Sunday 10 March 2013

A Farm Journal ~ from the 16th to the 30th June 1868

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby.
 
The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]
JBB's Farm Journal

A Farm Journal continues :~
3 - 16 Ditto sheep shear[in]g
6 - 19 Ditto Ditto Jesse went to W[illia]m mow[in]g with machine
7 - 20 Ditto shear[in]g - very heavy thunder & strong lightning even[in]g & rain
1 - 21 Fine Irish came
2 - 22 Fine shear[in]g
3 - 23 Ditto pull[in]g thistles & Ketlocks* etc showery at times thunder rain spudding thistles etc
6 - 26 Irish began in Watricle thinning turnips at 11/- p[e]r ac[re] very full of Spurry weed** - horse hoeing etc

7 - 27 Very hot cut turnip seed bees swarm - seeds in Flat want cutt[in]g - fair pastures yet - corn very short some just beginning to shoot

3 - 30 Fine dry weather W.N. & N.E. began mow[in]g last night mow[e]d Flat Long & Barn 
closes - fair crops


* ketlock is another name for charlock or wild mustard  

** There are images of spurry weed here  

If the lines are close together I apologise ~ Blogger seems to be letting me down today.

5 comments:

  1. I presume the reference to 'Irish' means travelling Irish farm-workers?

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    1. Yes Mitch. I've just finished reading Dennis Judd's biography of Alison Uttley. She lived about ten or fifteen miles from John Bayliff Bowman, 20 or so years later. In that book reference is made to an Irishman being set on for some seasonal work.

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  2. Thinning turnips is a job I remember,going down the row was back breaking work,as was spudding thistles.Funny how jobs were similar then, very different these days.Ann

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    1. Singling the turnips is what Dad used to call it ~ and I did that with my hoe a few times even though the farm was sold when I was 12. Yes, we also went and got rid of some thistles ... and ragwort. I suppose those jobs were done for centuries ... but now things are different though I did see a woman pulling thistles out with a narrow spade and with her old dog nearby. I can't quite remember where this was though ~ she was quite friendly and we had a natter though.

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  3. ...corn very short...sounds normal to us as our corn doesn't ripen enough for a kettle dunking until the second week of August

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