HAR 



liAR 



should be well made, and have large 

 heads on the lower end, as if anything 

 breaks, it probably will be these bolts 



" The forward hinge is made with 

 Swede's iron, and bolted on the top 

 of the timber, with three bolls in each 

 side of the hinge. 



" The hook plays freely in an eye 

 on the end of a rod, made of round 

 iron, five eighths of an inch in diame- 

 ter, which runs through both hinges, 

 having a washer, nut, and spring key 

 behind the back hinge. The eyes in 

 the hinges should be the tliickness of 

 the iron above the timber, conse- 

 quently the rod running through the 

 eyes will be that much above the 

 timber. 



"The hinges should be four and a 

 half feet apart from centre to centre. 



" The centre pieces should be one 

 inch apart. 



" The side pieces should be twelve 

 or thirteen inches apart in the clear, 

 measuring square across. 



" The four teeth in the centre pie- 

 ces require to be made straight on 

 one side, instead of having the point 

 in the centre, as their places are near 

 the sides of the timber. 



" The teeth should be seven eighths 

 of an inch square, and thirty to the 

 harrow." 



The common hm?h harrow, con- 

 sisting of a bundle of bushes fastened ! 

 to an iron chain, or woven mto an j 

 old gate or wooden frame, is much 

 used for rubbing seeds mto the soil. 

 When the shrubs are thorny, it an- 

 swers to scarify natural meadows af- 

 ter manure is applied. The Fig. on p. 

 120 represents a simple bush harrow. 



HARTSHORN SPIRIT. Solution 

 of ammonia. See Nitrogen. 



HARVEST. "In those southern 

 climates where the heat and want of 

 moisture are not too great for the 

 growth of corn, the only care of the 

 farmer is to procure hands sufficient 

 to reap it. The heat of the sun and 

 air soon dry the straw and harden the 

 grain. A spot is levelled in the field, 

 and the corn is thrashed out imme- 

 diately, either by the tread of cattle 

 driven over it, or by the flails of nu- 

 merous thrashers. The corn is win- 



nowed and stored in granaries, and 

 the straw is reserved till winter, when 

 it forms the chief fodder of horses 

 and cattle. In tiiese regions the har- 

 vest is a continued feast ; no unge- 

 nial weather disappoints the hopes of 

 the husbandman ; but in northern 

 climates, where the harvest is later, 

 and cold rains and storms are fre- 

 quent in autumn, the ingenuity is oft- 

 en taxed to save the corn from being 

 entirely spoiled, after it has been sev- 

 ered from the ground ; roomy barns 

 are erected to secure it in the straw 

 till it can be thrashed. 



" To lessen the casualties of har- 

 vest, the experienced husbandman 

 endeavours to arrange the time of 

 sowing each kind of grain so as to 

 ensure its coming to maturity in a 

 regular succession. Thus he has 

 more time to attend to the precau- 

 tions of which experience has taught 

 him the utility ; and if the duration 

 of harvest is longer, there is less dan- 

 ger of all his crops being spoiled by 

 a wet season. 



" It was long the custom through 

 the whole of the north of Europe to 

 store all the produce of the farm into 

 barns, especially the corn ; and it was 

 thought that as soon as the sheaves 

 were collected under a roof all dan- 

 ger was past. The increase of the 

 produce raised on most lands by an 

 improved system of agriculture gave 

 rise to the practice of stacking corn 

 in the open air, and securing it by a 

 covering of thatch. It was soon 

 found that the grain thus stored in 

 the straw was better preserved than 

 that which was in the barn ; and the 

 invention of stone or cast-iron pillars 

 as supports for the frames on which 

 the grain was stacked, not only se- 

 cured it from the depredations of ver- 

 min, but kept it in a much drier state 

 than when the stacks were made on 

 the ground. This was a great im- 

 provement ; and now, in the best- 

 managed farms, the only barns re- 

 quired are those in which the corn is 

 thrashed ; and if there is sufficient 

 room to hold the contents of one 

 stack of the usual dimensions, it is 

 all that is absolutely required. 



359 



