CHAPTER IX 



TOOLS AND RURAL INDUSTRIES 



The greater number of the hand-tools in use in country 

 places have gone on, without appreciable change of form or 

 method of using, for hundreds of years. These tools have 

 come by their forms simply from necessity, and when they 

 have arrived at what is most convenient for an unchanging 

 kind of use, there they remain. The form and size and 

 weight have become fixed for certain classes of work. There 

 may be slight local distinctions, and the tool may be in two 

 or three sizes, but that is all. 



It is only when whole ranges of conditions of life change, 

 and certain industries cannot be carried on in the old ways, 

 that the tools must alter to fit the newer needs. 



Nearly the whole of the change from hand labour to 

 machine work in agriculture has taken place within my 

 recollection. In the old days hay was mown with the 

 scythe, and made with the fork and rake. All the tools 

 wanted hung in a small space in the labourer's back-kitchen 

 or outhouse. Sometimes there was a large three-pronged 

 wooden fork — a tool of great antiquity, but later used only 

 for barley ; and the farmer had a wide drag-rake with iron 

 teeth. But for the actual needs of hay-making there were 

 but three tools — scythe, fork, and wooden rake. 



Now, to be fully equipped for hay-making, there are a 

 number of horse implements, the larger ones requiring a pair 



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