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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1974-08-14, Page 723 25 4 2 3 S 6 1 8 10 13 II p I2 20 43 14 2 IS 19 24 27 29 3 40 2 26 30 34. 37 38 4i CROSSWORD PUZZLE ...=.0q TODAY'S ANSWER ACROSS 1, Early Britisher 5, Small fly- catcher 10, French tapestry center 12. "- You Glad You're Yott?" 13, John lloward 14, Greek island 15, Letter before theta 16.Fish eggs 18, Apiece 19. Second- hand tire 21. Way- farer's stopover 22. Departed 3. Theater group 24.Unpleas- ant encounter 26, Broadway bank,. roller 27, Tumult 28,In a line 29. Shrew 36, Language of Peru 33. OnaSsis 3t High. lander's 36, headwear Irish crowning, stone 6, Carlo or „ Cassino ca 4°' '`t,Lee Masters 41. Jostle 42. Famous Italian family 43. Daunted DOWN 1. "It's Only a - Moon" 2. Seeing red 3. Ladies usually do (3 wds.) 4. Hosiery shade 5. Walked 6. Fall into sin 7. Salix babylo- nica (2 wds.) 8. Compact twixt nations v HAS `9'1. NN 3AbHS 131S MO -NV 1 * d -13NV 1:104 NVdS 1 tl asmAllaisaa v ?:IV 1 a.LNoW lad C13 V az:fa oaol awaps IN311111 CIV3b.1.3b A aomOvia 31.3 AV d el irN iNatilv svaztv 3 3M 31ct ID id 9. Having 28. Bra- always zilian existed tree 11. Placid 30. Cubic 17. Cereal meter plant 31. Screen - 20. Gamblers' lug mecca device 23. Soon, 32. Loathed 24. Vaporized 37. Do 25. Oxidize fancy- 26. Comrade work to D'Ar- 39. Wild tagnan sheep Harvesting the old way scythe of his cradle with the well-worn whet-stone carried in his tattered hip pocket, he frequently saw the binder with hig long-handled, broad, wooden rake mopping his brow and trying desperately to catch up. "The cradle he made, at harvest-time swung low To his patch of grain. He knotted with stalks the shining sheaf and Stacked it to stand the rain." Big Sheaves Often those who followed the cradle were apt to make big sheaves where the crop was heavy and little sheaves where the grain yield was light and the swath would have to be raked foi. some distance to get a proper bundle to be bound by hand. The horse-drawn reaper appeared in Canada during the last half of the nineteenth century and made hat vest-time less wearisome but the stalks, I understand, still had to be bound by hand into sheaves. Often the toilers had to halt to mop their drippng brows. "With drowsy cadence half a summer's day The clatter of the reaper comes and goes." Self-binder With the advent of the self-binder drawn by three horses and later by the farm tractor, the sheaves were more or less of uniform size tied with binder-twine bought in balls measuring some 650 feet. At first these sheaves were kicked out intermittently and irregularly depending upon the density and evenness of the standing grain. With the coming of the sheaf-carrier operated by foot levers, the sheaves could be dropped off in windrows making shocking less arduous. Stooking like other farm occupations has undergone a change. The original shocks were works of art. The work was done manually, each sheaf having to be picked up, one under each arm and placed in position. A stook usually consisted of some ten or twelve sheaves built in a straight line in which the first two sheaves were braced against each other and gently tapped into place with the alternate foot. With the introduction of the sheaf-carrier the round stook consisting of about the same number of sheaves came into prominence and could be set up more hurriedly with the aid of the universal pitch-fork. After a lapse of a week or so depending upon weather conditions, the sheaves had to be drawn to the barn for storage to await the threshing machine. There was no machine in the East for loading the sheaves nor, in many instances, for unloading them. They had to be bandied with a fork and to put in a full day at this was to know what labour meant. In Western Canada a loader was used to lift a stook and drop it mechanically into the wagon with sides and ends encased. In the barn while one pitched the sheaves individually, another placed them in position with the heads directed one way. This careful mowing meant ..asier work at threshing time. With the introenction of slings each load could be despatched in four bundles and Mowing became a More or leSs hurried performance leading to certain crude expletives by those workmen in the mow on threshin d g ay, Few binders are in evidence on farms to4day. The invention of modern Machinery has made harvesting a ninth less physical exertion than formerly, -While we hail progress we tip our hat to those of other days Who garnered their crops using the tools at hand. W. G. Strong In most gait of Ontario, harvesting the grain is the order of the day and progresses more rapidly and with less effort than half a century ago. No longer is the sound of the reaper heard in the land, rarely the clacking of the binder but from all quarters comes' the hum of the mobile, self-propelled mechanical monster, the combine, No one will deny the fact that harvesting is as old as human history though the instruments used in early days differ greatly from those now employed. In retrospect one conjured up changes in the harvesting process wrought by the hand of Time. In this new land where the fields were too uneven, irregular or stumpy for successful work with the cradle, sickles were used. Some may still be found in implement sheds. This primitive tool consisted of a steel blade curved in the form of a hook and on one end was a handle fitted on a tang. In some sickles the blade was serrated on the concave side for cutting but usually the blade had a smooth, keen cutting edge. The sickle was held in one hand while the other was used to grasp a quantity of st anding grain which was held firmly as the sickle was applied to cut the stem. As the farmer cut the grain he was able to lay every straw in its place and produce sheaves that for square butts, evenness and compactness equalled that of the self-binder, Despite the fact that this was arduous and time-consuming for any male, the women-folk were not averse to lending a hand. Wordsworth tells us that he came upon a solitary Highland lass reaping and singing by herself. "Alone she cuts and binds the grain And sings a melancholy strain.'