REAR

This article appears in Volume V22, Page 946 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: RAY-RHU

REAR , the back or hind portion of anything, particularly a military or naval term for that part of a force which is placed last in order, in opposition to " van." As the last word, shortened from " van-guard," is an aphetic form of Fr. avant, in front, Lat. ab ante, so " rear " is an aphetic form of " arrear," 0. Fr. arere, mod. arriere, Med. Lat. ad retro, to the back, back-ward. From this word must be distinguished the verb " to rear," used in two main senses: of a horse, to stand up on its hind legs, and to raise up or lift, of the construction of a building or of the breeding and bringing to maturity of domestic or
put one couple on and one couple off for meals and resting alternately. By this means the binder is kept going continuously without any stoppage for perhaps 14 hours daily in fine harvest weather. With a six-feet cutting width an acre per hour is

fair

FAIR

work

WORK

, but some have exceeded that, especially with wider cutting widths. A ball of twine weighing 3 to 4 lb is the usual requisite per acre for binding the sheaves, and it ought to be of Manilla hemp: " sizal " fibre (derived from the American agaves and named after the port on the

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

of Yucatan) is not so strong and good, though cheaper. Good twine is desirable, as otherwise frequent breakages leave many sheaves in a loose state.
The sheaves are dropped off on to the ground as tied, but some farmers use the " sheaf-

carrier

CARRIER
CARRIER, JEAN BAPTISTE (1956-1794)

," which catches these as they are shot out from the binding apparatus, and dumps them in lots of six or sosufficient to make a stook or

shock

SHOCK, or COLLAPSE

. The stookingthat is, the setting up of the sheaves on end to dryis a

separate

SEPARATE

operation, and from two to three men can set up an

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

good crop as fast as the binder can cut it. In this

work

WORK

the sheaves are set with their butts wide apart and the heads leaning against one another like the two legs of the

letter

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

A: a full-sized stook or " threave " is 24 sheavesa relic of the days when the crop was all hand-reaped by piecework at so much per threavebut in practice now seldom more than 6 sheaves (3 each side) are put to each stook. When sufficiently dried or " fielded " the sheaves are then carried by cart or wagon to theother animals, often used also of

young

children. The O.E. rwran, of which it is the modern representative, is a doublet of the Scandinavian reisa, which has given English " raise," both being causative verb forms of " rise."

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