TOOLS AND RURAL INDUSTRIES 199 



length, with vertical holes to hold the uprights that form, as 

 it were, the warp of the hurdle. These are round rods, 

 pointed at the bottom ; they are driven into the holes and 

 stand upright. The man then weaves in horizontally the 

 smaller split rods till he has filled up the hurdle. When 

 he comes to either end he gives the rod a clever twist that 

 opens the fibres and gives it something the character of a 

 rope, so that it passes, tough-stranded and unbroken, round 

 the end uprights. In the middle of the hurdle, about one- 

 third down from the top, he leaves an open space. This is 

 for the shepherd to slip his hand into, to carry two hurdles 

 at a time, one under each arm ; or he puts two or three 

 together, passes a stake through the opening, and carries them 

 on his back with the stake over his shoulder. 



The hurdle-maker wears a stout leather pad on his left 

 side to protect his clothing where the rub of the loose 

 rods in weaving and splitting would otherwise tear them 

 about. Some of the men use two tools, some only one. 

 This is a form of hand-bill that acts as chopper, cleaving 

 tool, mallet, and, held short by the back of the blade, as a 

 knife to trim off projecting ends and give the work a general 

 tidying up. 



The old local word rozzling, rostling, or rahstling stands 

 for an industry akin to hurdle-making, but coming within 

 the work of the hedger. It is the making of a wattled fence 

 on a hedge-bank. The hedger drives in stout stakes a few 

 inches apart and weaves or rostles in his rods of hazel, 

 ash, oak, or chestnut. Two thicker rods at the top, worked 

 together and crossing between each stake, make a firm 

 finish. 



The shepherd's crook is a tool from the earliest ages. It 

 is for catching a sheep by the hind leg. The one shown is of 



