Much expense was saved by Tom G.'s economical use of materials;
wherever the old oak beams could be used again they were incorporated
with the new work. He never cut sound old or new pieces of timber to
waste; almost every scrap came in somewhere, for he worked with his
head as well as his hands.

The difference in this respect is very noticeable in different men; an
old plumber once told me that he had been employed upon a pump on a
neighbouring farm, where the slot in which the handle works was so
worn on one side that the bolt which carries the handle had given way,
owing to the man, who had used it for years, not keeping it running
truly in the centre. He called the man's attention to the cause of the
damage, and, being a sententious old fellow, asked him why he didn't
think what he was doing. The answer was, "I'm not paid to think."

The hop-kiln was a great success, and later, with the same workmen, I
added two more, as my hopyards extended, on exactly the same lines.
They would probably have been annually in use in the picking season up
to the present time had it not been that the low prices ruling
latterly have rendered a crop which requires so much labour,
knowledge, and supervision, not worth growing.

I hear, however, with much satisfaction, that these old hop-kilns and
storerooms have been of great service during the war for drying
medicinal herbs, chiefly belladonna and henbane, and that in 1917 the
turnover exceeded £6,000.