uch longer blade, similar to that of a small spade but
narrower; he was accompanied by a frisky little Frenchified dog,
unlike any dog one commonly sees, and very alert. The hunting ground
was beneath the overhanging branches of beech-trees, growing on a
chalky soil; the man encouraged the dog by voice to hunt the surface
of the land regularly over; when the dog scented the truffles
underneath, he began to scratch, whereupon the implement came into
use, and they were soon secured. I have since been sorry that I did
not interview this truffle-hunter as to his methods and as to his dog,
for I believe he is no longer to be seen in his old haunts. But I did
get a pound or two to try, and was disappointed by the absence of
flavour. I have since read that the English truffle is considered very
inferior to the French, which is used in making _pate de foie gras_.

The wool-stapler makes his rounds as soon as shearing is completed;
his first call is to examine the fleeces, and if a deal results a
second visit follows for weighing and packing. He is of course well up
in market values, probably receiving a telegram every morning, when
trade is active, from the great wool-trade centre, Bradford. He is not
unwilling to give a special price for quality, but will sometimes
stipulate for secrecy as to the sum, because farmers, naturally,
compare notes, and everyone thinks himself entitled to the top price
no matter how inferior or badly washed his wool may be. The Bradford
stapler has the northern method of speech, which sounds unfamiliar in
the midland and southern counties, but it is not so cryptic as that of
the Scottish wool trade. The following colloquy is reported as having
passed between two Scots over a deal in woollen cloth.

_Buyer_. "'Oo?"

_Seller_. "Ay, 'oo."

_Buyer_. "A' 'oo?"

_Seller_. "Ay, a' 'oo."

_Buyer_. "A' _a_ 'oo?"

_Seller_. "Ay, a' _a_ 'oo."

Which, being interpreted, is: "Wool?"--"Yes, wool." "All wool?"--"Yes,
all wool." "All one wool?"--"Yes, all one wool."

When the stapler arrives for the weighing he brings his steelyards and
sheets; the wool is trod into the sheets, sewn up, and each sheet
weighed separately, an allowance being made for "tare" (the weight of
the sheet), and for "draught" (1/2 a pound in each tod, or 28 pounds).
This last is a survival of the old method of weighing wool, when only
enough fleeces were weighed at a time on the farmer's small machine to
come to a tod as nearly a