Garden Calls. 599 



our own. The mode suggested by Vazie, with the exception of the hedge- 

 stake, is resorted to in the wet districts both of Scotland and England ; but 

 when it is applied to the oat-crop, the ears of the hood or cap"^ sheaf are 

 kept uppermost, instead of the lower ends of the stalks; the latter present- 

 ing a broad surface to receive the rain, but the former a cone or tuft which 

 is found to throw it off. In Sweden, where the climate is still more cold 

 and moist than in Britain, and where, of course, evaporation goes on more 

 slowly, the corn is spread out or suspended in small handfuls on frames 

 {Enci/c. of Agr. § 683.), by which the rain, when it falls, readily runs off, and 

 the straw, when the weather is dry, is exposed on greater surfaces for evapo- 

 ration. In that country the corn often remains so suspended till it is dried 

 by the setting in of the winter's frost, and during this often long period it 

 seldom or never germinates. This arises from the coldness of the atmo- 

 sphere, and from this particular circumstance, that in the intervals between 

 showers the air is not often so charged with moisture, or fog and damp, as 

 in England and Ireland. It is important to mark this difference of climate, 

 in order to account for the seemingly paradoxical fact, that the quantity of 

 rain which falls during the harvest months is not always a proof that the 

 harvest weather has been proportionately unfavourable.* 



The grand objects to be attended to in harvesting corn in a wet season 

 are, to cut down only when the corn is dry, to dispose of it so as it may 

 throw off the rains which may afterwards fall, and to tie it in small sheaves 

 so as to preserve the largest evaporating surface. Small sheaves and shocks 

 with hood-sheaves will suffice under all ordinary circumstances, and Mr. 

 Vazie's mode, with small sheaves, in difficult cases. We cannot think it can 



* The following judicious remarks on this subject are from the Scotsman: 

 — In some of the newspapers attempts have been made to trace a relation be- 

 tween the quantity of rain which falls in August, and the injury done to the 

 harvest. " If in August 1828, when less than three inches of rain fell, the 

 crop was considerably injured, how much more must it be injured in August 

 1829, when upwards of five inches of rain have fallen in less than twenty 

 days ! This mode of stating the question certainly has, at first sight, a very 

 formidable appearance; but the damage done to the harvest is by no means 

 in proportion to the quantity oi rawx that falls whilst it is in progress. The 

 ■worst harvest during the last twenty years was undoubtedly that of the year 

 1816, and perhaps the best in the year 1822; and yet a greater quantity of 

 rain fell in the harvest months of 1822 than in those of 1816. According 

 to Hanson's Meteorological Chart, the rain in the months of August and 

 September 1816, which entirely ruined the crop of that year, amounted to 

 less than four inches; whilst in 1822 it amounted to five and a half inches. 

 If the month of July in each year be added to the statement, the fall of rain 

 in the three months in each year would stand thus : — 



In July, August, and September, 1816, 8i in. 

 In July, August, and September, 1822, 13f in. 



Yet the harvest of 1816 was the worst, and that of 1822 the best for many 

 years past. The fact is, that it is not the quantity of rain, but its continu- 

 ance, that is most detrimental to the harvest. A drizzling rain, that lasts a 

 whole day without producing any sensible effect on the rain-gauge, will 

 cause greater injury to the crops than a short and copious shower, though 

 the latter may bring down ten times as much water as the former. The rain 

 during the present month has generally fallen in heavy showers, which have 

 been speedily followed by brisk drying winds; and hence the injury to the 

 crops, so far as we have had an opportunity of observation, has been much 

 smaller than migiit I'easonably have been expected from its quantity. — 

 (Scotsman, Aug. 26.) 



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