-'e "I saw her singing at her work And o'er the sickle bending." Sickle used The sickle was employed by the ancient Jews and Egyptians and continued in use by the civilized nations down to the latter part of the nineteenth century. Probably few regretted its passing and was supplanted by the scythe. The scythe was used for mowing as well as reaping. It consisted of a long, curved blade attached to a handle and was swung from right to left by the workman holding it by two short handles attached to the principal one. Scythes are still in use but less frequently than formerly. Lampman tells us about a familiar scene of yesterday. "Long hours ago, while yet the morn • was blithe Nor sharp athirst had drunk the beaded dew, A mower came and swun g his gleaming scythe Aound this stump, and, shearing slowly, drew Far round among the clover, ripe for hay, A. circle clean and gray," • The scythe is used mostly for cutting grass and weeds on small farms, fence cotters or vacant town lots. Later a framework of wooden bars was fastened to the handle above the blade thus forming a cradle which was used' for cutting grain before the era of the McCotthick reaper ifivented in the United States in 1834, Cradling was work, for giant arms and shoulders. With his old turkey-Wing cradle many a pioneer vouched for the fad that few binders could keep up with him as he Went swinging down the field. As he paused at the end of the swath prepared to sharpest the Remembering... ews of Ethel Local people attend family reunion, wedding Correspondent Mrs.Chester Earl Mr. a nd Mrs. Gary Crozier and son of Kitchener, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jones and family, Milverton, Mrs. Russ Annett of 13rossels, Mr, and Mrs. Gordon McDonald of Senlac, Sask visited Mr, and Mrs. Les Crozier. Visitors with Mr. and Mrs, Ge Lynn were Mr. and Mrs. Geo, Lynn Jr. of Toronto. Mr, and Mrs. Dennis Earl and Correspondent Mrs.Mac Engel Personals Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Huether spent a few days last week with their son Gerald and. Mrs. Huether and daughters, Cambridge, Mr. and Mrs. Don Jacklin, Tracy and Danny, Bloomingdale, visited Mr, and Mrs. Earl Dunn. Misses Lynn, Sandra and Barbara Cameron spent several days at Sauble Beach. Mr. and Mrs. Don Hutchinson and family, Schomberg, were Thursday night visitors with Mr, and Mrs. W.G.Elliott. Mrs. Bill Henry, London, is spending the week' with Mrs. Stuart McNait Mrs. Emma McCallum, St. Th camas, is visiting her sister Mrs. Lyle Gordon. Mrs, M. Becker, Kitchener, visited M. and Mrs, Jack Conley. Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Huether are holidaying at Point Clark. Mr. .,`Yorclon Morris stowq, home ;parley his. d Mrs; ..turned CUs tour s, .on and London and I s also itionship I u tants, varying person's work, A 're have ing in impairs 'pedal!), events involve ,igarette t heart cise by and by earbbn cooking level of after how an ct you t you n. Janice of Owen Sound visited Mr. and Mrs. Chester Earl over the weekend. Mrs. John Vine of London visited Mrs. Carl McDonald and Mr: and Mrs, Chester Earl over the weekend. • Visitors with Mr. and Mrs. percy Stephenson were Mrs. Doug Jess and,. Maureen of Hamilton. Mrs. Estelle Fritz and Eleanor of Wat erloo visited Mrs. Elsie and Mrs, Gordon Engel and family spent the ,past week at Amberley. Gerald Knight, little son of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Knight, is in Listowel Hospital. • Mr. and Mrs. Cliff Brodhagen and family, Thorold, visited Mr. and Mrs. Howard Mitchell. Visitors with Mr. and Mrs. McEachern were Mr. and Mrs. Barrie Gandier of Chicago, 111; Mr. and Mrs. Vic Hoggarth ol Exeter and Mr. John Beckett ol Preston-Cambridge. Mr. and Mrs. Bill Muchan, London, were Sunday visitors with Mr. and Mrs. Earl Dunn. Every week more and more people discover what mighty jobs arc accomplished by-low cost Post Want Ads. Dial Brussels 887-6641. Cunningham, Fire destroyed the barn of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Blake last week. Mr. and Mrs, Cecil Raynard returned home from a trip down east to visit relatives, Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Campbell and Paul of Chatham called on Mr. and Mrs. Chester Earl Saturday, Mr. and Mrs.Howard Ellis attended a family reunion at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Thomson in Toronto over the weekend. Mr. and Mrs. John Allison and family of Kitchener visited Mr. and Mrs. Les Crozier. Mr. and Mrs, Wm. Hewitt visited Sunday in Bright with Mr, and Mrs. Geo. Quick and Mrs, H. Walters. Mr. and Mrs, S. C.' Lamont were visitors with Mr, and Mrs, Gordon Attrell of Lindsay, and Mr. and Mrs, Art Lamont of White Rock, B.C. Mrs. Edythe Cardiff and. Mr. Geo. Gray, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Speiran attended the wedding and reception of Miss Bernice McCann and Mr. Robert Kraut er in Windsor, Saturday. News of Cranbrook Visitors vacation in the village 111WSSICIA AVAIST 14, 104-4