THE WHEAT CULTTJRIST. 383 



courses are laid. It is always better to lay the middle 

 course of sheaves across the load, instead of lengthwise, 

 because, when laid crosswise, they keep the outside 

 courses from working outward. If a load be made un- 

 usually wide, and the middle sheaves be placed length- 

 wise of the wagon, upon passing over a rough or uneven 

 way, the sheaves will slip and slide about, and half of 

 them will fall to the ground, when not a sheaf would 

 have moved out of its place, had the middle course been 

 laid crosswise. 



When the sheaves are short, the butts must not be 

 laid so far beyond the shelving as when they are long. 

 The load should be so wide that the binding course of 

 sheaves will extend almost to the bands of the sheaves 

 of the outside courses. In order to load sheaves well, 

 the loader should move on his hands and knees, and 

 place the sheaves as close together as practicable. 



Another very important consideration is, to have 

 every sheaf pitched clear from the butts of the last 

 course of sheaves, and placed on the top of the load, as 

 no man can make a load with true sides, when the per- 

 son who pitches thrusts his fork against the last course, 

 so as to displace the sheaves. 



When a mason's hod-carrier, through lack of skill, or 

 from heedlessness, knocks the bricks or stones out of 

 place, after they have been laid in the wall, he hears 

 from the " boss " in emphatic language ; and he seldom 

 repeats the careless offence. A man or boy who is load- 

 ing sheaves on a wagon should watch his work as close- 

 ly as a mason observes the courses of the wall which he 

 may be building. If the foregoing directions are ob- 

 served, a loader will find no difficulty in building a load 

 that will not tumble off the wagon. 



