Ch. XIV.] ON STACKING. 193 



gellier in stook?, or shocks of twelve each, resting upon their butts, and 

 placed in opposite rows with the ears leaning against each other, but the 

 bodies so inclined as to be quite separate, and thus to admit the wind to 

 blow through them. Wheat, being usually sufficiently dry in the course of 

 a kw days, is commonly allowed to stand in that manner, if there be a 

 prospect of the weather continuing fair ; but, as barley and oats remain 

 longer upon the ground, and showers may be expected, only ten of the 

 sheaves are allowed to stand together, and are covered by the two others, 

 which are placed lengthwise upon the ears, with the butt-ends against each 

 other, and the ear-ends drawn a little down, so as to allow any rain that 

 may fiiU to shoot over those which are upright. 



Such is the usual mode ofstookiug; but many others are employed : thus 

 in some places six or eight sheaves are set up together in a circular form, 

 without any hooding ; while in others they are set up singly, or " gaited ;" in 

 which case the sheaf is tied close under the ears, and the butt-end, being 

 struck hard against the ground, is sufficiently distended to form a base upon 

 which it can rest. In fields where wet is much dreaded, the crop is gathered 

 up into small ricks of a cart-load, or less, as a ])reparation for the stack- 

 yard ; and in many parts both barley and oats are forked from the swaihes 

 into cocks, and the grain is carried to the barns loose*. Indeed, as the 

 cultivated grasses are frequently grown with these crops, it is sometimes 

 necessary to leave them for a few days in swathe, and if foul weather 

 should not be apprehended, the operation of binding them into sheaves is 

 then omitted ; but the practice may be justly considered as wasteful and 

 slovenly. 



In Sweden, it is very generally the practice to secure the crops from being 

 damaged by standing on the ground when cut, by fastening the sheaves in 

 an elevated position to stakes; which is thus performed. The stakes are 

 about S feet long, 1^ inch in diameter at tlie top, and 4 inches at the bottom : 

 the ends being pointed at the top, to allow of their being passed through 

 the sheaf ; and at the bottom, to facilitate their being fixed in the earth. 

 They are set up at harvest, at the same distance as is common in stcoking 

 the crop, and the sheaves are put on by raising the first sheaf up to the top 

 of the stake, and passing it with the root-ends downwards to the ground ; 

 the stake being kept as nearly as possible in the middle of this sheaf, which 

 stands around it in an itprii^ht position. The second sheaf is then put 

 upon the stake in an inclined position, with the ears sloping a little down- 

 wards, and in that manner it is pressed down to the first sheaf; thus form- 

 ing a transverse covering to it. All the other sheaves are threaded on the 

 stake in a similar way ; keeping them above one another until the stake is 

 filled: their root-ends being pointed in such a direction as will afford them 

 the greatest benefit of sunshine for drying the grass which they contain t. 



The plan has, we understand, been partially adopted in Scotland; and in 

 those parts where timber is cheap, and the climate variable, we think it 

 might be advantageously pursued ; for it will protect seven-eighths of the 

 crops from rain with very little additional labour, and the stakes, when care- 

 fully collected and laid aside, will last for twenty or thirty years. 



STACKINO. 



In carrying the corn to the stack-yard, four-wheeled waggons are pre- 

 ferable to carls ; and are, therefore, generally used for that purpose. Of 



* Surveys of Wilts, p. 69; Suffolk, p. 75 ; Leicester, p. ] 08 ; Essex, vol. i. p. 49; 

 Hants, p. 224. Marshall's Rur. Ec-on. of Yorkshire, vol. i. p. 392. 

 f See the Quart. Jourii, of Agric, N. S., vol, iii. p. GJG , 



o 



