370 



THE WHEAT CTJLTURIST. 



Fig. 62.— Round Shock of Wheat. 



SttsGLE-CAPPED STOOKS. 



A great many wheat-growers set their sheaves in 

 round stooks ; and cap them with only one sheaf, as rep 



resented by the accompany- 

 ing figure 62 of a shock of 

 wheat. But I never ap- 

 proved of this mode of 

 stooking sheaves of any 

 kind ; because more skill is 

 required to put on the cap- 

 sheaf, than is necessary 

 when two cap-sheaves are 

 employed, as shown in a 

 preceding figure. In this 

 style of stooking grain, one of the largest sheaves is 

 selected for the cap, and placed with the butts upward. 

 During a heavy shower of rain, that large butt-end of 

 the cap-sheaf will catch, in some instances, more than 

 a gallon of water, all of which will be conducted down 

 into the sheaf, and much of it will pass down among 

 the grain beneath the cap ; whereas, the rain that falls 

 on a stook having two cap-sheaves, like the shock on a 

 preceding page, will nearly all be conveyed off the grain 

 to the ground. 



Although I prefer making stooks with two caps, still 

 I will pen directions to enable a beginner to shock his 

 grain neatly, with one cap-sheaf. 



The number of sheaves in a stook, will depend in a 

 great degree, on the size of the bundles and the length 

 of the straw. My practice always was, when making 

 stooks without assistance, to set up the largest sheaf per- 

 pendicularly for the middle of the shock ; and then, set 



