How They Made Bread Long Ago As machinery was scarce in olden days. The people had to dig the ground with spades. When the ground was prepared they sowed the corn seed and when it was grown up and ripe, they cut it with a reaping hook. It was usually the women's job to bind it into sheaves. It was then made into big stooks and left in the garden for a fortnight or three weeks, to harden to get ripe. At the end of that time the corn was carted to the haggard and there it was made into big stacks. After a while it was threshed with flails. When treshed, on a windy day, it was taken out to a field near by. There it was winnowed. That is the wind separated the chaff from the grain. It was then brought to the house and put into sacks. These sacks were then placed before the fire to harden. The corn was then ground into meal by means of a . It was afterwards sived and the finer part was used for making bread while the coarser part was given to the animals to eat. When making the bread, the meal was wet with water and made into the shape of a cake. The cake was baked in front of the fire on a bread-tree because there were no ovens at thatOlivia Rath