Emboldened writing is the part of the clip audible in the recording.
D283
<F K3>
<S Charles Joiner>
<G M>
<A 76>
<O FARMER>
<C KENT>
<V STAPLE>
<D 00-12-58>
<I MVB>
<L CN T62>
<T 30:00>
<CJ And about # three feet between.
# In rolls.
# Then you put a +…
Tie a pole,
# right along the top part of ’em.
# Then you ‘d catched [: caught] on the bottom,
# and bundles of straw up each side.
# And you shoot the apples in there,
# about two feet deep.
# Then you rig a roof,
on the top,
from the poles.
# Right along,
and thatch down like a thatched house.
# And they stay there,
all winter. CJ>
<MVB Hmm.
Hmm.
Hmm. MVB>
<CJ And they keep.
# Two feet deep. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ And when you pick ’em out in February or March,
# you wouldn’t +…
You might not find hardly any bad.
But in uh an average case,
# you wouldn’t find ’em more than one xxx in ten.
# Gone bad. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ They keep sound and firm. CJ>
<MVB Hmm.
Hmm.
# Hmm. MVB>
||
<CJ Fifteen or sixteen years of age.
# You were setting to work for the following morning,
# and he ‘s +…
He was +…
They lived up at the top.
# He said,
+” I want you to go down,
and thatch that forest xxx. “+
# I said,
+” I don’t know none about thatching. “+
+” # Well, “+
he said,
+” Learn then. “+
# I said,
+” Supposing I let the wet in?
# What would you do? “+
He says,
+” It ‘s my stack,,
ain’t it?
# You go off down there, “+
he said.
+” # xxx ‘s down there. “+
That was another workman. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ +” He ‘ll help you. “+
# So I come [: came] down here.
# Old xxx was the old shepherd.
That worried him alright.
# And he said,
+” We shall be alright. “+
# So I thatched his forest xxx.
# And I made too good a job. CJ>
<MVB [!= laughs] MVB>
<CJ The wind had blowed [: blown] the corn stacks right out to the xxx xxx.
[!= laughs] CJ>
<MVB [!= laughs] MVB>
<CJ [!= laughs] CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ And I learnt [: taught] my boys how to thatch. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Yeah.
We thatch all the buildings,
and # the stacks,
and all the +…
My boys do it theirself.
# Yes.
I learnt [: taught] my two how to thatch. CJ>
<MVB Hmm.
Hmm. MVB>
<CJ He thatched that barn out here,
you know. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ My boy did.
# Thatch your barn.
# And it ‘s all sewn on. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Sewn on with an iron needle that length.
# Right through.
# Around the stick,
as you lay the straw on,
so the stick lays on the top.
# And that needle goes right through and round a beam,
with tar twine.
# Tarred twine.
# And it ‘s tied down.
That stick is,
so that it can’t blow off. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ I ‘ll show you my barn.
There ‘s always +…
All xxx stitching. CJ>
<MVB Yeah.
[!= laughs]
Yeah.
[!= laughs]
# Yes. MVB>
||
<CJ Potatoes,
# turnips,
# wurzel,
# cauliflowers,
sprouts.
# I keep sheep.
# Pigs.
Bullocks. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Keep all the lot. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Yeah.
# Yeah.
We make hay,
# uh for the cattle.
Come winter we do all that.
We ‘ve got no horses now. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ # Used to keep three horses,
now we don’t keep none.
Instead of four horses,
we got three tractors. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ A big change you know,
in farming. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ # If anybody ‘d told me one time,
that I should chuck up horses +… CJ>
<OS [!= coughs] OS>
<CJ And go all in for tractors,
# I don’t know know what I should call ’em. CJ>
<MVB [!= laughs]
Hmm. MVB>
<CJ It ‘s got that today,
# men don’t want horses.
They don’t want the trouble to work with them. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ They ‘ll jump on a tractor.
# That ‘s alright.
# But you give ’em a horse,
# they don’t want that.
# They won’t have it. CJ>
<MVB Yes. MVB>
<CJ No.
Times ‘ve changed a lot. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Yeah.
# I went to market.
I started going to market.
# With a horse and van,
when I was twenty two.
# And I kept with a horse,
# uh for # over twenty year.
# And I had the first lorry going into town.
# To go to market. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Hmm.
And I ‘ve been farming now +…
# Oh,
I started when I was twenty two,
and I ‘m seventy six.
# Seventy seven this month. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ So I ‘ve been at it a good long time,,
ain’t I?
