#78827
08/22/2002 11:45 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Depending upon which part of the country you're from, gunnysack goes by various names.
In the part of Virginia where I live, gunnysack used on tobacco sleds was referred to sometimes as croker sack.
Here's the question. If you wanted to use the phrase "croker sack-sided tobacco sleds," would you need to also hyphenate croker sack like this: "croker-sack-sided tobacco sleds"?
Interesting to note: croker sack was thought to have been the loosely woven fabric in which crocuses were shipped in colonial times. It was referred to in New England as "crocus sack," but, according to the AHD, "crocus sack" is no longer used. However, "croker sack" still appears in certain regions.
Anyway, thanks for any advice on how to hyphenate the phrase: "croker-sack-sided tobacco sled" v. "croker sack-sided tobacco sled." I have no idea which would be preferred.
Burlap regards,
WordWoven
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#78828
08/23/2002 12:05 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Since tobacco can kill you, the sacks ought to be called "croaker" sacks.
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#78829
08/23/2002 4:20 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Just for the record, I have it on excellent editorial advice that the phrase, acting like an adjective, would be completely hyphenated:
"croker-sack-sided tobacco sled"
RIP,
Rip VanWW
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#78830
08/23/2002 6:37 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
...and if tobacco sled is (or becomes) common enough it might well be rendered as tobacco-sled or, finally, tobaccosled and then we might eventually have "croker-sack-sided-tobaccosled".
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#78831
08/23/2002 8:05 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
WW:
You keep referring to tobacco sled. I remember tobacco sheds, the walls of which were made of slats set vertically, with an couple of inch gap between each slat. This was to allow the air to flow through the shed while the tobacco was curing.
And I remember that people used to put sacking over the walls, and I always assumed it was to keep out insects. But what's a tobacco sled?
When I lived in Northern Virginia, there was a road called Rolling Road, apparently because the hogsheads of cured tobacco were rolled down the road to the port where they were loaded on ships bound for England. There was apparently a yoke that fitted into holes in the center of each end of the barrels so they could be drawn by horses.
Is there a rolling road in your part of Virginia?
TEd
TEd
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#78832
08/23/2002 8:14 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Ted,
A tobacco sled was a sled. It was pulled by horses or, more often around here, by mules. When the tobacco leaves were ready to harvest, the farmer would hitch up the sled to a mule. The mule would pull the sled at a somewhat slow pace, and the field hands would pinch off the tobacco leaves and put them into the sled taking care with the leaves.
The sled was long and skeleton-like--just a floor, braces and crossbeams, as few as possible to make the sled sturdy, but with little wood to bruise the tobacco leaves. In order to keep the leaves from falling out, croker sack (or sometimes burlap) was put all around the inside of the sled forming the four walls. I don't recall whether the croker sack also was put over the floor of the sled, but I wouldn't be surprised since the farmer was trying to keep the leaves from bruising.
It was great fun riding in the sled while the workers pulled the leaves. Once there was a good number of leaves, we kids had to get out--you know, since kids would bruise the leaves a lot more than the wooden frame of the sled.
That's a great memory of mine: riding in the tobacco sled behind the mule--the sound of the runners of the sled moving over the earth--watching that mule trek his large body up and down the rows--turning the tobacco worms inside-out-with my stick. Just great fun.
It's all been modernized now. Just doesn't happen around here anymore. And the tobacco is put into sleds (modern) with vinyl lining--and the tobacco barns look like metal trailers. Everything's practical--and the beauty has been lost altogether.
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#78833
08/23/2002 11:38 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
I miss the tobacco fields, all dressed up in the white gauze! How ghostly mysterious and strange they looks!
The Conneticut River vally (in my live time) and the Bronx River Vally (before my lifetime) used to be planted with tobacco. Conneticut tobacco was used for cigar wrappers, and Bronx tobacco was for snuff (i did say before my life time!)
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