1921.] 



Besom-making. 



441 



birch because they are out of reach of the moors ; they make 

 them for a few old regular customers and only keep on the 

 trade because it has come to them from the previous genera- 

 tion and they have got the habit of it, while for their main liveH- 

 hood they rely on something else. The only man to use 

 split ash was one of the part-time workers. The old method 

 of pressing the brush into shape was done by gripping the 

 ash or cane in an instrument known as a " stool " or 

 " saddle," which stood on the floor, and pulling. The strain 

 then came on the binding and often broke it before it was put 

 in place. With the iron foot-press the strain comes on the 

 heather where every ounce of it is an advantage. The press 

 is so simple that after a brief description of it any village 

 blacksmith can make it. 



Quantities. — The time it takes to cut and fetch heather, 

 and the quantity in a load, differ. From Mansfield it was 

 said to take three days to cut and bring in a load. Six armfuls 

 of heather was called a bundle and there were forty bundles 

 in a load ; one bundle made a dozen besoms and one old man 

 and his son used five bundles in a day. 



From Chestei-field one load of heather took only one day 

 to cut and fetch. There were 160 bundles of heather in a 

 load, but each bundle only made seven besoms at the outside, 

 and sometimes only five or six. Distance from the workshop 

 to the moor would make the difference in the time it took 

 to cut and bring in, but there must also have been a difference 

 in the size of the bundles. 



Prices. — The usual price for the completed besoms seems to 

 be 6s. 6d. or 7s. a dozen. It is difficult to estimate the cost 

 of heather; one man considered that carting it cost him 8s. 

 to 10s. a load, but when the price of a carter with his horse 

 and cart is usually reckoned in the same neighbourhood to be 

 about £1 a day this would seem to be under-estimated unless 

 there is some special arrangement. Besom-makers who em- 

 ploy more than one or two men find it convenient to keep a 

 horse and cart of their own, and for those who are part-time 

 besom-makers the occupation into which it best fits is found 

 to be carting. 



Beson stakes cost 4s. to 5s. a hundred, where before fho 

 War they were Is. Gd. a hundred. In some districts, especially 

 near Chesterfield where there are several besom-makers and 

 few trees, they may have to be sent from some distance. When 

 this occurs the price may be doubled by railway carriage, and 

 stakes will cost, perhaps, 8s. a hundred. 



