14 It Happened in Iona

ment, not that difficult to operate, and younger folk could manage it with some practice and feel very good about it. A twelve-disc wheel harrow was the only ride-on cultivator we had. Because of the slow speed of horses, we often had to disk a field twice, especially in newly-plowed ground. Yet it was a favorite among us. A wide two-section folding spike harrow, home-made by Dad in his early years of farming, gave the fields their final touch before seeding. We enjoyed this simple flat harrow a lot because of its wide coverage and also since it signalled the last phases of cultivating. A one-horse roller, home-made from a single log, was often pulled over a newly- sown grain field to bury stones and allow smooth sailing for the binder. It was also used to flatten drills to make way for sowing turnips. The scuffler and horsehoe already mentioned under the potato section, rounded out our horse-drawn cultivators, almost all of which enabled the driver to walk miles and miles in the sandy Iona earth, often under the clutches of the summer sun.

Our mode of transporting machinery to and from the fields was a flat, raft-like affair only inches off the ground and com- monly known as the “drag sleigh”. At noon and supper workers would also hitch the team to this fora free ride to and fro. It was amazing how the horses sensed the time for mid-day and eve- ning meals. On the way home, though obviously tired, they literally pranced along, no doubt already feeling the water in the tub and smelling the hay and oats in the barn.