STACKING. 



more ; if on a bottom, the revcrfe. Tlie corners of the 

 ftem (hniild not be built too (harp ; fliould be carri'd up 

 fnug ; by which the fides will look fuller, and the fwell 

 given by the preffure will be more perceptible. The ends 

 of the roof (hould have a gentle projefture, anfwerable to 

 the ftem ; and the fides (honld be carried up rather convex, 

 than flat or concave. Perhaps a roof greatly convex fhoots 

 off the rains preferably to any other. A corn-Hack fhould 

 not, it is faid, contain above twenty-one loads, as the ride 

 of making and getting in is much lefs on a imall than on a 

 large flack ; beildcs, a large Itack does not fettle fo true as 

 a fmall one, and of courfe will not fland the weather fo 

 well. It is true, a large flack does not, in proportion, take 

 fo much thatch and thatching, which are its only advantages. 



But in cafes where corn is flacked in a loofe manner, it is 

 the ufual praftice to have a nun:ber of perfons upon the 

 ftack, the corn being forked up and depofited on the dif- 

 ferent fides all round m a fimilar method ; after this, other 

 parcels are laid all round on the infide of thefe, fo as to bind 

 them in a fecure manner from (lipping outward ; the ope- 

 rator proceeding in the i.ime manner till the whole of the 

 middle fpace is perfeftly filled up ; when he begins another 

 courfe in the fame method, and goes on in this mode, with 

 courfe after courfe, till he has raifed the whole of the flem 

 or body part ; then he begins to take in for the roof in a 

 very gradual manner, in every fucceeding courfe, until the 

 whole is brought to a ridge or point, according to the 

 manner the flack is formed in. But in order that the 

 roofs may throw off the water in a more perfeft and efleftual 

 manner, they fhould be made fo as to have a flight degree of 

 fulnefs or fwell about the middle of them, and not be made 

 flat, as is too frequently the pradlice with indifferent builders 

 of flacks of this fort. 



The method of proceeding where the corn is bound into 

 (heaves, is, however, quite different, as there is feidom more 

 than one perfon employed in managing the work of building 

 the flack, except in cafes where the dimenfions are very con- 

 Cderable ; in which cafes it is found neceffary to have a boy 

 to receive the fheaves from the pitcher, and hand them to 

 the man that builds the ftack. And in executing the work, 

 it is of the utmoll importance that the centre of the flack 

 be conftantly kept in a fomewhat raifed ilate above that of 

 the fides, as by this means the fheaves have a floping direc- 

 tion outwards, by which the entrance of moiflure is more 

 efieftually guarded againfl and prevented. And in order to 

 accomplifn this in the moll perfetl method, it is fnid to be 

 the bell prattice tor the workman to begin in the middle of 

 the (land or (laddie, letting tiie fheaves together, fo as that 

 they may incline a little againfl each other, placing the red 

 in fucceflive rows againfl them, till lie comes to the ontfide, 

 when he carries a courfe of flieavcs quite round, and in a 

 more floping manner than in the preceding courfes. The 

 bottom of the flack being formed in this way, it is after, 

 wards ufual to begin at the outfide, and advance with dif- 

 ferent courfes round the whole, placing each courle u little 

 within the other, fo as to bind them in an exa6t and careful 

 manner, till the flacker comes to the middle. And all the 

 different courfes are to be hid on in a fimilar manner, until 

 the whole of the flem is raifed and completed ; when tiie lafl 

 outfide row of flieaves is, in mofl cafes, placed a very little 

 more out than the others, in order to form a fort of projec- 

 tion for the eaves, that the water may be thrown ofl more 

 effeilually. But in cafes where the flcms of the flacks are 

 formed fo as to projcil outwards, in tlie manner already no- 

 ticed, this may be omitted without any bad confequcnccs, 

 as the water will be thrown off eafily without touching the 

 vvailc of the ftsck. And the roof is to be formed by placing 



Vol. XXXII r. 



the (lieaves gradually a little more in and in, in every courfe, 

 until it comes to a ridge or point, according to the form of 

 the flack, as has been already obferved. But in forminir 

 and conftrufting this part of the flack, great care fhould 

 conftantly be taken to give the ear-endi of the (heaves a 

 fufficiently (loping diredlion upwards, in ordtr that they may 

 be the better fecured from wetnefs. And to the outfide 

 (liould be given a rounded form, in the manner that has been 

 already noticed. 



