60 REPORT OP THE AGRICULTURE OF AYRSHIRE. 



and breakages. The evenly and regular cutting and laying-in- 

 sheaf by these " reapers," especially in Ayrshire, where the stuff 

 often stands out for weeks in stook, is even a greater benefit 

 than the low cost ; although with extra heavy crops, it is some- 

 times difficult to tilt the sheaves small enough. 



Oats are generally " stooked " in sixes, and wheat in eights 

 and tens, without hoods. The stacks in the barn-vard are all 

 built circular, excepting beans, which are sometimes put to- 

 gether in an oblong form; and the farmers in general have a 

 commendable pride in stacking neatly, more so than in other 

 counties. The stacks of oats vary in size from 6 to 15 qrs., and 

 of wheat from 10 to 15 qrs., but in occasional harvests they have 

 to be put much smaller to prevent heating. Coir rope for secur- 

 ing the thatch is now used by a good many, being thought 

 firmer, cheaper, and more expeditious, than straw. " Hutting " 

 in the fields in Ayrshire has frequently to be resorted to in wet 

 harvests, and these form the rule, not the exception ; and from 

 the same cause, " fau^e-houses " in stacks on farms where stathels 

 are not in use are often had recourse to, in order to admit air 

 into the " boss." The torrents of rain that so frequently fall dur- 

 ing harvest is one of the greatest plagues to which Ayrshire 

 farmers are subject. It requires the most constant vigilance 

 and greatest exertions in most seasons, both by night and by 

 dav, to get the stuff stacked in good condition. As an instance 

 of Ayrshire climate, in the autumn of I860, the Dunbar farmers 

 were busy " inning," when their brethren on the west coast were 

 just beginning to cut ; and during the early part of November 

 in same season, several farms not far from Kilmarnock had a 

 good part of the crop out. Even this season (1864), an extra 

 good one, cutting was not general over Ayrshire till about the 

 middle of September ; although in Perthshire much grain was 

 safe under " thack and rape " by the latter end of August. The 

 harvest of 1862, in particular, was very bad; being probably 

 the most tedious and latest which has occurred since 1782. 



A complete set of Fowler's apparatus was brought into the 

 county in 1862, at the joint expense of the Ayrshire Agricultu- 

 ral Association and Mr. Alex. Weir, Chemical Works, Newton- 

 upon-Ayr ; but the result of its labours, financially at least, has 

 been a failure. Aj'rshire farms, generally, are too small in size, 

 the fields also too small and irregularly shaped, and the surface 

 of too rolling a nature, to suit steam-ploughing. Rather, per- 

 haps, is the steam-plough not suited in its present form to Ayr- 

 shire farms, and still more unsuited to the pockets of Ayrshire 

 farmers. Ploughing goes on by fits and starts, from October to 

 March, and even were some half-dozen farmers to club together 

 for a " steam-ploughing apparatus," that member of the partner- 

 ship whose turn came last, would generally find himself busy 