Eh? CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ [!= laughs]
# Yeah.
# Yeah.
That ‘s a good long time.
# Yeah.
Yes.
Celebrated our golden wedding.
What was it?
Three year ago? CJ>
<OS Mmhm. OS>
<CJ Three years ago. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Hmm.
# And there ‘s a tree out there,
a walnut tree,
# what we put in when we was busy courting. CJ>
<MVB [!= laughs] MVB>
<CJ And there ‘s a photo,
we had a photo taken on our golden wedding day,
standing beside it.
Eh? CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ [!= laughs] CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Yeah.
Then you can find +…
If you go upstairs,
# get my wallet,
out of that drawer,
there ‘s a photo there of us standing aside the xxx tree in that.
# You know where that is,,
don’t you? CJ>
<MVB # Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Yeah. CJ>
||
Recording begins again and is broken off.
||
<CJ Farming # today +…
# Well,
# it ‘s in a bit of muddle.
# You got so many big # farms,
# all amalgamated.
A lot of ’em are.
# And the little man,
# for to start,
# today +…
# Well,
I should say,
+” Don’t. “+ CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ You wouldn’t stand an earthly chance against a lot of these big growers. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ You see # a merchant,
# would sooner buy,
# five hundred plums off a big grower,
# than what he ‘d buy five off a little one. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ # And pay more money. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ # That ‘s true.
# And uh there it is today.
You got the +…
All these different boards.
# All over the country.
# I don’t know what their idea is.
# They say they don’t like nationalisation,
well,
it ‘s nothing else,
only nationalisation or state control.
# It ‘s no good what they say. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ There ‘s something wrong.
# Your best farmers are these farmers what have been little farmers. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ When I started,
# I started with a five acre bit.
# And the other farmer over hundred. CJ>
<MVB # Hmm. MVB>
<CJ But if I hadn’t learnt,
# for to go into a hundred acre farm for starters,
you [/] you [\] wouldn’t do nothing with it. CJ>
<MVB # Hmm. MVB>
<CJ And the ground +…
You see,
you ‘ve got to know your ground.
# There ‘s no two farms alike hardly.
# With the soil.
# You got to know ’em.
# Like how +…
You got a horse.
He knows you.
# He ‘d do anything for you,
but he wouldn’t for a stranger. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ You got to know your soil.
# Now,
for young men to start +…
# No,
I don’t think it ‘s much +…
I know +…
I ‘ve known several of ’em # start.
# I had two nephews.
# One cleared out to Australia.
He very soon come [: came] back. CJ>
<OS [!= laughs] OS>
<CJ The other one went.
He went to New Zealand.
# He wants to come back. CJ>
<MVB # Hmm. MVB>
<CJ And I ‘ve known several young chaps # take a bit of land on.
# It ‘s broke [: broken] their heart.
# You see,
you ‘re handicapped.
# You haven’t got the tools to work with,
you haven’t got the tackle,
and you haven’t got the experience with money.
Well,
what chance have you then? CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ None at all.
# That ‘s the position of farming today. CJ>
<OS # Where did you say it was? OS>
<CJ in the drawer. CJ>
<OS Is it?
I can’t +/. OS>
||
<CJ These little [/] these little [\] chaps.
# Starting on their own.
But +…
Oh,
you can [/] you can [\] see if you +…
Uh you take notice of what they ‘re doing,
uh they ‘re lost. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<OS We had a bloody struggle in +… OS>
<CJ Hmm? CJ>
<OS [!= laughs] OS>
||
<CJ Until I was twenty two.
# Never worked for anybody else.
# And I wanted to get married,
and I asked him whether he ‘d employ me,
# and pay me like one of his men.
He said,
+” No.
I don’t want you. “+ CJ>
<OS [!= laughs] OS>
<CJ I said,
+” Alright.
I ‘ll start on my own. “+
# Said,
+” You owe me that three months. “+
I said,
+” I can’t help it.
I got to do something. “+
# I started. CJ>
<OS [!= coughs] OS>
<CJ I took a little piece of land,
about five acres.
# Eight years after that,
# I came back and took the old chap’s farm and everything as it stood.
# And then I bought it.
# There ‘s the photo.
That ‘s been in my wallet and that ‘s got a bit # damaged. CJ>
||
<CJ So on. CJ>
||
<CJ xxx xxx.
