354 Of Reaping. 



It is only a small deviation from bagging, and is said to be a 

 most expeditious mode of cutting grain. 



Sheaf Bands. 



In the isle of Thanet, farmers prepare at their leisure, 

 bands of straw, with knots at each end, which are carried by 

 children to the field, and given to the workmen when want- 

 ed, for tying up the corn. Where there is a thrashing-mill, 

 this could easily be effected. This is an admirable practice, 

 for in this way, the band may be made of any required di- 

 mensions ; the waste of much corn is prevented, more espe- 

 cially when the crop is ripe, less time is wasted in reaping, 

 and there is no risk of the bands growing in wet weather. 

 Even children are thus early taught a degree of subordination 

 and order, and rendered useful in carrying on the business of 

 the farm, without being subjected to labour above their 

 strength to perform ( I9 ). 



SECT. XIX. Of Harvesting. 



CORN, when cut down, is usually put into sheaves and 

 shocks, (provincially stooks\ or two rows of five or six sheaves 

 each, with two more spread open on the top, for protection 

 against rain, called the hooding, or head-sheaves. In wet 

 seasons, the crop is sometimes put into small stacks in the 

 field, where it remains, till it be fit to be removed to the 

 stack-yard. The expense, when the work is properly con- 

 ducted, is not considerable, and the corn is put out of risk. 

 By making the stack in the centre of the space from which 

 the corn is to be carried, the operation goes on very quickly. 

 In one day, in the precarious harvest of 1816, an eminent 

 farmer in East Lothian ( I91 ), secured, in this way, thirty- 

 two statute acres, in which grass-seeds had been sown, at 

 an expense of about two shillings per acre. Nineteen men 

 were employed, of whom twelve were put to carry the corn 

 upon hand-barrows to the stack, three to build, three to 

 fork, and one to dress the stacks, and to rake up the loose 

 corn. The ground was so wet at the time, that had carts 

 and horses been put upon it, the young grass would have 

 been destroyed. In Cornwall, from the dread of moisture, 

 they are accustomed to put up their corn in small stacks, 

 the very evening in which their crops are cut down / and the 

 farmers consider their crops to be perfectly safe, if once put 



