370 THE WHEAT CTJLTUKIST. 



SINGLE-CAPPED STOCKS. 



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 tliis mode of 

 stocking sheaves of any 

 kind ; because more skill is 

 required to put on the cap- 

 sheaf, than is necessary 

 when two cap-sheaves are 



.-Round shock of wheat, employed, as shown in a 

 preceding figure. In this 



style of stocking 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 



