188 SKETCHES OF RURAL AFFAIRS. 



" 'T is fair to see the reapers clasp 

 The corn in their capacious grasp ; 

 The armful's close collected heap, 

 Sheer with the crooked sickle reap, 

 And on the earth's rich bosom throw ; 

 - Meanwhile along each prostrate row, 

 Their faithful partners close behind, 

 Track their advancing steps ; and bind, 

 With twisted wreaths of stalks new sho'm, 

 The bundles of the' golden corn, 

 Where ranged in seemly guise appear 

 The upright straw, the bending ear. 



'T is fair to see the farmer build, 

 Now here, now there, throughout the field, 

 With measuring eye correct, that leaves 

 Fit space between, the number'd sheaves 

 In shocks progressive. As he piles, 

 The still increasing heaps with smiles 

 He counts, and feels his heart run o'er 

 With gladness at the glowing store : 

 But ill received, unless repaid 

 With thankfulness to Him, who made 

 His sun arise, His rain descend ; 

 And for the good he deigns to lend, ' 

 Reserves a part Himself decreed 

 The stranger and the poor to feed." * 



While the corn is thus passing through many hands 

 in the course of its preparation for carrying, it will 

 greatly depend upon its state of ripeness whether the 

 grain remain firm in the ear, or whether much of it drop 

 out and be wasted. Many farmers adopt the practice of 

 reaping about a fortnight before their wheat is ripe, both 

 for the sake of preventing waste, and also to secure a 

 better quality in the straw. The tokens of ripeness in 

 corn are few and simple. When the straw is of a bright 

 golden colour from the bottom of the stem nearly to the 

 ear, or when the ear begins to bend towards the earth, 

 it is time to cut the crop. It is seldom that a crop 

 ripens all alike, and there will often be green ears in 

 one portion of a field, when there are mature ones every- 

 where else. But these green-looking ears will often be 

 * Bishop Mant. 



