failing to return it in the shape of manure, so that, wasteful as it is 

 to burn the stubble, it is better than taking all that is grown off from 

 the land ; so, where the straw is usually short, no interference 

 seems likely with the supremacy of the stripper as a harvesting 

 machine ; and it has also been made clear that the reapers and 

 binders are capable of doing really good work. At first, the machines 

 were somewhat complicated, and farmers were afraid to risk the 

 danger of stoppages through something going wrong ; but most of 

 these machines that are now made inspire more confidence. There 

 are situations, to, where both kinds of harvesters are used with 

 advantage. With the aid of a reaper and binder, harvesting can be 

 commenced a week or a fortnight earlier than stripping, and stripp- 

 ing can be carried on long after reaping would be impossible, 

 because of the grain being shaken out. It is probable, therefore, 

 that the harvest in the future may begin by reaping, until stripping 

 time arrives. This will give a quantity of straw for the farm, and 

 when the crop is ripe enough, the stripping machines may be put 

 in to finish the work. By this means hurry and bustle will be done 

 away with, and, at the same time, the farm stock will not be left 

 without a supply of straw. The stripped wheat can also, if 

 necessary, be sent to an early market, while that which has been 

 reaped will the more easily be allowed to wait for the thresher. 

 Recent dry seasons, and correspondent scarcity of horse and cattle 

 feed, raised the value of straw in the estimation of fhe 

 farmer. 



The losses of stock, too, and the difficulty of carrying on the 

 ploughing through want of horse feed, have brought the importance 

 of the straw-stack forcibly before the minds of those who keep an 

 eye upon the ways and means. Markets have also been made 

 available through the extension of railways, so that we have an ex- 

 planation of the tendency to adopt a means of harvesting by which 

 the straw is saved. When it is returned to the land, in the form of 

 manure, we are in a fair way of making another advance in our 

 system of cultivation. 



If the stripper only is used, the crop must, of course, be left 

 till it is dead ripe ; but when the reaper is used it is now a well- 

 established fact that a larger and in every way better yield is 

 obtained by the grain being harvested before it is dead ripe. The 

 straw also is of greater value as fodder. When the grain has 

 become glazed and before it gets hard is the time when it is in the 

 best condition for reaping. When harvested at this stage, " it is 

 kept from shrivelling by drawing nutriment from the straw after 

 being cut, and both weight and quality are benefited/' Grain 

 stripped on the green side shrivels, but it is not so when the crop 

 is reaped. " Wheat that is stripped or reaped after it is dead ripe 

 possesses dryness, flouriness and other excellent qualities, but is 

 inferior in strength to that which has been reaped slightly on the 

 green side." 



