368 



THE WHEAT CULTURIST. 



out before they could be dried. That was because the 

 sheaves were stooked in such a shocking and perfunc- 

 tory manner. Since shocking grain in a proper manner 

 is a subject of such eminent importance, I deem it 

 proper to lay down the details in the manipulations of 

 putting sheaves in stooks. 



How to Handle Sheaves. 



When a laborer is carrying sheaves to the place where 

 a stook is to be a made, he should either take hold of 

 the band, or grasp a large handful of the straw near the 

 band. But when the sheaves are to be set up, especially 

 when long shocks or stooks are to be made, each hand 

 should grasp a sheaf as represented by the preceding illus- 

 tration (Fig. 59). Then the two sheaves should be set 

 down at one thrust, with the tops leaning toward each 

 other sufficiently to settle toward each other. If one 

 sheaf stands erect, and the other leans against it, both 

 will soon fall to the ground. 



The accompanying representation of a stook of wheat 

 put up as thousands of laborers shock grain, shows what 



a complete rain-catcher such 

 a shock of grain is. Look 

 at it ! The sprawling tops 

 will not turn rain any bet- 

 ter than a binder's old straw 

 hat, when placed bottom-side 

 upward in a hard rain-storm. 

 The gavels were unskilfully 

 made ; the binding was only 

 half done ; and the sheaves 

 were shocked in a most shocking manner, so that every 



■'A-i^l 9 

 maim 



Fig. 60.— Badly Shocked. 



