questioned by those who understand 

 the ordinary uses of wheat straw, and also the many im- 

 portant purposes it answers in the arts. All that kind 

 of work called Dunstable work, by which a great num- 

 ber of persons find employment throughout the king- 

 dom, is due to it ; and it also enters into the manufacture 

 of baskets, mattresses, hats, boxes, bee-hives, &c. Wheat- 

 straw is sometimes of great length, and forms a beau- 

 tiful thatch. The best specimens of thatching are seen 

 in the county of Devon. 



Every part of the wheat plant serves some useful 

 purpose. The very chaff, or outer husk of the corn 

 separated by threshing and winnowing, is not to be 

 despised. Tusser says of it : 



" Save chaff of the barley, of wheat, and of rye, 

 From feathers and foistiness, where it doth lie ; 

 Which mixed with corn, being sifted of dust, 

 Go give to thy cattle, when serve them ye must." 



What is more generally understood by "chaff" in the 

 present day, is hay, straw, &c. cut small for the purpose 

 of being given to horses and other cattle. This sort of 

 provender for live stock was employed at a very early 

 period, but the method of preparing it by the knife Avas 

 a later improvement, and was conducted for a long time 

 in a very rude manner. The hay, &c. was pressed down 

 in a trough, and then brought in small portions by hand 

 to the front edge, where it was cut through by a long 

 knife attached to a lever It was in the year 1797 

 that the first effective chaff-engine appeared, being the 



