Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/494

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. I. JUNE 18, '98.

of harrows were not always of iron, but sometimes of wood. He says :

" There be horse-harowes, that have tyndes of wodde; and those be vsed moche about Ryppon, and suche other places, where be many bufder- stones. For these stones wold weare the yren to soorie, and those tyndes be mooste commonly made of the grounde ende of a yonge asshe, and they be more thanne a fote longe in the begynnynge, and stande as moche aboue the harowe as benethe." 'Book of Husbandry,' E.D.S., p. 25.

Fitzherbert knew farm harrows as inti- mately as our grandfathers did, and there had probably been little change in their form or structure. On the light lands in Lincolnshire harrows with wooden teeth were in use not very long since. I think I have seen examples, but am not absolutely certain. Dr. Murray's collections, however, demonstrate that harrows were known at an early period. I appropriate two examples. In the 'Cursor Mundi' "plogh and haru" occur. Of course it may be maintained that the harrow here spoken of was a bush- harrow; but in an instance quoted from the romance of 'Alexander' (circa 1400-50) this interpretation will not stand, for we read of " a harrow forheld ouer with tyndz." Whether these tines were of wood or iron we cannot tell. My opinion is that harrows were known in Britain about as soon as the cultivation of land began to be performed by the agency of oxen or horses; and I think, moreover, it is highly probable that representations of them will be found in illuminated manuscripts of considerable antiquity. The reason why harrows other than bush-harrows were not come upon by Prof. Rogers may be that they were made on the farm by the tenant's own hands, and that he would get the timber for the purpose from his lord's woods, probably under the designation of "plough-boot," for I have never met with the term "harrow- boot," though it would not surprise me if it were found.

The bush -harrow, every farmer knows, though of service for some purposes, is useless for others where the toothed harrow acts satisfactorily. It may be well to add that in Gervaise Markham's ' Farewell to Hvsbandry,' 1649, there is an engraving of a bush-harrow, with a description of the way in which it is put together, and in the margin the reader is informed that this is " A new way of Harrowing" (pp. 70, 71). This seems to indi- cate that the bush-harrow was not a familiar implement in every part of the country. An English family called Harrow bore three harrows joined by what is called a wreath, but which is, in fact, the iron ring or piece of rope by which the harrows were

fastened together so as to form a triplet (Guillim, ' Display of Heraldry,' 1679, p, 214). It would be interesting to know how far back this bearing can be traced.

EDWARD PEACOCK. Dunstan House, Kirton-in-Lindsey.

TEA GROWN IN RUSSIA. In the official

Viedomosti Sanct-Peterburgskavo Gradonat- chalstva (Gazette of the Prefectship of St. Petersburg) of Tuesday, 17 (29) March, there is a notice, under the heading of ' Government Intelligence,' to the effect that "on Saturday, 14 March, O.S., Popoff, tea mer- chant, had the happiness of being presented to his Imperial Majesty, in order to submit to his Majesty some tea which he had grown, gathered, and prepared for use in 1897, being the first crop of Russian-grown tea."

This may be worth recording, if we remem- ber at what comparatively recent dates the vine was introduced into the Crimea, and British sheep into the south of Russia, and what success has attended these acclimatiza- tions. H. E. M. St. Petersburg.

HAMPTON COURT PALACE. In the course of the excavations for the effluent pipe of the new Thames Valley drainage along the towing path by the Palace gardens, it appears, from the following account in the Daily News of 13 June, that

" between the railings of the private gardens oppo- site the end of Queen Mary's bower, the foundations of the old water-gate or ' water gallery,' built by Henry VIII., have been cut through. The walls or piers are of immense thickness, being no less than twenty-five feet wide, of the hardest chalk, faced with stone. The opening through which the State barges passed is clearly discernible. On these massive foundations, which were built in the river, formerly rose a large picturesque building of several stories. The structure was famous for being the place in which Queen Elizabeth was kept by her sister as a prisoner of State, and in which s&e was privately visited by Philip II. It was afterwards occupied by the consort of William of Orange while Sir Christopher Wren was building the new State apartments, and after her death it was demolished, by order of William III., as ob- structing the view of the river from his windows."

K S. S.

" PAEJAMA." In a recent Punch there is a nursery sketch in which a nice little girl gives the alarm that Bobby 's out of bed, and running about in his " bananas." The title of the sketch is ' In Strange Attire.' Strange; but not much more strange than that which I find in the hosiery department of a trade circular : " Pyiamas are now used to a large extent instead of nightshirts," a statement corresponding to which would be " Breeches are now used to a large extent instead of