Iron County register., 1882-06-08
The English Rick-Thatcher.

His is a specially of teamwork which
calls for considerable skill, and there
are men who follow it as profession
during the few weeks of the year
while it lasts Some small farmers
thatch their own stacks; and others,
who chance to have dexterous hand in
their employ, dispense with the services
of the regular rick-thatcher. Gener-
ally, however, he is called in, and as
both hay-ricks and wheatstacks after
being built are necessarily allowed to
stand some time, so that they may get
''set" before being thatched, the thatch-
er has an opportunity of undertaking
the work on several farms. Having
secured his engagements he goes from
one to the other in succession, as the
ricks become ready to have their winter
top-coat put on. A somewhat elaborate
affair this is, and rather costly one;
the thatch being of the best wheaton
straw, straight drawn, and separated
into ''handfuls," these laid on, ssrod-
ded" and "buckled down." with as
much care as though it were the thatch-
ing of a house. If the rickyard be
alongside or within near view of a
public road, extra pains are taken to
give everything trim, tidy appearance,
both farmer and thatcher taking pride
in this. The square or oblong-square
ricks, usually of hay, will have an elab-
crate plating along the ridge, while the
round ones of wheat, barley or oats
show on their SUBMITS cockade-like
tuft, sometimes globe-shaped, but more
frequently cut to resemble a wine glass,
and bearing that name. The pay
ment for rick-thatching is not by
the day, but by the fick or
stack, and of course varies according
to their size; and as the work is only
temporary, wages are high in proper
ton. Besides, the thatcher is no COM
mon farm hand, but a craftsman of
skill; usually man over middle age,
sober and steady in habits. Sometimes
he is an old man, but from having lived
a regular life still keeps hale and strong,
in every way up to his work, which, just
as with the plowman, he executes in a
superior manner.
When in autumn the thatching season
comes to an end, as it necessarily must, |
he betakes himself to some other calling,
which in nine cases out of ten is that of !
the hedger-another speciality of Eng |
lish labor requiring skill, knowledge and |
The 'spleaching'' of hedge /
is an art in itself, which an ordinary |
farm hand is not up to; work also |
which every winter furnishes employ
ment to goodly number of men for
several weeks, or even months. In most /
parts of England the farm fields are
fenced in with hawthorn hedges; the
thorns when young and 'squick'' being
planted in row, along the sloping face |
Of straight earthen embankment near
it's crest. They are protected by post
and rail till they attain sufficient growth
to form fence of themselves. In the
lapse of years their thick branching
heads will have gone up some three or
four feet above the earthen ridge, which
has become dilapidated, and between
their stoles there will be spaces wide
enough to let sheep through. Gaps, in
some districts called ''glats.'' will also
appear where horses or cattle have tax
en advantage of a weak place in the
hedge, and broken through it. Some.
lines, also, the hounds may have swept
over the farm, with ruck of galloping
making the ssglats' wider
md worse. To remedy all this and put
he fence in proper condition is the work
If the hedger, who is now employed to
'pleach" the hedge. This he does by
hacking the stems OF the thorns, bend.
ng them down, and working them into
/ waffle around ribs called 'shedgf.
takes" which he has already driven
irmly into the embankment forming the
,ase of the fence. The stems are hacked
Ibout two feet above the ridges crest,
md just enough to make them breaka-
lie; then they are laid down horizon.
ally, or nearly so, and though crushed,
continue to grow; the hawthorn beings
lardy shrub and difficult to kill. In
many hedges the stoles stand too thick
o admit of this bending over one an.
ther; in which case some are cut clean
brough, dragged out, and so thinned to
equirement. When there are long
reaks, as often happens, these are
nade good by stakes and wicker OF
etached branches; but this soon de.
ays, and needs renewal nearly every
ear.-Captasa May,se Reid. in ~ y
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