FARMER TALK. Working on a Herefordshire mixed sheep farm for a spell at 18, the farmer mysteriously advised me as we entered a field with two tractors to start ploughing: “go up the smooth and down the rough.” After a while, it made sense. Later in life, I discover on sanding wood a similar common truth which made me think of the farmer: sand with the grain, not across it. Common sense is not always common.