818 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



and small lateral ones to communicate with it. In the best cultivated counties the use 

 of large barns for holding the crop is disapi>roved of, not only on account of the ex- 

 pense, but because corn keeps better, or is less exposed to damage of any kind, in a well- 

 built stack. 



5044. Tlie threshing of wheat, before machines for that purpose were introduced, was 

 an arduous and difficult task. The expense was very considerable; whilst the severity of 

 the labour almost exceeded the power of the strongest man, especially in unfavourable 

 seasons, when the grain adhered pertinaciously to the ear, and could not, without diffi- 

 culty, be completely loosened and removed. In such seasons, expense was the smallest 

 consideration which influenced the husbandman ; it was the quantity of grain unavoid- 

 ably lost which occupied his attention ; and, as it appeared difficult to find out a remedy, 

 most people considered it as an evil which could scarcely be avoided. In short, the loss 

 was great in almost every case, but greater with wheat than any other grain. Every 

 thing of tliis nature, however, may be prevented, now that threshing machines are 

 introduced, provided the feeder is careful, and proportions the quantity on the board to 

 the strength of the impelling power. Wheat, in fact, is now the cleanest threshed grain ; 

 because the length of the straw allows it to be properly beat out before it passes the 

 machine, which sometimes is not the case with short oats and barley. If horses are used 

 as the impelling power, thin feeding is necessary, otherwise the animals may be injured ; 

 but where wind or water is employed, the business of threshing is executed speedily, 

 completely, and economically. {Brown.) 



5045. In perforviing the operation^ one man feeds the grain in the straw into the machine, and is assisted 

 by two half-grown lads, or young women, one of whom pitches or carries the sheaves from the bay close to 

 the threshing-stage, while the other opens the bands of every sheaf, and lays the sheaves successively on 

 a small table close by the feeder, who spreads them evenly on the feeding stage, that they may be drawn 

 in successively by the fluted rollers, to undergo the operation of threshing. In the opposite end of the 

 barn or straw-house, into which the rakes or shakers deliver the clean-threshed straw, one man forks up 

 the straw from the floor to \.\\^ straw-mow , and two lads, or young women, build it and tread it down, lu 

 a threshing-machine, worked by water or wind, this is the whole expense of haiul labour in the threshing 

 part of the operation, and, as a powerful machine can easily thresh from two to three hundred bushels of 

 grain in a working day of nine hours, the expense is exceedingly small indeed. Assuming two hundred 

 and fifty bushels as an average of the work of these people for one day, and their wages to be nine shillings, 

 the expense does not amount to one halfpenny for each bushel of grain. Even reducing the quantity of 

 grain threshed to one hundred and fifty bushels, the easy work of a good machine of inferior size and 

 power, the expense does not exceed three farthings the bushel. But the whole of this must not be 

 charged against the threshing only, the grain being half-dressed at the same time, by passing through one 

 winnowing-machine, which is always attached to a complete threshing-mill ; and where a second can be 

 conveniently connected with it, as is commonly the case if the mill is of considerable power, the corn 

 comes down nearly ready for market : so that the thresliing, dressing, and building of the straw, with the 

 use of a powerful water-mill, will scarcely cost more than dressing alone when the flail is employed ; after 

 every reasonable allowance for the interest of money, and the tear and wear of the machine. 



5046. When grain is threshed ivith a machine worked bi/ horses, the expense is necessarily and consider, 

 ably enhanced. One capable of effecting the larger quantity of work, already calculated on, will require 

 eight good horses, and a man to drive them, wlio may perhaps require the aid of a boy. The value of 

 the work of eight horses for a day cannot be less than forty sliillings, and the wages of the driver may be 

 called two shillings and sixpence. Hence the total expense of threshing two hundred and fifty bushels 

 will amount to 21. 2s. 6d. ; or about two-pence per bushel, when the wages of the attendants are added ; 

 still leaving a considerable difference in favour of threshing by the machine, in preference to the flail. 

 Were it even ascertained that the expense of threshing by horses and by the flail is nearly the same, 

 horse .milks are to be recommended on other accounts j such as better threshing, expedition, little risk of 

 pilfering, &c. 



5047. The produce of wheat must of course vary, according to the soil, climate, cid- 

 ture, and kind grown. Professor Thaer says, that in general it gives double the weight 

 of straw that it does of grain ; on elevated grounds something less ; and on low grounds 

 something more. The yield of grain in some seasons has been under twenty, while in 

 others it is upwards of thirty bushels the acre, the soil and culture being in every respect 

 the same. The average produce of Britain has been estimated at three, three and a half, 

 and four quarters ; and one of the largest crops ever heard of, at ten quarters, and the 

 least at one quarter and a half. The proportion which the corn bears to the straw, in 

 Middlesex, is eleven and a half bushels to a load of thirty-six trusses of thirty-six pounds 

 each, or eleven and a half cwt. ; no great deviation from Professor Thaer's general esti- 

 mate, a bushel of wheat weighing about 60 or 6 1 pounds. 



5048. To judge of a sample of wheat, examine by the eye if the grain is perfectly fed 

 or full, plump and bright, and if there is any adulteration proceeding from sprouted 

 grains, smut, or the seeds of weeds ; and by the smell, if there is any improper impreg- 

 nation, and if it has been too much heated in the mow or upon the kiln ; and finally, by 

 the feel, to decide if the grain is sufficiently dry, as when much loaded with moisture it 

 is improper for the uses of the miller and baker. In cases where a sample handles 

 coarse, rough, and does not slip readily in the hand, it may be concluded not to be in a 

 condition either for grinding or laying up for keeping. When melilot and wild chamo- 

 mile abound among the wheat crop, are reaped with it, and undergo fermentation in the 

 rick, the grain will have the flavour of these strong smelling plants. To detect this in 

 the sample, hold the grain close in the hand, moisten it with the breath, and then smell 

 or taste it. This is the practice at Ampthill and other markets in Bedfordshire. 



