192 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XIV. 



The operation taltes place by pressing the back of tlie crook against the 

 standing corn in the direction of the wind, and by cutting close to the 

 ground with a free swing — less by force than by the impetus of the scytlie, 

 till, in three or more strokes, according to the tliickness of the crop, a 

 sufficiency is secured to form a sheaf, wliich is caught by the inverted hook 

 and placed in readiness for binding. Tlie work is thus performed with 

 extreme neatness, and such an additional length of straw is gained as to 

 occasion almost the total disappearance of the stubble *. 



In this age of invention, several Reaping Machines have been made for 

 the cutting down of corn without manual labour, and have been brought 

 forward with exaggerated accounts of the advantages to be derived from 

 their use ; tliough it is evident tliat — exchisive of their great cost — they must 

 be confined, in point of economy, to the difference of expense between working 

 with a pair of liorses and a driver, or with men and women as mere reapers ; 

 and that the saving of time extends solely to the cutting down of the corn, 

 as it must be bound, dried, and carried in the same manner as at present. 

 Tiiatmany of them, particularly Smith's of Deanston, Gladstone's, Bell's, 

 and Mann's, possess considerable merit, we do not mean to deny ; but in 

 the complicated processes of gathering the corn, and depositing it in regular 

 order after it is cut, they have all, in some degree, failed. We do not, 

 therefore, deem it necessary to enter into any detail regarding their mode 

 of operation, but refer our readers to those publications in which they have 

 been described f. 



Grain should not he cut when it is wet ; for, although the oat dries 

 more readily than any other species, and suffers less from the rain, yet 

 wheat and barley both sprout very rapidly when put together in a damp 

 state, particukarly if the weather be warm. The reaping of them should 

 not, therefore, be commenced until after the sun has exhaled the dew ; but 

 when a field of oats becomes ripe at the same moment with any other kind 

 of corn, it is a good plan to reap it in the early part of the dewy morn- 

 ings, and then to go to the wheat or barley during the dry period of the 

 day. If the weather hold good^ the wheat will be ready to be stacked in 

 four or five days ; the barley and oats in ten or twelve — according as they 

 are more or less mingled with clover, which must be completely withered 

 before the corn can be stacked ; or otherwise the danger will be incurred of 

 its becoming heated and mow-burnt, to the certain injury of the grain, 

 and the probable risk of firing the rick. Barley is very subject to this ; 

 and its tenderness is such, that the least tendency to heat materially dete- 

 riorates its value : it demands, therefore, even greater attention during 

 harvest than wheat. 



The corn should always be cut as low as possible ; for otherwise many 

 straggling ears will be left upon the stubble, by which either much of tlie 

 most succulent part of the straw will be lost, or the stubble must be mown 

 and carried to the straw-yard for litter. When taken from the swathe, it 

 should also be carefully laid in the bands ; for, in lifting a sheaf with a fork, 

 the hold is obtained at the band, and if that be not so tied as to balance 

 the sheaf when it is to be raised in the cart, or on the stack, it occasions 

 much additional labour. The sheaves should be firmly bound together ; 

 but not so tightly as entirely to exclude access to the air, for the more 

 freely they are exposed to the atmosphere, the sooner will they be in a fit 

 state to be carried. JFhen bound into sheaves, these are generally put to- 



* RadclifTs Agriculture of East and West Flanders, p. 125. 



t See the Farmer's IVIag., vol. vii. p. 273, and xvii. p. 10. Quart. Journ. of Agric, 

 N. S. vol. iv. pp. 84 and 250, in which are plates descriptive of the machinery. 