In refpeft to the flacking of grain, it is obferved in the 

 Farmer's Magazine, that the corn and its flraw mufl neceffa- 

 rily be a great deal more dried in the field, to render it pro- 

 per for being fecured in barns, than when it is built in 

 ricks, as thefe latter, being expofedto the free air all round, 

 are by no means fo apt to heat or mould the grain and 

 flraw, as if it were ilored in common bains. And that, in 

 confequence of that fuperior degree of drynefs necefiary for 

 barn-harvefling, the grain is certainly a great deal more apt 

 to fliake out from the ear, in handling and forking into the 

 carts or waggons for being led home. And further, that 

 when built in ricks properly contrived, the grain is likewife 

 placed altogether out of the reach of rats and mice, which 

 commit very great wafle in common barns, however well 

 conflrufted ; that it is of courfe better that all grain (hould 

 be built in round ricks in the yard, upon wooden frames 

 open below, raifed on (lone fupports, fitnilar to thofe on 

 which granaries are fixed. By this plan, it would, it is 

 fnppofed, be more effeftually fecured againfl the depreda- 

 tions of vermin ; and befides, the air having free accefs all 

 round, and even underneath, through the interflices of the 

 frame, it will be completely prevented from all danger of 

 fpoiling any way in the rick. And fuither, that in this 

 way of fecuring grain, the ricks do not by any means re- 

 quire to be thatched fo very fubllaiitially, and, of confe- 

 quence, cxpenfively, as is pra£lifed in general. 



Further, it is alio advifed, that in building a corn-rick, 

 efteftual care be taken to keep the centre or heart of the 

 rick always confiilerably higher than the outer range of 

 (heaves, as noticed above ; fo that every (heaf in the rick 

 has a confiderablc (lope outwards and downwards. When 

 this is properly attended to, and all the iheaves carefully 

 locked together, and the crown properly put on, the rick 

 will, it is obferved, turn a very heavy (hower of rain, even 

 before the tiiatch is applied. Tlie wli,)le rick, after the 

 thatch is laid on, is finally covered with a net-work of 

 (Iraw-ropc, leaving the mellies about nine or twelve inches 

 wide, all the ends of the ropes being fecured to a belt-rope, 

 which goes round the rick below the eave^, jull within reach 

 of a man, and the middle parts of all the ropes are lied to 

 one that goes flraight over the top of the rick by fmall hand- 

 fuls of flraw. See Stack. 



And it has been Hated by the author of " Praftical 

 Agriculture," that it is the praftice in fome diflrids, efpe- 

 cially where the flack,; are made of a circular form, and the 

 weather is wet and unfavourable, to have a funnel or chim- 

 ney left in them, in order to prevent tlieir taking on too 

 much heat. This is effeiUd by tying a flicaf up in a very 

 tight manner, and placing it in the middle, on the found- 

 ation of the Hack, pulling it up occafionally as the building 

 of the ftack proceeds all round it. And in letting up r:ck» 

 in bad harvells, it is a pradice in fome places, particularly 

 with barley-crops, to have three or four pretty large poles 

 tied together, by winding ftraw-ropcs round them, fet up 

 in the middle, round which the flacks are then built. But 

 that except the flacks are large, or the grain when put into 

 them in an imperfeft condition, fuch openings are quite un- 

 ueceflary. Thefe openings in the northern parts of the 

 4 R kingdom 



