GC: n
CT: On the salt marshes in locations like Pubnico the hay harvester also had to work with the tides. The hay had to be cut and the haystacks made between flood tides. The best time for cutting hay was early in the morning. The dew lubricated the hay and made it easier to cut with the scythe. The hay on the marshes was always cut by hand with scythes. A man who was good with the scythe could cut about four tons of hay in a day. This would have been enough hay to construct about four haystacks.
After the hay was cut down, it would be teddered with a pitchfork, and then left for a day or two to dry before it would be raked. The hay was then raked into long rows called windrows by the English or ‘’les grands rouleaux’’ by the Acadian farmers. This raking was done in a very methodical way, with people usually working in three`s. These windrows were then rolled into a larger bundle of hay referred to as a haycock by the English, or a” mulronds” by the Acadians. It took 30-40 of these haycocks or mulronds to make a haystack. Some farmers were meticulous in their efforts to make sure that each haycock was exactly the same size and contained the same amount of hay. Ideally the haycocks were formed the day before one was going to make the haystack itself, because that allowed the hay to settle a bit and make it easier to carry and handle.
S: https://levillage.novascotia.ca/what-see-do/salt-hay-stacks (last access: 4 December 2016)
N: 1. First known use: 13th century.
From hay (“grass mown,” Old English heg (Anglian), hieg, hig (West Saxon) “grass cut or mown for fodder,”) and cock (in various mechanical senses, such as cock of a faucet -early 15c.-).
2. A somewhat rounded conical pile of hay.
3. A small cone-shaped pile of hay left in the field until dry enough to carry to the rick or barn.
4. hayrick: A large heap of hay; haystack.
5. As nouns the difference between haystack and haycock is that haystack is a mound, pile, or stack of stored hay while haycock is a small, conical stack of hay left in a field to dry before adding to a haystack.
6. rick: stack of hay, corn, straw, or similar material, especially one formerly built into a regular shape and thatched.
7. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention the painting Haycocks and Sun (c.1886) by Norman Garstin (1847-1926).
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hay&allowed_in_frame=0; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=cock (last access: 4 December 2016); MW (last access: 4 December 2016). 2. MW – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/haycock (last access: 4 December 2016). 3 & 4. COLLINS – https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/haycock; https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/hayrick (last access: 4 December 2016). 4. 5. http://wikidiff.com/haycock/haystack (last access: 4 December 2016). 6. OD – https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/rick (last access: 1 December 2016). 7. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/garstin-haycocks-and-sun-t03163 (last access: 4 December 2016).
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