MANX FARMING
I
I
AND
COUNTRY LIFE
Carting Corn
to
Stacks
work
oats
leading up to the harvest of
barley or wheat started with the
winter
ploughing
of the field
In
March the soil would be broken up finer to
make a seed bed using the harrows In April
the seed
corn was sown
farmer sowed the
corn
In
early
straight
times the
onto
the
it
The
evenly
shower
start
as
this
grain
was
Later
on a
piece
of cloth
or
an
sacking
shoots the bruet
as
it
was a
very
responsible job
to
properly
patches of
sown
give
If the seed had
soil amongst the bruet
a
scatter
Seed
to
scattered there would
special way around the shoulders was used to
the days before corn drills
carry the grain In
the
farmer
used
himself would sow the
were
grain
thought
during a
a good
it
long the green shoots ofthe corn
showing Manx farmers called these
oabbyr
tied in
often
Before
would be
furrows He walked up and down the field
scattering it from a hopper made of straw and
bound with brambles called
was
Sowing Hopper
not
been
be bare
The time of harvest
GROWING CORN
between
By
the second half of the nineteenth century
farmers
most
either
fiddle or
using
drill and the old skill of
were
horse drawn
corn
sowing
broadcast
corn
After the
in
a
died
gradually
out
sometimes after it
corn was sown
the field
August
closed for their
the
of the
in their
corn
parish
spare time using pieces of granite In earlier
times a large piece offlat rock with a chain at
OLD WAYS OF REAPING
each end would be
was
dragged
flatten it or sometimes a
timber rather like a door
across a
heavy
flat
field
piece
to
of
was
called
when
ripe
In
years of bad weather farmers would still be
trying to rescue their corn in the middle of
October
bruet
the weather
summer
rolled
Stone
rollers about 1 20 metres long were often
used
Foxdale miners made these in their
was
on
holidays then
Holiday
according to
Harvest
most
depended
and October and schools
There
were
great
changes
last century in the
The age old way of cutting
toothed sickle using a sawing
corn was cut
way
corn was
with
action whilst
hand
a
a
bunch of corn
The old sickles had
was held
in
one
edge like a fine
toothed saw Later on smooth edged sickles
then scythes Scythes seem to have
were used
sickles
replaced
by about 1850 There were
of
different types
scythes some with cradle
some
with
massive straight handles
handles
continued
in use for
Scythes
cutting the
an
around the borders of fields
roads
even
after
mechanical reapers and binders came into
use
Sometimes scythes and sickles continued
to be used in
heavy
Wheat
Oats
Barley
In the
days
before there
harvesters and the
made into sheaves
to
weed the
thistles
corn
corn
Women
either
double
hands
corn
were
mechanical
it
out
the thistles with
thickness of woollen sock
or cut
them whilst
using a special
weeding corn
and
cut
they
Band
Sickle
a
Everyone had to help at harvest time in the
days before mechanical reapers and binders
Local tradesmen women and children joined
on
their
farmers and their workers
were still
small
fields Babies would be
thistle weeder
People stopped
when binders
came
into
use
There
and
placed
corn
in
continued
brashlagh
flowers of the
or
charlock
plant
known
as
in
in the harvest
wrapped in a blanket
a sheltered place at the edge of
the field whilst their mothers worked in the
were many other weeds in corn fields
sometimes the field would be almost covered
yellow
Flail
important
was
crop as it grew to remove the
and children weeded the
pulling
by
Rye
had to be
by hand
of fields flattened
patches
rain
field Work in the harvest would start at
seven
in the
in
the
by
morning
the
evening
light
and
sometimes
of the Harvest Moon
Men would
shear with the sickle
would follow
women
lifting the
by children
bands made
straw
in the days of sickles
butt in
hollow
Ploughmans
up into
worked
men
Life
the
butts
for how
butts
See
a field was
Often there
between shearers
to see who cut
poor work and
to
either side of
on
in from the clash
pairs cutting
between
this led
on to
and
would tie the bands The shearers
following
a
scythe
or
corn
cut
or
A
divided
were
races
fastest and
fingers
Detail of
fitting
for adjusting handle
to
suit
height
of
user
DRYING AND CARTING
STACKING
The sheaves of
had
corn
next
be put
stooks to
to
standing upright in groups called
dry The stooks were made of ten sheaves
placed in pairs leaning against one another
with the grain at the top In earlier times these
were eight upright sheaves and the other pair
placed on top as a kind of covering
In the
haggart
the
corn
the
bogies
would be
building
The farmer liked to do this
himself and
pride
ready
the boss
stacks from the sheaves forked off
