In Yalding, like other
villages in England, the hay is cut in June and July. It
is very important to cut hay when it is hot and dry. If the hay becomes
wet, the people have
to spend valuable time turning it until it is dry.
The crops are usually
harvested in July and August. Weather is an important factor in deciding
when harvesting should begin. Heavy rain just before harvest, ruins
the crop. Yields are also low if there is too much sun and not enough
rain.
Wheat is cut half way
up the stalk by the reapers using sickles.
The field workers usually work in teams of five. A team consists of
four reapers followed by a binder, who gathers the spears of cut wheat
into sheaves. It normally takes a day for five people to harvest two
acres. Oats and barley
are mown with a scythe close to the ground.
The stalks are then gleaned. This involves gathering up ears of corn
left by the reapers. This work is usually done by children and old
people.
Reaping, Geoffrey
Luttrell Psalter (1325)
Sometimes it is necessary
to employ labourers to help during harvest time. This labour is usually
provided by those people who do not produce enough food from their
land to feed their families. These labourers are normally paid in
sheaves. A day's pay was one sheaf of wheat
or two of barley. Sometimes the
labourers ask to be paid in money. In 1336 the pay is one penny a
day.
After the crops have been
harvested, the grain has to be ground down to produce flour. Some
people use simple devices such as querns and hand-nulls to do this.
Others use Hugh de Audley's water-mill.
When the harvesting has
been completed, the villagers are allowed to turn their animals into
the fields. The sheep are always the last to be allowed in. As the
sheep crops the stems so close to the ground, they leave very little
food for the rest of the animals. The droppings of the grazing animals
provide the manure needed to improve the quality of the land.
The land then has to be
prepared for next season's harvest. First the land is ploughed. The
plough is an instrument with mouldboard
and coulter, drawn by four, six or eight animals. The number of animals
used depends on the kind of soil and its condition at ploughing time.
The first ploughing turns what was left of the crop, weeds and grasses.
The second ploughing, less deep than the first, prepares the ground
for seeding. The timing of the ploughing and seeding is very important.
In the spring the soil has to be fairly warm and in the autumn, it
has to be done before the arrival of the frost.
Moulboard Plough,
Geoffrey Luttrell Psalter (1325)
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