t 75 ] 



hand before the hook or sickle is applied. All the corn, both 

 wheat, barley, and oats, are bound into sheafs and mowed in the 

 field. The price for barley and oats from three to four shillings; 

 beside these prices, the men arc allowed for wheat two gallons of 

 beer, and for barley and oats i« gallon per acre. 



In situations subject to sudden and violent rain, this custom of 

 mowing in the field cannot be condemned, as in respect to wheat, 

 the days cutting is secured every evening, and the lent corn can be 

 put together and secured much sooner than in the common method. 



The principal objections are the bringing mice with the sheaves 

 into the barn, or large mow ; and the want of sufficient dryness in 

 the corn for winter threshing. 



The men of this country are very dextrous in making these 

 mows so as to prevent rain from injuring the corn ; and they fre- 

 quently remain 5 or 6 weeks in die field without suffering any 

 damage. 



Wheat is seldom threshed with the straw, but the ears are cut off, 

 and the straw bound in sheaves tied very tight ; the circumference 

 of the sheaf at the bond should be six feet ; this costs 4d. per sheaf, 

 including the threshing of the ears. A good acre of wheat will 

 produce three dozen sheaves, value 8s. 6d. per dozen. And by 

 this method the firmness of the stalk is preserved, and rendered 

 more valuable for the purposes of thatching buildings, &c. &c. 



Barley and oats are threshed by the quarter. Price from is. to 

 is. 6d. per quarter. 



A good acre of oats will produce 2 waggon load of straw. 



The land is now considered in its highest state of strength and 

 vigor; and it is thought by most farmers, that every succeeding 

 year reduces its value ; nor can this be wondered at, when the 

 subsequent course of cropping is stated. 



It is no unusual thing to have three, or four successive crops of 

 corn, nay sometimes five or six, without an intervening fallow, or 

 fallow crop ; greatest part of the straw is sold, nor is the land sown 

 with artificial grasses, till it is no longer able to bear corn. 



This mode of treatment, together with the coldness of the cli- 

 mate, has hitherto operated as an effectual bar to the settlement of 

 opulent, and more enlightened farmers ; but I am well persuaded, 

 that if even one of that description were to settle here on a farm of 

 4 a pro- 



