194 



BRITISH HUSBANDRY. 



[CLXIV. 



these, the Cornish wain is tlie most simple, the lightest, and the handiest 

 implement for the carriage of corn in the sheaf; but farmers are all at- 

 taclied to the ])articular form which is usual in the district which they 

 inhabit, and it is, therefore, little known beyond the precincts of the West 

 of England *. The persons engaged in this business form a band quite 

 separate from those employed on the harvest-work, and are generally 

 selected from amone- the most careful of the farm-servants. One man forks 

 the corn from the field into the waggon, two carters drive the waggons and 

 lift the sheaves to the stack, while an experienced workman builds it, 

 and another assists in trimming it; a woman also sometimes rakes up 

 any corn which may have dropped from the stooks, though this is not 

 un frequently left for the gleaners. 



We have but little to add to what we have already said in a former 

 volume on the subject of stacking hay t, except that the ricks should be 

 protected until thev are thatched, by awnings spread over them and sup- 

 ported by poles temporarily fixed in the naves of a couple of cart-wheels ; 

 the rick-cloth being suspended upon a cross-spar, which is moved up and 

 down by pulleys, to raise or lower it as occasion may require. 



The cost may be altogether about af 20 ; for the expense of cloths is — 

 10 yards by 8, £ 9. ds. ; 12 yards by 10, £\A. \As. 

 10 do. square £\2. \2s. ; 12 do. square, £\1. lis. 

 and that of the poles and pulleys is from five to six guineas the set. 



The stack, instead of being built upon the ground in the manner usually 

 adopted for hay, should be erected upon " staddles," or stone pillars of a 

 conical form and about two feet in height. These are topped with cir- 

 cular caps which project over the posts, and nine being ranged in rows 

 of three each, a stout frame of timber is laid over them upon which the 

 stack is built. The coping of the stone caps effectually prevents the access 

 of rats and mice, which otherwise lodge in the corn, of which they consume 

 large quantities, besides injuring it by the offensiveness of their odour; and 

 the air, being admitted under the frame, tends to keep the straw dry and 

 free from becoming mouldy. The sheaves are then laid with the ear-ends 

 inwards, and the butts gradually projecting until they reach the eaves, which 

 thus overhang the base and jjrotect the rick from rain. These oblong 

 stacks require less time and labour in the building and thatching, and are, 

 therefore, more economical than any other construction ; but those of a 

 * See a description of the Wain, iii vol. i. p. 153. f Chapter xxxii. p. 496. 



