370 THE WHEAT CULTUKIST. 



cannot describe the feeling of transcendent satisfaction 

 which that farmer experiences, when he goes to his 

 fields after a heavy rain has fallen, and finds every 

 sheaf dry enough to cart to the barn ! On the contrary, 

 witness the woe-begone countenance of him Who fore- 

 sees the hard labor of drying his wet sheaves ; and who 

 grieves over the large quantity of sprouted grain, per- 

 haps wheat for his family ! 



In localities where long and heavy storms of rain are 

 apt to prevail during the haying and harvest season, 

 every farmer ought to prepare a good supply of hay 

 caps, not only for protecting his hay while it is in cock, 

 but for protecting his cereal grain, and Indian corn- 

 stalks, when they are in the shock. Such caps will 

 often pay for themselves, in a single season, in protect- 

 ing hay only. But, after the hay has been gathered, 

 they will be found quite as serviceable for protecting 

 barley, wheat, and oats. That farmer who has never 

 used them has 110 correct idea of the great advantage of 

 hay caps, both in making hay and in protecting grain 

 from rain. 



If, for example, one has a lot of hay that is ready to 

 go into the mow or stack when a heavy rain is at hand, 



he can put on his caps in a 

 short time, and his hay or 

 grain will receive no dam- 

 age. Then, as soon as the 

 storm is over he can re- 

 move his caps, and go to 

 work immediately at his 

 grain or hay. On the con- 

 FIG. 64. cioth Grain-cap. trary, had it not been for 



the protection of his caps, the damage done to his hay 



