66 



FARMERS' REGISTER— WHEAT SHOCKS. 



the rain, on Monday, produced the greatest flood 

 that has been known ibr fitly years. The damage 

 was prodigious. Grain of various kinds was sti'ow- 

 ed over tlie beach, from Workington to Harrington; 

 and a great quantity was picked up, and carried 

 ofl'. The break ol' my wind-mill had not been 

 secured, and it was set to worlc, and not discovered 

 till it had done considerable damage. The loss 

 was something; the mortification infinitely more, 

 as it prevented its being shown at work during 

 the Meeting. 



" Sunday'the 24//;.] Secured above 3000 stooks 

 of grain. The 2oth, finished shearing the small 

 quantity of wheat remaining. Led all that had 

 been previously cut. The conclusion of harvest 

 was celebrated by edl my work people, at the 

 Schoose. Upwards of three hundred of both sexes 

 spent a lew hours in great festivity and good 

 humor; rejoicing that the labors of harvest were 

 concluded, and grateful tor the bounteous store 

 which secures abundance to those by the sweat 

 of whose brow it has been produced." 



[To this we vAW add part of the comments of the 

 conductor of the Edinburgh Farmer's Magazine, upon 

 the report and diary — who, it is believed from various 

 indirect proofs furnished by the general work, was that 

 excellent Scottish farmer, Robeil Brown, of Marlde.] 



The next rem.ark which we offer, is with regard 

 to the carrying of corn upon the Sabbath day; a 

 practice not only contrary to the laws of God and 

 man, but also hostile to the welfare of the state, 

 and the truest and best interests of m.ankind. The 

 President pleads necessity as an excuse for work- 

 ing upon that day; but this excuse cannot be al- 

 lowed, unless circumstances be such ar; to demand 

 immediate attention. If a house is on fire, every 

 person knows that prompt exertion must be used 

 to quench the flames, otherwise destruction to the 

 premises would inevitably ensue; therefore, none 

 wiU find fault with working on the Sabbath, in that 

 case, or in others of like necessity. Thei-e is no 

 occasion, however, to argue the point; the dullest 

 capacity being sufriciently able to distinguish be- 

 twixt works of necessity and mercy, which may be 

 lawfully performed on the Sabbath, and those 

 which ought to be deferred till another occasion. 

 JJut, putting the morality of the question aside, 

 we would ack Mr. Curwen, and other advocates 

 for Sabbath days' work, what would become of 

 the great body of the people, not only those who 

 work for their daily bread, but also those regularly 

 engaged in business, were not their bodies strength- 

 ened by rest, and opportunity aftbrded for instruct- 

 ing their minds, on a day hitherto considered, in 

 this country, as set apart ibr these purposes. The 

 bulk of mankind, even loifh the Sabbath, are ig- 

 norant enough; but, withnid it, they would become 

 not much belter than the b.-utal part of the creation, 

 casting oft' all those restraints which serve to make 

 them good subjects, and good members of society. 



We are quite avv^are that the term of canting 

 may be applied to these remarks; but any thintp 

 of that nature will give us small uneasiness. It 

 may be added, that the plea of necessity urged by 

 Mr. Curwen, for carrying corn on the Sabbath, 

 cannot be allowed in our court as a relevant one, 

 as, besides the moral objections already stated 

 against the plea, we must whisper in his ear, that 

 the writer of this article harvested many more 



acres of corn last year [1809] than mentioned by 

 Mr. Curwen, and with far less strength than kept 

 by him, ^vithout spoding a single sheaf thereof. 

 In a word, if the fixed ordinary days of the week 

 are well employed, there is no occasion tor work- 

 ino; on the seventh. 



HOW TO BUILD WHEAT SHOCKS. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



The diflcrent operations required for our wheat 

 harvest, are the most important that most of us 

 have to perform, and in which, bad management 

 is followed by the most certain and heavy losses. 

 Yet there is no branch of farming in which there 

 has been greater difference of operation, on dif- 

 ferent fiirms, and at different times on the same 

 farms — and in no other has the introduction and 

 dissemination of improved processes been more 

 slow. The cause of this is to be found in the sup- 

 posed necessity for every fiirmer attending closely 

 to his own harvest, and the great inconvenience 

 of any one's leaving his own business, even for a 

 day, to ride 10 miles to see the harvest manage- 

 ment of some one more experienced. I now 

 know as to myself^, that I was sustaining losses 

 for years together, from ignorance in various par- 

 ticulars, which might have been easily avoided by 

 giving a single day to viewing the operations of 

 some better farmer. One of the things by which 

 I suffered most was the want of knowledge of the 

 proper mode of building "shocks" capable of 

 withstanding the entrance of rains. After having 

 been losing much in labor, and still more in grain, 

 for sundry successive harvests, I was indebted to 

 the late John Minge of Charles city, (one of the 

 best practical farmers in our country,) for such 

 verbal instructions on the subject, as served in a 

 great measure to remove my difficulties, and to 

 prevent the losses caused by bad shocks. As there 

 are still veiy many who pursue as bad a plan as 

 mine was formerly, and who are too industrious 

 to learn by going to see better management, I 

 will try to point out, for their use, the defects of 

 the one, and the advantages of the other mode of 

 building shocks. 



The plan which I formerly adopted in conformity 

 witli the usage of my neighborhood, and which 

 still prevails on many farms, may be described 

 generally as follows: Sheaves were set up on 

 their "huts," as close together as they could be 

 ])ressed, and with the heads a little inclined to the 

 centre of the intended shock, until a circular foun- 

 dation was formed, about eight feet in diameter on 

 the ground, and perhaps two feet less across 

 the flat top, formed by the heads of the sheaves. 

 On this body, or foundation, a conical top or 

 roof was built in this manner. Four sheaves were 

 laid flat on the top, their heads meeting and 

 crossing on the centre, and their huts jutting out- 

 side of the upper edge of the foundation — the four 

 forming straight hues, and right angles, so as to 

 divide the circidar top of the foundation into four 

 equal parts. Four other sheaves were then laid 

 in like manner, but so as to fall on the middles of 

 the vacancies Icfl between the first. As the tops 

 of all crossed the central point, of course their re- 

 peated doubling there produced a rapidly rising 

 pealc. Other sheaves were then laid so as to cover 

 all the openings between the first eight, and still 

 meeting at the peak, as long as sheaves would 

 stand as placed, and so as to shape the roofj and 



