leum-iochd

sm Balk. Is fheàrr leum-iochd as t-Fhoghar na sguab a bharrachd, a balk in autumn is better than a sheaf the more — the leum-iochd or bailc (Scots bank), is a strip of a cornfield left farrow. The fear of being left with the last sheaf of the harvest, called the “cailleach” or “gobhar bhacach,” always led to an exciting competition among the reapers in the last field. The reaper who came on a leum-iochd would of course be glad to have so much the less to cut. Rev. Mr. Michie of Dinnet has heard the above saying used in a different sense in the Highlands of Aberdeenshire, viz. that in lands allotted on the runrig system, the crofter who got a balk attached to his rig was considered luckier than his neighbour with a somewhat larger rig, but without the balk, the grass of which was of more than compensating value — NGP.

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