298 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXIV. 



should be used to prevent it from breaking off the already dry and brittle 

 stem: in order, therefore, to lessen the risk, the ojieration should be per- 

 formed as early as possible in the morning, before the night-dew is exhaled. 

 AVlien that is done, the swathes should not be disturbed by either fork or rake 

 until it may be necessary to form them, within a day or two, into very small 

 cocks, which may be gently turned once or twice before carting them home. 

 Should the weather be favourable, this may be done within from six to ten 

 days from the time of cutting ; but, if it prove fickle, it is imjjossible to say 

 liow long the process may require, for the crop must be thoroughly dry 

 before it is carried, as it is almost impossible to extract the seeds from husks 

 which are moist. 



The seed always undergoes two successive thrashings — the first merely 

 taking the heads, or flowers, from the stem ; which is, in some places, 

 termed *' heading," and in others " cobbing," and the chaff thus removed 

 is styled " the cob." This is laid upon a large wooden frame, consisting of 

 oaken planks two or more inches thick, and is smartly and repeatedly 

 beaten with flails till the chaff is literally reduced to powder, before the seed 

 in which it is wrapt up can be made to separate from it. When thus forced 

 from its outer husk, the next operation is with the fan, to clean it from the 

 dust, which can only be partially effected at once, for repeated thrashing 

 and fanning are absolutely necessary — in some cases so often as four or five 

 times before it can be brought into a perfectly clean state, cjuite free from 

 dross and inner husk, and saleable in the market ; though, when intended 

 for home use, farmers do not take that trouble. Frosty weather is the best 

 for the operation, but at whatever season it may be performed, the expense 

 of thrashing clover is thus very great ; seldom less than 4.s\ or 5s. a bushel, 

 and sometimes a vast deal more : in some wet years it has cost as much as 

 from a giunea and a half to two guineas*. 



The lateness of harvest, and the consequent uncertainly of the weather at 

 that period of the year, necessarily prevents the saving of the seed to any 

 great extent in our northern districts, and has thus rendered the farmers 

 almost entirely dependent for their supplies upon the seedsmen, who import 

 it largely from the Continent. This has given rise to frauds, which, 

 although exposed some years ago before a Committee of the House of 

 Commons, are yet continually practised in its preparation for sale. The 

 dealers call it " doctoring ;" which, with white clover-seed, is done by first 

 wetting it slightly, and then drying it with the fumes of burning sulphur: 

 the colour of the red sort is improved by shaking it in a sack with a small 

 quantity of indigo ; but some use a preparation of logwood, tinctured with a 

 little co2)peras, and sometimes with verdigris. Did the efl'cct of this merely 

 enhance the price by improving the apj)earance of the seed, the mischief 

 thus done niight not be very serious; but it in some cases destroys the 

 ves:etative power, and in all gives to that which is old and worthless the 

 semblance of the best. Serious losses are thus constantly incurred by the 

 sowing of imperfect seed ; the risk of which im])0ses the necessity of at least 

 increasing the quantity, if it does not occasion the failure of the crop, and 

 should, therefore, induce every farmer — or at least some one in every 

 district, whose integrity may be relied on — to grow it for the use of himself 

 and neighboursf. 



* Essex Rep., vol. ii. p. 23. 



\ In Flanders, for instance, where the farmers invariably grow seed for their own con- 

 sumption, the quantity usually sown is only about 6 lbs. to the English acre. — Raddifl's 

 Agriculture of E. and W. Flanders, p. 60. 



