A Bad Harvest 



each time be laid at an angle just sufficient to 

 permit it to lie firmly without slipping off the 

 stack. 



At a height of ten or twelve feet the successive 

 rings of sheaves are gradually drawn inwards, 

 filling up the centre, and the roof carried up to 

 a point at a sharp angle. 



Such a stack is wonderfully weatherproof if 

 well built, and a series of such groups on a large 

 field is a pretty sight, though the farmer usually 

 prefers to thresh from the shock, as it means far 

 less labour, as we shall see. 



When the cutting and shocking of the wheat 

 were finished, Jones harnessed a pair of horses 

 to tkeir rack, and with Tom joined us at the stack- 

 ing, working on another row of shocks. In each 

 case we began by throwing sheaves on to the 

 racks until they were nearly full, when Tom and 

 I mounted our respective loads, while Jones and 

 his son pitched to us. 



As soon as we had a load we drew to the 

 stacks, and Tom and I pitched off to the others, 

 who had more experience at stack-building; for 

 both of us found that this apparently simple 

 work calls for attention and practice, as there 

 is quite an art in handling sheaves well with 

 a fork. 



Owing to the great weight of the sheaves, which 



129 I 



