Crops etc.

transcribed at

Crops etc.  [duchas:4392738]

At the present time the only crops raised in the district are corn, and potatoes, and a rare patch of turnips. Formerly corn was abundant and potatoes and flax was grown until about 70 years ago. Practically all the work was done by spade as although the land is level enough the subsoil is too stiff for ploughing. 
Corn
The "lea" land was "coped" that is a sod was turned over [then?l] the furrows turned by the plough and a spadeful of clay thrown up to help to cover the corn when the harvest would take place. This work was done during the winter and it got the benefit of the frost. About ever[y] three yards a shough was left and when the corn was sown the soil in the shough was dug and finely broken and thrown over the "hint" to help to cover the corn. Very often the covering was done by hand with a “racan. No manure of any kind was used just a dressing of lime. [picture of a corn field layout]

Crops etc.  [duchas:4392740]

Very good crops of corn were raised in this manner although at the present time it would not be successful without a liberal supply of artificial manure. 
The reaping was done with hooks – the slash hook being very much used. This hook had a serrated edge and had a strop on the handle for fastening around the wrist. The reaper manipulated the first hookful of corn into a strop for tying the sheaf and could tie the sheaf without putting it on the ground. This method of cutting corn was called “scutching” and a good cutter could cut 50 stooks in a day. 
The other method was hand shearing. In this case the corn was gathered in the hand when cut. A strop was first made and placed on the ground, then one handful was placed back down on the strop and another placed on top front down. Two large handfuls were ample for a sheaf and if properly made the “butts” of the straw were quite even. An adept at their job could easily cut 35 or 40 stooks in

Crops etc.  [duchas:4392742]

in a day. People were very careful when cutting corn to leave no straggled heads, they were carefully gleaned and when the field was finished it would be hard to get a simple head lying on the stubble. 
If the weather were good the corn was placed in stooks, five sheaves standing at an angle of about 60º on either side of the hinting shough, this allowed the air to pass freely under. On top the 2 heading sheaves were placed to throw the rain, a belt of the corn was tied tightly around these and the butts hammered tightly down. These stooks were practically rainproof. If the weather were wet the corn was left lying all day open, as they said in the “broad ban”. It was tied in the evening – tied near the top. Then the butt as opened out and the sheaf was left standing. The sheaves thus treated were called “goats”. Very rarely was corn left standing in four sheaves as it is out present. If the weather were dry the corn was left in stooks

Crops etc.  [duchas:4392743]

For eight or nine days and then it was carried in burden ropes to the haggard where it was built in a stack. About 50 or 60 stooks made a stack in this locality as the small stack was more convenient because barns were scarce in those days and most of the corn was threshed in the kitchen. If the weather were damp the corn was usually left in “Thuirdins" in the field until dry enough to place in a stack. 
The stack was built on a round stone stile and thatched with rushes  or straw and roped with straw robes. Sometimes the corn was built in a “Sheag” shaped like diagram.[Drawing of sheag] The people of the locality claim it unlucky to do any work in the corn field after nightfall even during the “harvest moon” period
I heard a story told relative to this "phisheóg". A widower took his four small children out to the cornfield one bright moonlight to work at corn. He placed the smallest child carefully beside a stook and

Crops etc.  [duchas:4392744]

others were moving along with the father. In a short time the man saw the wraith of his dead wife passing along the headland and looking pitifully at the children. The man took this as a a sign that he should not be there and went back to his house with his children.