The farmer would make a contract with the foreman, or 'lord', of a gang of labourers - normally his usual workmen - to get the harvest in by a set date.
The hours would be even longer than usual, but the pay would be better and there was normally meatand beer provided in addition to the money. The men worked diagonally across a field, the lord in the lead, each man keeping time with the one ahead of him.
When harvesting barley, each labourer would be accompanied by a mate, usually his wife, who would rake the mown barley into rows, ready for carting.
The scythe came into common use in the 1860s. Prior to that, the sickle - a tool dating back to antiquity - was more often used. It was lighter than the scythe, but more painful on the back, as one had to bend to use it.
Horse-drawn reaping machines date from the 1820s, and were followed in time by the 'self-binder', which bound the corn into sheaves, as well as cutting it. An old man -remembering how people came from miles away to see an early automatic reaper and binder in action - said: 'It did away with a lot of hard work, but I think we were happier working in the sun all together, with a good drop of something in the bottle.' (Quoted in The Farming Year in Suffolk , a booklet produced by the Museum of East Anglian Life at Stowmarket.)
More efficient, mechanical, harvesting led to the demise of the custom of gleaning. This had been an opportunity for farmworkers' families to gather stray ears of corn left in the field after the harvest. It had been a significant help to many families.
Eventually, of course, all the older machines were superseded by the combine harvesters, familiar to us today.
After the harvest, the workers were treated to the long awaited 'horkey', as it was known in Suffolk, when the lord of the harvest presided, and the farmer and his wife served a feast of beef and fruit pudding, with plenty to drink, to all who had gathered in the crops. There were songs and entertainments to celebrate the climax of the farming year.
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