90 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



field after it is cut, before it is put in the barn or 

 stacked, must in a great measure depend on two cir- 

 cumstances : the ripeness o^ the grain when cut, and 

 its freedom from everything green when bound into 

 sheaves. If the grain is perfectly ripe, and the 

 straw thoroughly dried, and the sheaves free from 

 grass or weeds, wheat may be cut, and stacked or 

 housed the same day ; but as these conditions are 

 rarely found united, and nothing is more fatal to the 

 quality of wheat than heating and moulding in the 

 mow or stack, it is usually better to let it be effect- 

 ually cured in the field than to run any risk from 

 premature housing. The best method of securing 

 it from sudden showers or unfavourable weather 

 while in the field, is a question of interest to the 

 farmer. He well knows that if a sheaf of wheal or 

 other grain is once thoroughly soaked, it takes a long 

 while to dry ; and though a slight wetting of the 

 heads or butts of a sheaf will soon pass away by 

 evaporation and exposure to the air, yet wheat in 

 the centre of the sheaf, where the straw is com- 

 pressed by the bands, requires many days of fair 

 weather for its dissipation. Various methods are 

 adopted by farmers to save their grain from wetting. 

 Some lay it in the form of a cross, the heads in the 

 centre, and the whole surmounted with a sheaf so 

 disposed as to throw off any slight showers that 

 may fall. Others place their wheat in shocks, the 

 sheaves two and two standing on their butts, the 

 heads of the sheaves inclined to each other, and the 

 tops covered by two sheaves laid their butts to each 

 other, and the tops spread out so as to shield the 

 standing sheaves as much as possible. Others 

 I)lace their wheat in the same position as the last, 

 with the exception that all of the shock is left stand- 

 ing, and no sheaves are placed over the heads. In 

 fine weather this method is preferable to any other, 

 as the wheat is more exposed to the influence of the 

 air and sun, and is, consequently, sooner fit for the 



