RURAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN 1641. 57 



barley. Sty-gate flatte served 15 pease-piillers three whole 

 dayes and rather more. Oui' usuaU mannei- is to sette 5 pease- 

 pullers to one broade lande, and sometimes but 4, if they bee all 

 men ; and sometimes again e on a lande. Wee imploy aboute 

 this labom our mowers, binders, and onely some of the ablest 

 outhggers, wheare we thinke good. The men have 8d. a day, 

 and the women 6d. a day ; they usuaUy make the right hande 

 furre the fan^e furre, and theiin goe usuaUy women and the 

 weakest soi-te of them. When wee perceive mowinge to gi'owe 

 to an ende, then doe wee seeke out om- pease-hookers, grinde 

 them and lye them in readinesse, pro^ddinge for every one of 

 our owne folkes one, and likemse reser\4nge 4 or 5 in store for 

 such day-taile folkes as have not of theire owne. The best 

 time for pullinge of pease is in wette weather and dewy morn- 

 inges, for that may bee done best att such times when the 

 gi'ownd is the wettest and softest ; then doe they come up by 

 the rootes with most ease ; againe they pull the best when they 

 are the most feltered togeather. Pease-pullers allwayes lye one 

 of theire handes viz. ; theire uppermost hand, juste on the ende 

 of the shafte, holdinge it somethinge under the shafte ; and 

 theire nethennost hande they allwayes lye above the shafte ; 

 and soe strike they with theire hooke neare imto the rootes of 

 the pease ; and soe strikinge they eyther breake the stalkes, 

 cutte the stalkes, or else pulle them up by the rootes ; and 

 then, ever as they strike, they rowle them on forwards, tum- 

 blinge them over and over tiU there bee as many as they thinke 

 sufficient for a reape, and then doe they parte them, and tlu'owe 

 by the reape. Pease-pullers are to bee admonished that in 

 makinge of theire reapes, they allwayes observe to timible them 

 well over, and wrappe them up rownde, that they lye not flatte 

 towardes the grownd ; for then doe they drinke up raine, and 

 keepe longe wette and moist. They are hkewise to bee fore- 

 warned that they make not theire reapes too bigge, for then are 

 they unweeldy and troviblesome, both to forke to the waine, 

 and Hkewise from the waine to the stacke ; and besides, if they 

 gette any wette, then are they longe erre they dry. They are 

 alsoe to bee forewarned that they wi-appe as fewe tliistles and 

 greenes amongst theire reapes as possibly they can, and then 

 the pease of themselves wiU bee soone welked and dry. Twelve 

 pease reapes goe to a cocke, and 14 and sometimes 16 cockes to 

 a loade ; but it is an unusuall tliinge to cocke pease, imlesse it 

 bee wheare they pay tithe, and then they must of necessity bee 

 cocked ; but om- use and custome is to soe our pease allwayes 

 on our Demaine flattes, and then are wee neaver troubled with 

 cockinge of them, unlesse it bee to preserve them from dewes 



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