Page:Agricultural Notes on Hertfordshire.pdf/20

16 straw grown on the chalk soils at the north of the county is well fitted for the purpose. The straw drawers either purchase the straw in the bulk, and take away all that suits their purpose, or, more commonly, bargain to take, by weight, that only which they select. The farmer who has a crop fitted for the purpose has it reaped with great care, if the weather be fine, in an early stage of its maturity, leaving the sheaves open for a time till they are quite dry, and setting aside those in which the straw may be twisted; they are then placed, with care, in the rick or mow, so as to come out quite straight and uninjured. The person who is employed by the dealer to draw the straw takes a certain quantity from the sheaf and binds it quite tight with a leathern strap; he then places his parcel, thus formed, between his legs, takes a few straws at a time just beneath the ears and draws them out, until his other hand, to which he transfers them, is full, and ties the handful, like a gleaner, beneath the ears. The flag is removed by a coarse iron-toothed comb, the ears are cut off, and it is then handed to a second person, who makes up bundles about a foot in diameter, neatly bound with straw. The straw is then in a marketable state, and passes to the manufacturer to be sorted, cut into lengths, and so fitted for use. The waste is not so great as might be supposed, all the chaff and caving is left behind with the ears, and with much of the rough straw, which may be converted into manure. The operation puts the farmer to some inconvenience, but the price given is remunerative, amounting, on an average, to about a penny per pound, so that the value of the straw may exceed that of the corn.

The moral effects of this manufacture are often called in question; the early age at which the children are employed sadly hinders their education by keeping them from the village school; it indisposes and unfits them for domestic service, though it retains them at home and hinders their being subjected to the drudgery of field labour.

Although the vale of Ringtale, in the north of the county, gained a name of old for the Hertfordshire white flour, the land generally is better adapted to the coarser red wheats, and high farming cannot in this respect overuleoverrule [sic] the inherent quality of the soil.

To Mr. Hainworth, of Hitchin, great credit is due for the attention bestowed by him on the selection and improvement of wheats. He is a cultivator of Spalding, Syer’s Red, Red Straw White, Hopetown White, Red Lammas, and other wheats; and has given his own name to a variety raised by him from a