202 



TirE GENESEE FARMER. 



safely home. It is unpleasant and unprofitable to 

 have a load upset ; and when a sheaf tumbles off, 

 and is driven over by tlie returning wagon, it 

 dampens somewhat our enthusiastic admiration of 

 *' Young America." The pitcher should always 

 throw the sheaves with the ears toward the load- 

 er ; and he, if he pitches off his own load, will soon 

 learn to place them in regular order, and to keep 

 the middle of the load well up. 



Stacking should be done by an experienced 

 hand. To such, any hints we might give will be 

 unnecessary. To build a stack that will shed rain, 

 is quite an art. As the top is approached, the 

 middle of the stack should be kept full ; and in 

 making the roof, the outside should be gradually 

 lower than the center at each successive layer. 

 "With a little straw or loose grain to top off with, 

 such a stack will not be materially damaged by 

 ordinary showers till it can be threshed. But 

 most farmers in this section have sufficient barn 

 room to hold all their wheat; and in this case, 

 nothing more is required than to stow away the 

 sheaves as compactly as possible. There is, how- 

 ever, great difference in this respect. Some per- 

 sons will put half as much again wheat into a mow 

 as others. 



SHEEP AITD CLOVEB ON LIGHT SOUS. 



UETHOD OF HARVESTING GRAIN IN AUSTRALIA. 



In the fine climate of Australia there is no neces- 

 sity for building barns, or stabling cattle in winter. 

 The harvesting, threshing, and cleaning operations 

 are all done at the same time. The machine cuts 

 off the wheat heads about six inches below the ear, 

 and they fall into a large canvas hammock, which, 

 as soon as filled, is emptied od a platform. of boards 

 at the end of the field. When the field is cut, a 

 threshing machine is set to work, and the wheat is 

 ready for market. The straw is allowed to stand 

 till near seed time, -when it is set fire to and burnt 

 off, leaving the land perfectly clean — every nox- 

 ious seed is destroyed. The land is then re-sown 

 with wheat and harrowed in; and this system con- 

 tinues year after year. 



The wheat grown in Australia is plump and 

 thin-skinned, averaging 65 lbs. per bushel, and 

 gives a larger proportion of flour than American 

 wheat. An average crop there is 30 bushels per 

 acre ; but 50 to 60 bushels per acre is common on 

 volcanic soils. 



The First Enolisii Treatise on Husbandrt 

 was written by Sir A. Fitzheubkut, Judge of the 

 Common Pleas, in 1534; and from its appearance 

 ^ABTB dates the revival of husbandry in England. 



We are acquainted with an old farmer in Canada, 

 one of the pioneers of the country, who for many 

 years, by pursuing a judicious system of cropping, 

 kept up the fertility of his farm, and rendered it 

 more and more productive and himself more 

 wealthy, while his neighbors, in their hurry to get 

 rich, were ruining their farms by successive grai«i 

 crops, till many of them became little better thai 

 blowing sand, and their owners had to sell off foi 

 next to nothing, and move to new locations. His 

 farm, at the time we saw it, in 1851, comprised 

 some 400 acres under cultivation, the soil a sandy 

 loam, with the exception of 100 acres surrounding 

 the farm buildings, that were of a clay loam, and 

 including some 30 acres of wet meadow used af 

 pasturage for cows and young stock. The balance 

 of these 100 acres of heavier soil was devotee 

 exclusively to raising hay, oats, corn, &c., for th< 

 winter keep of the animals on the farm, and tht 

 use of the family. The 300 acres of light soil wen 

 devoted exclusively to the production of wheat 

 and which was almost the only crop sold off th' 

 farm, the straw of the wheat being consumed b; 

 the young stock in winter, and the manure mad' 

 was applied to the crops on the heavier soil o; 

 the farm. The stock raised, however, was of 

 very superior description, and included some fin 

 Devon cattle and superior young horses, addin, 

 largely to the profit of the farm. 



For greater convenience in working, the 300 acre 

 were divided into six large fields of from 25 to 7 

 acres each, 100 acres were always kept in fallow 

 100 acres in wheat, and 100 acres in clover, in reg 

 ular rotation, thus giving a crop of wheat ever 

 year from 100 out of the three hundred acres o 

 laud. The wheat was sown early in Septembei 

 and the clover seed scattered on the surface, at th 

 rate of 10 lbs. an acre, as soon as the wheat wa 

 well harrowed in ; and thus the clover had 

 chance to make a good growth before the winte 

 set in, and get an early start next season. By th 

 time the wheat was cut, the clover had thickl 

 covered the ground, and almost hid the whee 

 stubble. Sheep and young stock were now turne 

 into the stubble in moderate numbers, so as not t 

 eat down the young clover too much, and wer 

 removed early in October to let the clover get 

 good top as a protection from the frosts of winte: 

 In June of the following year, a number of shee 

 were turnisd on the clover to fatten, either pni 

 chased, to re-sell to the butcher, or allowed the ru 

 of the clover at so luuch per head per week ; an 

 as fast as they fattened, they were sold, and othei 



