RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



threshing small bunches of the straw across the teeth of 

 a hetchel, thereby straightening the fibers and combing 

 out the small pieces. As many as six hetchels were 

 sometimes used if especially fine linen was desired, and 

 it was astonishing that so small a quantity was left for 

 further manipulation. But it was also surprising to see 

 how much thread a small handful of good fiber would 

 make. Thus after twenty handlings of the flax it was 

 only ready to spin. When spun and reeled it was ready 

 to be bleached in the thread, and various bleachings 

 marked the finished product. 



As more cattle came to be kept, it became necessary 

 to house winter food for them. The great meadows 

 produced native grasses, but the early settlers regarded 

 these with scant favor and imported seed from England 

 to improve the grass lands. This custom has been kept 

 up, and now, nearly three hundred years since the first 

 settlement in New England, there is, with the exception 

 of Phleum pratense, the herd's grass or timothy, not a 

 native grass deemed worthy of cultivation. And the 

 botanists are trying to prove that the quaint little tradi- 

 tion of Timothy Herd and his native grass must go into 

 tradition's scrap heap along with the stories of the 

 apple and cherry tree. 



However, there were big hay fields, and up to about 

 1850 these were all cut by hand. One aged farmer thus 

 tells his first experience: "Say, I've got the first half 



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