126 OUR FARM CROPS. 



possible, you have a greater command of weather, and are 

 better able to arrange your labour satisfactorily, than if 

 it be left until the grain is dead ripe. In dry weather 

 the straw becomes very brittle, and a large quantity of 

 the crop is left on the ground ; and in wet weather the 

 grain is very apt to sprout in the ear, and thus be 

 effectually spoiled for malting, and greatly deteriorated 

 for feeding purposes. 



The mode of cutting is pretty generally with the scythe, 

 except in those advanced districts where the "reaper" 

 has taken possession of the field. The ordinary scythe, 

 with a small cradle, is used, and the corn is cut out and 

 laid in swathe, as in mowing grass. From 1 to 2 acre 

 per day may be taken as the average work of a good 

 mower, according to the quality of the crop ; if the crop be 

 heavy, with a full growth of clover, from 1 to 1J acre, 

 and if it be simply barley and no clover, then from 1 i to 

 2 acres would be a good day's work. The rates of pay- 

 ment vary so much in different districts, and in different 

 seasons, that it is useless to give an estimate, especially 

 as in some districts barley is bound and stooked the same 

 as wheat and oats, while, in by far the greater part of the 

 country, it is left on the ground, and stacked loose like 

 clover. 



Where barley is bound and stooked an additional cost 

 of 2s. 6cl to 3s. per acre is incurred. This is always 

 money well laid out where the barley straw is sufficiently 

 long to allow of its being done ; it preserves the bright 

 colour of the grain, which so much determines its value in 

 the malting market, and which is so liable to be affected 

 (stained) by the slightest shower that may fall while it is 

 lying out in the field, or even by the heavy dews that 

 prevail at this season of the year. Taking 5 quarters 

 as the produce per acre, this additional expense of binding 

 and stocking is only 6d. per quarter, which, irrespective 



