26 The Guernsey Breed 



to store hay, so it is nearly all stacked out of doors in great 

 stacks containing up to 50 tons. Because of the difficulty 

 of curing the hay it is often stacked quite damp, and wooden 

 chimneys a foot square and with sides bored full of holes are 

 frequently placed in these stacks to allow the moisture to 

 escape more easily as the sweating process goes on. These 

 hay stacks are a work of art and, when they are through 

 sweating and settling, they are frequently very carefully 

 thatched with rye straw, giving the hay as much protection 

 from the elements as a barn. 



The farmers there will tell you that thatching is becoming 

 a lost art, and many are now constructing ricks for their hay 

 by setting tall upright poles and having a roof made of cor- 

 rugated galvanized steel roofing that slides up and down on 

 the poles so that it can be kept close to the top of the stack 

 for protection. 



While one sees many American and English farm tools 

 about the farms, especially mowers, tedders and rakes, much 

 of the work is done by hand labor that would be done by 

 machinery in this country. One will not wonder at this, how- 

 ever, when one finds that the average price of farm labor on 

 the island is $12 a month, the men boarding themselves. In 

 the spring of 1912 I brought a young man over with me, 19 

 years of age, who was working for a farmer on Alderney for 

 the munificent sum of 4s currency per week, which is equal 

 to 92c in our money, and for board he seldom had anything 

 else than bread and tea. It is little wonder, then, that every 

 young man who can get an opportunity to emigrate leaves 

 home at once. Not all of them who come to Canada and the 

 United States adapt themselves to the conditions of work and 

 living in this country, so that they become contented, hence 

 quite a few of them eventually find their way back home. 



Some of these returned Guernsey men, however, have ac- 

 quired a competence while in this country, and two of them, 

 once successful New York merchants, have given the island 

 a very good free library, called after them the Guille-Allez 

 Library. 



Like every other country in Europe, these islands have 

 contributed many settlers to the United States who have 

 settled in community groups. One will find in these places 

 relatives of nearly every family on the island Guernsey 

 county, Ohio, was first settled by people from this island. 



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