# If you want a round rick,
# you simply pick your site,
# stand the # iron bar right in the centre,
# get a rope,
# measure your rope,
eight or ten feet,
# from the xxx.
Then walk round with it.
# And bring the straw up to your leg.
# I can remember doing that when I ‘d got some Dutch prisoners here working.
# They looked +…
[!= coughs]
That ‘s a round rick.
# For an oblong rick,
# you measure # up at the ends,
both ends,
# and then from one corner,
across # to the other one.
That way.
# To get it sq- +…
perfectly oblong. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ And when you start laying,
you lay a bundle of straw at the bottom.
# Then # you lay the first sheaf on the outside,
# and the next sheaf inside,
is layed with its ears # on the top of the other one.
So as the butt of the sheaf is on the ground.
Or on the bottom.
See?
Now after that,
when you go laying your next laying round,
# you lay it so that its ear- +…
the ears are in,
# and the # butt is up,
instead of the ears.
That ‘s done because when you are going round stacking,
as they call it,
# you don’t tread the corn out.
You ‘re standing on the butt of the sheaf. CJ>
<OS [!= coughs] OS>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Some xxx the ears upward,
but you +…
If you are getting the ears upwards,
# and you ‘re # putting your next laying,
you ‘re simply treading the corn out.
Well,
you don’t want to do that.
You want to lay ’em butt upwards. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Then you don’t tread no corn out. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ That ‘s the idea. CJ>
<MVB Hmm.
Hmm. MVB>
<CJ [!= coughs]
Put two pieces # of wood,
one of ’em,
about five foot long.
# And the other,
# is about four foot long.
# And they ‘re connected on the top,
# together,
# with a swivel,
# made # of wood,
and leather.
# That ‘s all.
That ‘s a [*frail*]. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Yeah. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ I ‘ve seen my father make ’em. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Hmm.
So that [/] that [\] top piece of wood ‘ll swing round and round and round.
# Yeah.
That ‘s a [*frail*]. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ You ‘d twist it round your head,
and # down it comes knocking the corn out,
see? CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ You ‘re knocking any seed out.
That ‘s what they used to do years and years ago. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ But they +…
You wouldn’t see one now,
I don’t suppose.
I don’t know where there is one.
I had one up in the barn,
but I don’t know where it ‘s gone xxx. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ But they +…
Yeah. CJ>
<OS xxx xxx. OS>
||
<CJ The sweeps,
# of an old reaper.
# Well,
it used to cut the corn,
# and the sweeps used to come round,
up over your head,
# and sweep the corn,
out in # lumps.
# Across the field,
not tied up.
# Loose.
See?
They used to go round and drop,
and sweep it off the pans as they called it.
That was an old reaper.
That ‘s one of the uh # most +…
Well,
that was one of the first cutting machines I suppose ever made.
# [!= coughs]
You know,
I [/] I [\] got the sweeps of that. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Hmm. CJ>
<MVB Hmm.
Nothing else? MVB>
<CJ That was a reaper. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ And the first binders that came about,
they used to tie it up with wire.
# Yeah.
I can remember seeing them going. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ And I can remember seeing the first motor car coming along this road.
I could run faster than that went. CJ>
<MVB [!= laughs] MVB>
<CJ [!= laughs] CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<OS [!= coughs] OS>
<CJ The first flying machine.
I can remember seeing that.
# Yeah.
What flew over the Channel.
Come [: came] over. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ [!= coughs]
That ‘s a xxx xxx ago,
that. CJ>
<MVB [!= laughs] MVB>
<CJ Cor. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ [!= blows nose]
Yes.
[!= coughs] CJ>
||
<CJ Wooden ploughs.
# With a pair of wheels,
# and # the whole thing was wooden.
# And uh you used to get to the end,
# and you used to have to carry the plough round,
# pull the [*reest*] off,
# and put it over on the opposite side.
# And you [/] you [\] ‘d got to xxx that,
on the top.
You ‘d fi- +…
You ‘d turn that over,
that ‘d cut # this way,
see?
It was a [/] it was a [\] coulter,
that way,
# and uh # cutting up that way.
When it come [: came] back,
you had to turn it over so it ‘d cut that way.
# It was a xxx +…
It was uh +…
Your plough,
you see,
was uh +…
You ‘d plough +…
You had to xxx,
or at least stand the +…
# And the coulter.
Or [+coulter+].
For to come back. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Oh,
I ‘ve xxx xxx. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ I ‘ve xxx xxx xxx,
especially if you get about half on the wagon,
what on it. CJ>
<MVB [!= laughs] MVB>
<CJ [!= laughs] CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Oh Lord,
yes.
