188 SKETCHES OP RURAL AFFAIRS. 



which makes it very advantageous for a temporary 

 purpose. When the platform is of wood, as a further 

 precaution, the props are often soaked in corrosive sub- 

 limate. This answers the double purpose of preserving 

 the wood and destroying vermin. Stacks of corn are of 

 various shapes and sizes, but it is thought that a long, 

 narrow, square shape is the most advantageous, especially 

 where the quantity is very considerable. This shape 

 is readily and conveniently built, it stands firm, and 

 preserves the grain well ; it has also the advantage of 

 requiring less thatch than some of the other forms. But 

 perhaps the most usual form of wheat-rick is the circular 

 one, with a conical roof. The best way of managing 

 wheat is undoubtedly that of thus stacking it with the 

 straw ; and when the latter is required for use, to 

 dispose of the wheat immediately at the current market 

 prices. But it happens of necessity, that granaries, or 

 places for storing corn, are also requisite. The ancients 

 used to preserve their wheat for many years in store- 

 houses especially built for its reception, and in all ages 

 of the world such places have been constructed of dif- 

 ferent materials, according to the facilities of the spot 

 in which they were required. Thus in the time of 

 Joseph, wheat was stored in Egypt for seven years, and 

 was doubtless preserved for so long a time without diffi- 

 culty in that dry and warm climate. The granaries of 

 the ancients were sometimes mere pits dug out in the 

 ground : at other times barns or storehouses were built 

 for the purpose. "I will pull down my barns and 

 build greater, and there will I bestow my fruits and my 

 goods," was the exclamation of the rich man described 

 by our Lord, whose ground " brought forth plentifully." 

 (Luke xii. 18.) Among the Romans the necessity of 

 preserving grain was so strongly felt, that they took the 

 greatest pains in constructing their granaries, and are 

 said to have kept wheat in them for fifty, or even for a 

 hundred years. " The best situation for a granary," as 

 described by a recent authority, "is over the thrashing : 



