88 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



sirable ; their sphere of usefulness is elsewhere ; 

 and we trust the time is distant when such things 

 will be tolerated or become necessary here. But 

 we are of the opinion that the time of men and boys 

 could for a few days be well employed in ridding 

 the fields of stein-krout, and other villanous weeds 

 that so frequently overtop the wheat-plants, and ex- 

 haust the soil of the nutriment intended for them. 

 That on many farms the crops are lessened from a 

 fourth to a fifth, in consequence of imperfect tillage 

 and foulness of the land cropped, does not admit of 

 a doubt ; and if additional labour is necessary to 

 remedy this great evil, let it be employed, or no more 

 land put under the plough than can be properly tilled 

 and cleaned. 



HARVESTING. 



Wheat, if harvested too early, will lose in weight 

 very considerably, though the flour produced from it 

 will be of a superior quality. If allowed to stand 

 too long, there is danger of loss from its shelling 

 freely in cutting and carting ; and, though more flour 

 is made, it has not the pure whiteness of that of 

 earlier cut grain. In order to avoid the loss by 

 shrinkage on the one hand and shelling on the oth- 

 er, it becomes of considerable consequence to deter- 

 mine the most advantageous period of cutting wheat. 

 That wheat should be allowed to stand until the 

 berry will be mature, there can be no doubt. After 

 this time, all is unnecessary exposure to danger. 

 The wheat flint is a wheat which, in the field, resists 

 two causes of danger and loss better than any vari- 

 ety with which we are acquanited ; it rarely ger- 

 minates on the stalk while standing, as some other 

 kinds will, in unfavourable vveather ; and, owing to 

 the firmness with which the kernel is embraced by 

 the chaff", the loss by premature sheUing is inconsid- 

 erable. 



Brown, in his treatise on Rural Economy, an ex- 



