136 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. IX. 



RIPENESS. 



A question has been for some time agitated, regarding the date oj ripe- 

 ness in which corn should be reaped; and it has been recommended, as a 

 general rule for jjractice, to cut down the crops before the uppermost grain 

 can be shaken out: — a period which can only be accurately accertained by 

 close examination of the state of the straw, respecting which some remarks 

 will be found under the liead of harvest. The advantages which are sup- 

 posed to arise from cutting it down when it has arrived at that state of 

 maturity consist in a presumed improvement in its quality, and in the evi- 

 dent saving of all loss by shelling out ; for, if perfectly ripe, and the weather 

 be dry, the grains will be in danger of falling from the husks, cither by the 

 least agitation of the wind, or by the act of reaping, and the ears arc daily 

 plundered by myriads of birds, which destroy greater quantities of corn than 

 is generally imagined. There is, therefore, an evident waste both in the 

 field and in the slack-yard ; and, in an unsettled season, the early-cut corn 

 may be safely harvested, while the latter still stands out exposed to the 

 injuries of the weather. 



These are, indeed, motives of sucli weight in point of economy, that many 

 farmers have been induced to cut down their crops while almost in a green 

 state. It is, however, necessary to discriminate between the ripeness of 

 the straw and that of the grain ; for, in some seasons the straw dies up- 

 wards ; under which circumstances, a field may appear to the eye to be 

 completely fit for the sickle, when in reality the grain is imperfectly con- 

 solidated, and perhaps not much removed from a milky state. Though 

 it is obvious that, under such circumstances, no further benefit can be 

 conveyed from the root — as nourishment is withheld the moment that the 

 roots die ; yet it does not follow that grain so circumstanced should be im- 

 mediately cut, because, after that operation is performed, it is in a great 

 measure necessarily de})rived of every benefit from the sun and air, buih of 

 which have greater influence in bringing it to maturity, so long as it 

 remains on foot, than when cut down, whether laid on the ground or bound 

 up in sheaves. The state of the v.eathcr at the time also deserves notice ; 

 for, in moist, or even variable weather, every kind of grain, when cut pre 

 maturely, is more exposed to damage than when completely ri])cned*. 



The sample is certainly superior to that of corn which is allowed to 

 become what is termed " dead ripe f ;" and it has been also said that seed 

 corn in that slate of maturity, " if it generates at all, generates leebly J." 

 On this assertion we, however, entertain doubts ; for it is not easy to 

 perceive how any deterioration can be occasioned by allowing it to stand 

 in tiie field, exposed to the sun and breezes, and to arrive at a state of per- 

 fection, more than if it were threshed out and laid up in a well-aired 

 sjranary. An advantage is, however, undoubtedly gained in the quality 

 of the straw, which makes much better provender when cut down in a 

 succulent state. This is evident in all hot seasons : thus the straw of the 

 crops of 1834 is so brittle, that it breaks under the flail, and has been 

 found nearly worthless when given as food to store cattle. 



* Brown of Markle, vol. ii. p. 34. 



•j- III adtUtiou to numberless proofs in support of this, which have been brought forward 

 in this country, a juiper on the subject has appeared in a periodical work entitled the, 

 »• American Farmer," published at Baltimore, in which it is said, that " (lie true and 

 satisfactory cause of the inferiority of the flour manufactured to the northward of Pennsyl- 

 vania arises from siifferinj^ the wheat to remain too lonj; in the earth before harvesting it, 

 after it has arrived at a state of pure and perfect maturity." 



+ Quart. Journ, of Agricult.; N. S. v.'). iv. p. 540. 