stacks
good
were
job
a matter
of
The bases of the stacks would be made
from
Later on when the
gorse
taken down for threshing the
corns tacks were
almost
gorse bons or sticks made good
smokeless fuel for baking on the griddle
On
some
farms there
were
permanent raised
stack bases
Field of Stooks
could go on for weeks when the
was unsettled
If the weather was
Harvesting
weather
good the
stacking
corn in
the stooks would be ready for
in nine
or ten
days
In
rainy
seasons
when the stooks stood for weeks in the fields
Suggane
Twister
the
grain would sprout green shoots and be
wasted Bad harvests in early times led to dear
Some of the stacks would be shaped
bread and famine
rectangular
If all
went
well the farmer
without sides
home the
dry
a
be
sheaves
to
A crofter
the house
with
would
sledge
or
were
bogies
carts
sent
out to
bring
the
might
haggard
pieces
bring
up with handrakes or
A mankiller had about twenty
curved metal teeth each about 40cm
a
wooden frame
across
in his
of corn in the fields
gathered
mankillers
in
near
have to make do
wheelbarrow to
All the loose
corn
s
a
field
by
This
a
was
handle
long
set
dragged
to and
and its
name
suggests the hard work involved In later
times the horserake as used for hay made
the
job
much easier
base
others
on
The circular bases
were
shaped something
like
bee hive and
called
thurrans
were
were more
stack builder often
inspect
it and would
a
made into stacks
an
old fashioned
thurrans
A
down of the stack
to
use a
to
spade
look
The
at
pleasing
came
on
circular bases
to
knock in
the bases
of any sheaves sticking out
Thurrans were the old type of Manx stacks
and used
sheaves
thrashing
the
to
be built
to
contain the amount of
which could be dealt with in
one
with the flails
A third type of stack
small loose stack of not more
shig a
fifty sheaves often made in wet harvests
and built loosely to allow the wind to blow
through Stacks were thatched with rushes or
straw to keep out the rain
They were tied
was
than
down with twisted rope of straw suggane
Coir rope was used in later
or fine rushes
times
Binders
A Thurran and
a
Rectangular
at
work
Stack
HARVEST CELEBRATIONS
There
MECHANICAL REAPERS
celebrations
were
Mechanical reapers came into use in the
l860 s At first the machines only did the
cutting
lots ofworkers
so
lift and tie the sheaves
used here
was
known
were
still needed
to
The first
as
corn reaper
the buckle heckle
pulled by four horses and requiring a hand
rake to pull the corn on to the platform The
early reapers could only be used on larger
farms but soon local blacksmiths began to
make lighter ones pulled by a single horse and
this put them within the reach of
farmers
most
completion
shearing was completed
Mheillea
the
day
women
Queen
as
the
of the
and would hold up the last sheaf to
the highest point of the field This
cheers
on
would
act as a
that
the
of the
one
workers would be selected
mark
to
of harvest On
there
elsewhere
neighbouring farmer
to a
signal
were
workers free for
A little
babban
reaping
harvest doll
or
would be decorated with ribbons and kept in
the farmhouse until
On the
night
harvest
was
year
of the Mheillea
in
harvest
s
or
when the
safely
haggard there
meal
with dancing
harvest
special
of
farms
would be
neighbours
nearby
would be
All
next
the
a
invited
to
supper A young beef an ox
would often be killed for the occasion and
the remainder of it salted down for winter
use
An old
lady
with memories of
occasion told of
some
plum
cake
one
of these
soda bread and cheese
and
a
cask of
Quayle
s
ale
from Castle town
could
eat
all very plain but everyone
and drink as much as they wanted
then
They
Shakes the
step danced The Wind that
Barley etc from the corners of
the Kitchen
Horse Rake
The first
self
known
binders
as
the l880
binding
The
s
binders
two or
Dancing
farmer
three
himself
armed with
roads
binder
the
now
cut
s
HeritaBe
long whip
The only
and
was
in
fiddles The celebrations
o
place outside
on
the
grass field beside the house
supplied on concertinas and
a
clock in the
went on
until
two or
morning
o
bound
round
by hand were those on the
the edge of the field for the
then delivered
binder twine
by
a
binder
first circuit The
corn
done
the
some way They
puddings stewed
home made jam and
sometimes took
easement or
Music
sheaves
Manx
pulled by
the middle in
pinjane
apples rhubarb
honey
three horses remained the standard way of
harvesting until after World War 2 The
usually operated
c
usually
reapers
arrived on the Island in
to
and boiled rice
ate
hand
Foundation 1991
Only
the
binder
a
both
sheaf tied
stooking
had
C
cut
with
to
be
Concertina and Fiddle
IfAQ