20 Descriplmi of a temporary Rick to secure Corn 



in the middle resting on these four sheaves*, which will 

 give such an elevation to tlie tops of them, that the ground 

 ends will be sufficiently inclining downwards to shoot ott' 

 any rain that may fall. In forming the root, the sheaves 

 are of course to be put further in every time they are put 

 around, till the roof terminates in a point, when two sheaves 

 with the tops downwards spread abroad and bound with § 

 straw band, will secure it from a great deal of rain; but if 

 the corn is to remain out long, a little reed or thatch may 

 soon be put on each rick. 



Fearing I might not have been sufficiently explicit in de- 

 •cribing this plan, it has occurred to me that it would be 

 better to send a model, contaming 100 sheaves, made to a 

 scale of an inch to a foot, as to the length of the hurdles, 

 the distance from each other, and the size of the sheaves, 

 also to exemplify every particular of it. 



The weather being so rainy for some days after my barley 

 was cut, with every appearance of more rain, I determined, 

 on having a few hours intermission of rain, to get the mid- 

 dle of the field, which was a little more dry than the rest, 

 and to put it in small ricks, containing more than the pro- 

 duce of an acre, on these hurdles in the same field; it was 

 ill such a damp state as to be totally spoiled in a common 

 rick, but was taken from these ricks into a barn in the 

 4Tionth of January last, perfectly dry, the straw much better 

 than could have been expected, the grain good, having 

 been proved to grow well ; for having some doubt on ac- 

 count of being put tocether so damp, I had it first tried 

 by putting a few grains in a cloth into the earth, and have 

 since sown it, and no other this spring, and I never had a 

 better prospect of a good crop. The rcinaining part of the 

 barley that was left on the ground, was not taken in till 

 ten days afterwards, the grain much grown, a great deal 

 Wasted by frequently turning, and the straw spoiled. 



I flatter myself it will be admitted that in wet seasons, 

 or when harvest is so late that, as the days decrease the 

 dews increase, and of course remain so long that there are 

 but few hours in a day for drying, even if there should be 

 no rain, that this method will afford perfect i^ecurity to corn 

 that is cut dry, and put up in this manner immediately 

 from the scythe or sickle, because, if there should be grass 

 in it, the ground end of every sheaf will be without side, 



* If the corn should be \'ery damp, and the rick made liigh, four other 

 sheaves .nay be put higher up to convc) a ;:;rratcr circulation of air, and 

 operate as a bond to connect the sheaves in the iiuddle, so that they can- 

 not possibly slide outwards. 



exposed 



