by mistake to Alton. He sold many tons
in this way without any guarantee as to the analysis, but the buyers
found on using it that it was worthless. The seller tried his game on
again the following year, without success. One farmer whom he followed
from the farm-house to a turnip-field went so far as to show him his
hunting-crop, and pointing to the field gate at the same time,
intimated that if he did not with all speed place himself outside the
latter, he would make unpleasant acquaintance with the former. So now
when my caller mentioned a truck of the manure which had come by
mistake to Evesham Station, though consigned to Evershot in Somerset,
my suspicions were confirmed, and when I innocently remarked, "I think
I remember that truck, didn't it go to Alton once in mistake for
Walton?" his countenance fell, and he wished me "good-morning" in a
hurry.

Hurdles in Worcestershire are generally made of "withy" (willow), and
it is interesting to watch the hurdle-maker at work. The poles have
first to be peeled, which can be done by unskilled labour, the pole
being fixed in an improvised upright vice made from the same material.
Then comes the skilled man, who cuts the poles into suitable lengths,
and splits the pieces into the correct widths. Next with an axe he
trims off the rough edges, shapes the ends of the rails, and pierces
the uprights with a centre-bit. Then he completes the mortise in a
moment with a chisel, the rails being laid in position as guides to
the size of the apertures. The rails are then driven home into the
mortise holes, and he skips backwards and forwards, over the hurdle
flat on the ground, as he nails the rails to the heads; two pieces, in
the form of a V reversed, connect the rails and keep them in place.

In counties where hazel is grown in the coppices, a wattled or "flake"
hurdle is the favourite, and they afford much more shelter to sheep in
the fold than the open withy hurdle, but, being more lightly made,
they require stakes and "shackles" to keep them in position. The hazel
hurdle-maker may be seen in the coppice surrounded by his material and
the clean fresh stacks of the work completed. The process of
manufacture differs from that of the open-railed hurdle: he has an
upright framework fixed to the ground with holes bored at the exact
places for the vertical pieces, and indicating the correct length of
the hurdle, when finished. The horizontal pieces or rods are
comparatively slender