186 



BRITISH HUSBANDRY. 



[Ch. XIV. 



used in this country as bread-corn, and which are reaped and thrashed in 

 a nearly similar manner. These are cut down either by mowing with the 

 scythe, or reaping with the sickle ; for although machines have been 

 invented for the performance of the operation, they are far from being 

 generally employed. The grain is then either stacked, or housed in barns, 

 and is afterwards thrashed out either by the manual labour of the flail, or 

 by means of the thrashing-mill ; and after being winnowed, in order to 

 divest the kernels of their husks, it is either ground into flour of various 

 degrees of fineness, or malted, according to the various uses to which the 

 different species are applied. 



RIPENESS. 



The commencement of harvest is necessarily regulated by the state of 

 the weather, and varies in different seasons, even when the weather is fa- 

 vourable, from the middle of July to the end of August ; while in some 

 years, and in exposed situations, it is still later. It is, therefore, an object of 

 importance to the farmer to ascertain the exact time when it may be begun : 

 for he must employ extra hands to perform the work; and, as it only lasts 

 during a comparatively short period, they receive high wages, and are 

 maintained at heavy cost. It is also attended with the most anxious 

 solicitude ; for it is a business which cannot be for a moment neglected, 

 and the man who wishes to get it rightly managed, must superintend it, 

 without intermission, from the dawn of day until its final close. He should 

 previously get rid of all other work, and make every preparation for the due 

 performance of this : the barns should be thoroughly swept out, both roof, 

 walls, and floors ; the stack-frames repaired, and every tool should be in 

 complete condition. The straw-bands should be in readiness for tying tlie 

 sheaves, as well as the ropes for securing the stacks ; and arrangements 

 should be made in the house for the regular supply of whatever is to be 

 furnished to the labourers, so that every unnecessary delay may be avoided. 

 The strictest order should also be maintained ; but the work will never be 

 well performed unless it be conducted with perfect good temper. For- 

 tunately, however, the crops do not usually ripen at the same precise period : 

 that of rye being the earliest, and wheat about a fortnight later ; some of 

 the early species of oats and barley come in between the rye and wheat ; 

 but barley more generally comes afterwards, followed by some of the later 

 kinds of oats. Grain, if not reaped until the straw is wholly yellow, will 

 be more than ripe ; as the ears generally, except in late seasons, ripen 

 before the entire of the straw, and it is observable that the first reaped 

 usually affords the fairest sample. 



The indications of ripeness are few and simple. When the straw 

 exhibits a bright golden colour from the bottom of the stem nearly to the 

 ear ; or, when the ear begins to bend gently, the corn may be cut. But — as 

 the whole crop will not be equally ripe at the same time — if, on walking 

 through the field, and selecting the greenest heads, the kernels can be sepa- 

 rated from the chaff when rubbed through the hands, it is a sure sign that 

 the grain is then out of its milky state, and may be reaped with safety ; for 

 although the straw may be green to some distance downwards from the ear, 

 yet if it be quite yellow from the bottom upwards, the grain then wants no 

 further nourishment from the earth, and, if properly harvested, it will not 

 shrink. These tokens will be found to sufficiently indicate the ripeness of 

 wheat, barley, and oats ; but that of rye arises, as we have already stated, 

 from the straw losing some of its golden hue, and becoming paler. 



Without adverting to the unsettled point, regaxding the quality of wheat 