Hmm.
# [!= coughs]
These iron ploughs what they got now.
# And jump on a tractor.
# Double furrow plough behind you,
a three furrow plough,
and # off they go,
one man.
# No walking for nobody.
xxx the acre xxx they grew in,
you see,
nobody walks.
There ‘s nobody walks now.
Don’t matter what they ‘re doing,
they ‘re riding all the time.
Whereas in the old days,
you used to have to walk up and down the field,
to and fro,
with a five furrow drill.
One man leading the horse,
the other holding it,
another man walking behind,
to see the corn kept going alright.
[!= laughs]
Now then,
they jump on the lot,
[!= laughs]
and away they go.
[!= laughs] CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ [!= laughs]
oh Lord,
yes.
# Different night and day now.
# Yeah.
Their old forefathers,
they come to life,
they don’t know what they would say. CJ>
<MVB [!= laughs] MVB>
<CJ [!= laughs] CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Yeah. CJ>
||
<CJ All the gear that we used to use with horses,
# when you used to buy up tractors,
they scrapped the horses,
the tackle is no good at all.
# It ‘s useless.
You can’t draw # horse made uh +…
Horse implements,
that was made for horses,
you can’t attach the tractor to ’em.
# To be satisfactory.
# They simply won’t [/] simply won’t [\] do it. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ You break ’em all to pieces.
# You ‘ve got to have special tools,
made,
tractor tools.
# It ‘s no good of you thinking you going to use horse gear behind a tractor,
because you won’t.
# I ‘ve tried it,
and I know. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ No good. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ And uh the biggest drawback,
with machinery,
# you ‘ve got to buy a separate tool for each job.
# Whereas in the old days,
your horse,
you could put him with harrows,
you can put him in the plough,
you can put him in the roll,
you can put him in the cart. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Today,
you ‘ve got to have all separate tools to fit a tractor.
If not you can’t do your job. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ # That ‘s what makes farming today expensive.
# And none of these tools,
what they make,
they don’t give ’em to you.
# And the majority of ’em,
after about five years,
are finished.
# If they ain’t finished,
# you can’t do nothing with it,
because if it +…
Uh you get a bit of it broke [: broken],
uh you can’t get it mended.
And they ‘ll say,
+” Well,
that scythe ‘s out of date now.
They ‘re old fashioned.
We don’t +…
We got a new tool now. “+
And # so you have to scrap your old one,
buy a new one.
# That ‘s what makes it come expensive. CJ>
<OS xxx xxx xxx. OS>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
||
<CJ Carts.
The old dung carts,
and the old hay wagons,
# well,
you could fit a draw bar to ’em.
But they ‘re not satisfactory.
For the simple reason,
they are iron shod.
# And if you put an iron shod wagon,
# or cart,
behind a tractor,
# it ain’t long before the tyres are off.
# You got to have rubber wheels.
# No good you trying # to pull an old cart +…
You can go with ’em,
but not long.
It ain’t long before the tyres are off. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ They shake ’em all to piece.
# No.
But you got to have rubber wheels.
# If not you [/] you [\] ‘ve had it. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ I ‘ve got some scrap to +…
# Standing up in the orchard now.
# [!= coughs]
No good.
# [!= coughs]
No.
It won’t +…
simply won’t work,
see? CJ>
<MVB Hmm.
Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Yeah. CJ>
||
<CJ Wheels. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ xxx wheels,
and of course you could lock with it,
turn round with it,
and +…
They was alright in their day,
they was wonderful things.
# But today,
they uh wouldn’t look at ’em.
# They wouldn’t only make a shillings in the sale.
Hardly that.
# It ‘s just the same with your harness,
see?
You +…
I got a lot of harness hanging up in the barn.
# Cor.
One time of day,
we +…
you had to pay a lot of money for it.
Now,
# they wouldn’t have it if you give [: gave] it to ’em.
# Finished.
# Yeah.
Hmm.
Yes.
All the horse drawn tackle is # done.
# They don’t want it.
You can’t sell it. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
<CJ Yeah.
# No.
A lot of difference today. CJ>
<MVB Hmm. MVB>
Transcription by Juhani Klemola and Mark Jones, 1999 See http://digital.library.leeds.ac.uk/381/1/LSE_1999_pp17-30_Klemola_Jones_article.pdf and http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/ach-allc.99/proceedings/scott.html