460 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II. 



2908. Corn-stands are requisite fixtures of the stack-yard : they are basements of 

 timber or masonry, or sometimes of iron, on which to build the stack, and their object is 



to keep the lower part of the stack dry, and 

 exchide vermin. The usual mode of con- 

 structing stands is to place a stout frame of 

 timber on upright stones, two feet high, and 

 having projecting caps of flat stones. They 

 are also constructed wholly of stone, with 

 circular or polygonal walls (Jig. 436 a, b), 

 built to the same height as in the former 

 case, in a rather slanting manner outwards, and covered on the tops with copings of oak- 

 planking or flat stones, which project over the edges several inches, and in that way 

 prevent the ascent of rats and mice to the stacks. In both these modes, pieces of timber 

 are placed as a frame in the middle to support the grain upon, and generally a cone of 

 spars in the centre, to form a column of air in the heart of the corn. Some suppose the 

 first of these sorts of corn-stands to be the best for general purposes, as being more easily 

 as well as more cheaply constructed, and at the same time permitting the air to enter and 

 circulate with more freedom underneath, in the bottom 

 of the stand, which is of much advantage. It is obvious 

 that the form of these stands or basements must vary 

 according to that in which the stacks are to be made, 

 which is different in different districts. But wherever 

 the threshing machine is introduced, the circular base, 

 as producing a stack of a moderate size, with other 

 advantages, is generally preferred. But cast-iron stands 

 {Jig. 437.) with or without funnels, are now found 

 preferable in point of economy, and admit of stacking 

 the com somewhat earlier. The pillars of these stands 

 are three feet high, and weigh half a cwt. each. A 

 stack requires seven pillars, besides the framing, which 

 may either be made of poles or young trees. In the 



wet climate of Clackmannanshire, wheat has been stacked 



'i^^^^^55^^~^^^^^^''^^ in five days, beans in eight;, and barley and oats in 



ten days, and sometimes earlier. No vermin can find their way into these stacks to 

 consume the grain, and the straw is better preserved. The cone or triangle keeps up a 

 circulation of air, and prevents heating or other damage. ( Gen. Rej). of Scotland, vol. iv. 

 jlpp. p. 379.) 



2909. WaistelVs circular rick. stand {Jig. 428.) is twelve feet eight inches in diameter. It consists of two 

 concentric circular walls, the outer twenty and the inner eighteen 

 inches thick ; the outer wall covered with flagstones, v/hich project 

 four inches over it, to prevent rats and mice from getting up into 

 the rick. The space between the two walls is twenty inches wide; 

 across this space are laid hedgestakes, which are suflSciently long to 

 support the rick, so that no large bearers are wanted, nor other 

 strong and expensive bearers of any kind. The outer wall is twenty 

 inches high, to the top of the projecting flags ; at about half its 

 height, four grates of cast iron, about six inches square and half an 

 inch thick, are placed in openings left through the external walls, 

 at equal distances from each other to admit air. The bars of the 

 grates are a quarter of an inch broad, and a quarter of an inch dis- 

 tant from each other, which is sufficiently close to prevent the 

 entrance of mice. Stands thus constructed are considered, by those 

 who have tried them, to be less expensive and more effective than 

 on any other plan that has been yet invented. The air that passes 

 through these four grates, and through the openings in the internal 

 walls, will circulate freely under the rick ; and if a chimney be 

 carried up the middle of the rick to its top, the current of air that 

 will pass up through it will carry off the heat and moisture, which 

 might otherwise injure, and even spoil, such corn as was rather too 

 moist when carried. {Waistcll's Designs, &c. p. 101.) 



2910. Hay-stands, according to some, may be formed 

 in the same manner as those for corn, only it is seldom 

 necessary to have them made of such expensive materials. 

 A simple frame of wood is mostly sufficient, with proper bearers laid across for the 

 support of the stack ; and these stands are much better than loose pieces of wood laid 

 across at the bottom, and filled in with brush or faggot wood, on which ricks are com- 

 monly built. Earthy floors or foundations should never be thought of for this purpo.se, 

 as die dampness must injure a considerable part of the hay at the bottom ; but where 

 faggots are not scarce, and the ground on which the hay-stack is built is rather elevated, 

 no stand can ever become necessary. 



2911. Tke stack-funnel fausse or boss {Jig. 439. a.) as it is called in the north, 

 whether the stand be of wood, iron, or stone, may be formed of a few poles placed on a 



438 



