The Cherry Tree Farm Story Collection by Enid Blyton

Author:Enid Blyton [Blyton, Enid]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Action & Adventure, General, Classics, Fantasy & Magic
ISBN: 9781444930184
Google: Z5x4CgAAQBAJ
Amazon: B017I270XM
Publisher: Hachette Children's
Published: 2016-08-11T00:00:00+00:00

12

Out in the Fields

Around the farmhouse lay great fields, sloping gently down the hill. Most of the fields were bordered by little brooks, whose sides were set with willows. The fields all had names, and Penny liked to chant them in a kind of song.

‘Long Meadow, Top Field, Green Meadow, Swing Field, Long Bottom, Brook’s Lea, Holtspur!’

All these places were fields of different shapes and sizes. The children soon knew every one. They had all been ploughed in the autumn, and Rory wished that he had been able to watch the plough at work.

‘I’ve always wanted to guide a plough,’ he said, longingly. ‘I wanted to help with the ploughing last autumn when we were at Cherry Tree Farm – but Uncle Tim wouldn’t let me.’

‘Why do fields have to be ploughed?’ asked Penny. ‘It seems a waste of time to me to turn up a field and furrow it!’

‘We’ll ask Tammylan. There he comes!’ said Rory, waving to the wild man, who was coming along beside the hedge nearby. He often came to see them, and told them tales about the different animals and birds he knew so well.

‘Tammylan! How’s the hare?’ yelled Penny, as soon as she saw him.

‘Much better,’ said Tammylan. ‘His legs have mended – but he limps now. Still, he can get along quite fast. I think he will live with me in my cave though. He seems to be rather afraid of going along into the fields unless I am with him.’

‘I wish I had a hare to live with me,’ said Penny.

‘Well, you’ve got a lamb,’ said Benjy. ‘That’s more than enough, surely. Do you know, Tammylan, Skippetty ate Jim’s lunch yesterday? It was cheese, and Skippetty found it and ate it. Jim was awfully cross. I had to get him some of our homemade cheese from Harriet.’

‘That lamb sounds more like a goat to me,’ said Tammylan, with a laugh. ‘Goats eat everything and anything, you know. I once had one that ate books out of book-shelves!’

‘Tammylan – why do fields have to be ploughed?’ asked Rory. ‘I know that gardens have to be dug – and I suppose ploughing is a quick way of digging a big field.’

‘Yes,’ said Tammylan. ‘We couldn’t dig over our enormous fields! We plough up the ground because we want the rain and air and frost to get to it, Rory. Let’s come and look at the plough over there in the shed.’

They all went to look at it. Tammylan pointed out the big steel blade or share that was pushed into the earth when the plough was dragged along by the horses.

‘That great steel blade cuts a big slice of earth,’ he said. ‘Then it is turned over. Now look at this smaller blade at the side of the plough. That’s called a coulter, and it cuts the straight edge of the furrow.’

‘The ploughman holds the handles of the plough, doesn’t he?’ said Penny, taking hold of them, and pretending to guide the plough. ‘Oh, I’m sure I could plough!’

‘Yes – you could plough!’ said Tammylan, a twinkle in his eye.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.