TOOLS AND RURAL INDUSTRIES 



185 



In the old days wheat was often dibbled. A labourer 

 with a pair of dibbling-irons walked backwards across the 

 field, dibbling two lines of holes. Two children, 

 six or seven years old, followed him, dropping 

 a grain or two into each hole. It was said 

 that dibbled wheat grew finer than any other. 

 Peas and beans were sometimes sown in the 

 same way. These irons are a little shorter 

 than walking-sticks ; their bluntly-pointed ends 

 can be thrust into the ground at a fair pace, 

 the two hands working alternately. 



The old wooden plough is seldom seen now, 

 though it lingers on one good old farm within 

 reach, and is well liked by the men who work 

 it. It is generally used with two coulters, Dibbling-Iron 

 though only one was in place when this picture 

 was done. A forked stick lies along the left-hand stilt, the 

 forked end resting in an iron loop on the inside of the thick 

 end of the beam. It is for the ploughman to reach and hook 

 away, without stopping his team, anj T roots or tough weedy 

 rubbish that hangs up between the share and coulters. 



I can remember when corn was commonly threshed with 



the flail. The old people about here always called it frail. 



It is interesting to examine the simple old tool and see how 



it was made. The picture shows a little more than half its 



length. The right-hand part is the handle ; the left, the 



swingel (soft 'g' as in angel). The head of the handle has an 



iron pin with a flat head. The pin passes down into the 



handle, and is riveted in place through its neat iron ferrule. 



It is a rather dainty piece of blacksmith's work. All the rest 



was made on the farm, of ash and raw hide. 



2 A 



