176 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap. VII* 



more easily about the roots of the grain. This 

 operation, however, ought to be performed when 

 the weather is dry, and neither harrow nor rol- 

 ler ought to be heavy. 



7/, Harvest. AVheat harvest begins from 

 the middle to the end of August, and ends about 

 the beginning of October. It is cut with the 

 sickle, bound in sheaves, and put up in stocks 

 like oats, with this difference, that the stook 

 consists of 14 sheaves instead of 12. From the 

 length of the straw, two sheaves will cover 1 2 

 of wheat, as completely as two will cover I o of 

 oats or barley. As wheat is generally free of 

 grass or weeds, and strong in the straw, it dries 

 sooner than other grain. If the weather be dry, 

 with a good breeze of wind, it will be ready for 

 stacking in eight or ten days : And, unless wet- 

 ted with rain, need never stand in the stook 

 above a fortnight, It is put up in the barn-yard 

 in round ricks like oats or barley, either raised 

 on stone pillars of about 1 8 inches high, over- 

 laid with planks of wood, or set on the ground 

 with straw or brush wood under it, to keep it 

 from suffering by damp. 



8//>, Produce. The produce of wheat, like 

 that of every other kind of grain, varies, accord- 

 ing to the difference of soil, season, improve- 

 ment, &c. Instances there are of 15 or 16 bolls 

 from an acre : but these are rare : sometimes 1 2 ; 

 often 10 ; and still more frequently eight and 

 under. Eight bolls may be considered as the 

 average produce per acre. The quality of the 

 wheat, in many parts of Fife, is scarcely inferior 

 to any in Scotland, the boll often weighing from 

 1 6 to 17 stone Averclupoise weight. The me-^ 



