The making of “gypsy clothes-pegs” still occupies many a gypsy fellow, especially during the winter months, while some continue at it more or less throughout the year. The art is one of those in the Romany category of “chinning the cosh,” and it is interesting to note that a westerner, who for the first time sees a gypsy setting about the task, will regard him as working backwards. The few tools necessary for this industry are—a bill-hook for cutting rods, a churi or knife, a strong pair of scissors or tinman’s snips, a hammer and a bradawl. Having procured a supply of wood, the worker cuts it into lengths that will make two clothes-pegs. The knife is then held by the left hand, and so placed that its back rests just under the knee of the operator, who almost invariably sits at the work. The rod is then grasped by the right hand and drawn across the edge of the knife towards the worker in such a manner that only the bark, or slightly beyond, is removed, and the rod made tolerably cylindrical. Then, using a piece of wood, which is often stained to identify it, as a gauge for length, the rod is placed upon a little post driven into the ground, a knife is held at a right angle to it in the correct place, when one or two smart blows given to the back of it with a heavy piece of wood cut the rod through cleanly and quickly; it is next slightly split and, sometimes before, sometimes after, the tin band has been pinned around near the top, the knife is inserted in the slit and the peg is trimmed outwards, after which a few cuts in shaping complete an article that sells at one penny per dozen. They are usually hawked about by the women in batches of one dozen. Attractive, if not particularly durable, fern baskets are often made and offered for sale by gypsies in peaty or other districts in which ferns are to be easily obtained. Such baskets are frequently composed of sticks alternating with acorns or pine cones. A good-looking fern is planted therein, a quantity of hypnum moss packed in the crevices and it is then ready for sale. The making of baskets of this form is very simple, the only materials needed being straight sticks, acorns or pine cones and a little wire. Holes are drilled through both sticks and cones, which are threaded on wires in the form of a curved mat, the ends of which are brought together and the wires twisted. A twig or two at the bottom and it is ready for the plant. In some counties the daffodil grows in profusion in a semi-wild state and is gathered by gypsies by sackfuls. The early bird catches the worm, or, in other words, the first gypsy in the market sells most daffodils, and as no one more fully realizes this than does the gypsy himself, he sets about hurrying matters in this way: [Illustration: BUNCHING “DAFFIES.”]