TJie Country Gentleman^ s Magazine 



179 



WARRIORS IN THE HAR VEST FIELD. 



I 



N the present dearth of agricultural 

 labour, a correspondent of the Times 

 makes a suggestion with reference to the 

 cutting and harvesting of the crops, which, 

 he says, was acted upon successfully some 

 years ago. At that time, he recommended 

 that the War Office should permit as many 

 of its employes as could be conveniently 

 spared from their duties, to go aAvay for three 

 weeks to the assistance of the farmers, and 

 the AVar Office did so, greatly to the advan- 

 tage of corn growers, and money was put 

 into the pockets of the soldiers. 



The correspondent goes on to say, what is 

 very true, that " corn crops, when fully ripe, 

 will stand a very few days uncut without sus- 

 taining some damage, unless the weather be 

 still, dry, and dull, which very seldom hap- 

 pens to be the case. A high wind, a scorch- 

 ing sun, and, I need scarcely say, rain, mist, 

 and dew have all a tendency to reduce the 

 quantity or deteriorate the quality of the 

 grain." He thinks that dockyard labourers, 

 as well as soldiers, might be relieved from 

 their duties to " reap and be a farmer's boy '' 

 for three weeks, commencing from the 15th 

 August next. Why this date is fixed upon 

 specially we do not know, seeing that some 

 crops are ripe now ; but it looks like sarcasm, 

 after the enforced exodus of dockyard 

 labourers for the last year or two, that a sug- 

 gestion should be made that there are still 

 plenty to spare for work in the fields. 



But granting that this is so, we are afraid 

 the improvements which have taken place in 

 agricultural operations since the year of which 

 the Times' correspondent writes, when the 

 men of war (for the nonce) " beat their 

 swords into ploughshares and their spears 

 into pruning hooks," would render soldiers 

 and dockyard labourers rather cumberers of 

 the ground, than aids in getting it cleared of 

 the golden grain. 



Before the introduction of the reaping 



machine, the services of any one who coulp 

 haggle away with a sickle were acceptable ; 

 now they are next to worthless, and the 

 notion that such men as soldiers and dock- 

 yard labourers, or any other able-bodied men, 

 could earn, as the correspondent says, from 

 7s. to I2S. a-day in the harvest fields is simply 

 preposterous. Straw is of more value now 

 than it was wont to be. Farmers feed more 

 stock, and they cannot afford to lose an 

 inch of straw. They demand it to be closely 

 shaven to the ground, except in cases where 

 the stubble forms a protection to young 

 grasses, and they also want it evenly cut 

 throughout the entire field. The machines 

 in the market, now at a comparatively low 

 price, can fulfil these requirements; not so 

 sickle-wielders of the kind " H. G. S." recom- 

 m.ends. They too often leave nearly half the 

 straw on the ground, and as irregularly shorn 

 as a Vandyked petticoat, and by no means 

 so charming to look upon. 



What is wanted now in the field is care- 

 ful gatherers of the sheaves laid down by 

 the reaping machine, either self-acting or 

 manual — people who will note that the ears 

 are all regularly laid in one direction, and 

 not mixed up with the lower end of the 

 stalks promiscuously, skilful bandsmen, and 

 stookers who know how to set up the 

 sheaves tastefully, at the same time that 

 they place them in a manner to resist the 

 rain in the most effectual way, while allow- 

 ing the drying airs of heaven to play freely 

 through them. 



Soldiers or dockyard labourers might in- 

 deed fork up the corn when in fit condition 

 on to the harvest cart, and from that on 

 to the stacker, but they could not stack. 

 It is only a trained man who can deftly 

 catch each sheaf and so dispose of it, 

 keeping the grain from the destructive or 

 deteriorating influence of the atmosphere, 

 as to produce a cereal building so giacefnl 



