AGRICULTURE. 



Grain-crops in the Lothians have generally the 

 stocks made of eight sheaves, placed in two rows, 

 the head of each sheaf leaning upon the opposite 

 one. In damper climates, the stocks are frequently 

 formed with ten or twelve sheaves in a row, and 

 covered with two head sheaves, which to some 

 extent saves the corn from rain ; but when thus 

 treated, the grain is longer of getting into con- 

 dition ; so with settled weather, the head sheaves 

 may be judiciously omitted. Wheat is frequently 

 ready for stacking within eight days after being 

 cut, but, as a rule, oats and barley require nearly 

 double that time, particularly when the straw is 

 mixed with strong clover plants. When this is 

 the case, leaving it unbound one or even two days 

 after it has been cut, greatly hastens the drying 

 process. However, it always requires the greatest 

 caution on the part of the farmer to ascertain 

 whether his crops are in a proper state for being 

 carried to the stack-yard. The best way of judg- 

 ing of this is to take out a handful from the 

 centre of a middle sheaf on the lea side of the 

 stook, repeating this on several parts of the field, 

 and if the knots or joints of the straw are dry and 

 shrivelled, the crop may be led home with safety. 

 It must be remembered that while not a moment 

 should be lost in securing grain after it is really 

 ready, the loss from heated stacks by the dis- 

 coloration of the grain, and the rendering of it 

 unfit for man and beast, is perhaps annually as 

 great as the loss from weather ; it is better it 

 should be spoiled in the field than the stack. 



Stacking. When the crop is thoroughly dry, it 

 is led home to the stack-yard on open spar-built 

 carts, and built into stacks so 

 constructed as to afford com- 

 plete shelter from the weather. 

 The stool or bottom upon 

 which the stack stands was 

 formerly made of loose straw 

 or brushwood ; but in the best 

 managed farms, it is now the 

 practice to construct the stacks 

 on stands made of stone or 

 brick, or upon pillars made of 



Fig. 18. 



stone or cast iron, sparred across with wood or 

 iron. These stands are formed so as to prevent 

 the access of vermin, which is calculated to effect 

 a saving of two bolls in thirty ; and many have 

 funnels from the top to the bottom of stacks, to 

 admit a free current of air. In Scotland, the 

 stacks being mostly round, a sheaf is first placed 

 on its butt-end, in the centre of the bottom or 

 stand ; around this, others are placed, also upright, 

 but with a slight inclination of the head inwards, 

 until the stand is nearly filled. The stacker then 

 places a layer of sheaves horizontally on the out- 

 side of these, lying on their sides, the ear-ends 

 inwards ; and pressing them together with con- 

 siderable force, he continues to lay on rows until 

 the outside sheaves are as high as those standing 

 on end. The whole stack is filled up in nearly 

 the same manner, the ear-ends of the sheaves 

 being always inwards, with a regular inclination 

 downwards and outwards to their butts, and the 

 centre of the rick being higher, and not so com- 

 pressed as the outside. Proper attention to the 

 sloping of the sheaves is necessary from the 

 foundation of the stack, that rain may not run 

 into, but from it, and particularly so at the intake 

 of the inner layers, that part being always left 



more open. When this is done, the stacker sets 

 up an outside circular row of sheaves, having their 

 butt-ends projecting a few inches beyond the body 

 of the rick ; after which the outside layers come 

 gradually inwards, until the roof is drawn to a 

 narrow circle, and finished with a small bunch of 

 straw, over which a straw-rope is thrown, the ends 

 of which are fastened on opposite sides of the 

 stack. This makes a round top to the stack, but 

 it saves time, and thus expense in both building 

 and thatching; while the top remains always 

 unbroken by rooks or other vermin, which fre- 

 quently do much mischief. When carefully built 

 and thatched, a stack will completely keep out 

 rain, and be quite secure from high winds. 

 Materials for thatching and straw-ropes should 

 always be made before harvest, so that no delay 

 may arise from this in the event of wet weather. 



Stacks are sometimes constructed in England 

 on a timber platform raised upon stones, and over 

 the stack the framework of a perfect barn is placed, 

 which can be either tiled or thatched. This is 

 said to afford greater security to the crop, and to 

 be less expensive than annually thatching. The 

 price of erection is said to be comparatively 

 trifling, when the convenience of such buildings 

 is considered ; and they have been known, when 

 well put up, to last for thirty years. 



Thrashing is either performed with the flail or 

 the thrashing-mill. The use of the latter we by 

 all means recommend in preference on arable 

 farms of above 100 acres in extent. The machine 

 may be driven by water, horse, or steam power, 

 according to circumstances. Several improve- 

 ments have been made on thrashing-mills since 

 their first invention. The unthrashed corn is now 

 made to pass through two revolving rollers, while 

 it is acted on by beaters placed lengthwise upon 

 a large cylinder or drum, which moves at the 

 speed of 2500 feet in a minute. The great essential 

 in thrashing is to have regularity of motion, and 

 the grain to be equally fed into the rollers. One 

 man should be employed to feed in the corn ; one 

 man, or two boys, to carry the sheaves ; and a 

 woman to untie and place them on a table near 

 the feeder. Other persons are employed in raking 

 and carrying the thrashed straw to the straw- 

 house, where it is built When the machine is 

 driven by steam or water, it is generally the case 

 that one or two winnowing-machines, according 

 to the power employed, are attached to the thrash- 

 ing-mill ; and thus the expense of preparing the 

 grain for market is considerably lessened. A 

 powerful machine will thrash from 200 to 300 

 bushels in nine hours ; and allowing for wages 

 and wear of machinery, the expense of thus pre- 

 paring grain for the market is under one penny 

 per bushel. 



Various improvements in thrashing grain have 

 been introduced. The small, high-speed beating 

 or rubbing drum, so much in use in England, has 

 lately been introduced into Scotland ; and, as its 

 construction is better understood, it is giving 

 greater satisfaction. On the large farms in Eng- 

 land, portable steam-engines, though more costly 

 than the fixed, are preferred by farmers who have 

 yards for feeding cattle in various parts of their 

 holdings, for the purpose of effecting a saving in 

 the carting out of the manure. Of late years, 

 numerous individuals make a living by travelling 

 the country, and letting out portable machinery 



