CULTIVATION, HARVESTING, ETC. 187 



largest proportion of fully-matured seed, as the crop will 

 stand until it is cut without injury. At this time it will 

 be about 3 or 3J feet high. The harvest operations differ 

 somewhat from the usual practices, and owing to the late- 

 ness of the season, require more care and attention. In 

 some places the scythe is used, but in others the old mode 

 of cutting with a particular hook called " a twibill" and a 

 " hink," is still followed. It is bound in small sheaves or 

 "wads/' and set up in the usual manner, but in smaller- 

 sized stocks. These require to be regularly watched and 

 moved, so as to expose the whole surface equally to the 

 action of the sun and the wind, and great care should be 

 taken not to cart them for stacking before they have been 

 sufficiently exposed, and have become quite dry. A little 

 rain while in the stook does them good, by assisting the 

 separation of the seed from the husk in thrashing, but on 

 no account must they be carted until quite dry. 



The operation of thrashing is always a difficult one, 

 especially if attempted too soon after harvest. If this, for 

 market reasons, be desirable, the stocks ought to be kept 

 as long as possible out in the field, for the moisture and 

 wind to exert their full action on them ; under other cir- 

 cumstances, the end is obtained by keeping them in the 

 stack until the next spring or summer, and then submit- 

 ting them to the action of the thrashing machine. The 

 produce varies with the seasons ; from 30 to 50 bushels per 

 acre may be taken as the general return. The price, of 

 course, is governed by the relative supply and demand for 

 the seed, which being used only for one purpose that of 

 food for "cage birds" offers no inducement for importa- 

 tion from foreign countries. Generally speaking, it is consi- 

 dered satisfactory if it fetches from one-fourth to one- third 

 more than wheat ; and frequently it greatly exceeds this, 

 the price having been 10 and upwards per quarter during 

 the last twenty years. Precautions should be taken both 



