= _ CHAR VESTING. 
the cafe; in cold wet fummers, however, wheat is fometimes 
horny and pale, the ins thin, and in i 
plumped up ;_ their hufks adhering fo clofe, that they 
require to be mellowed in order to their threfhing in a 
proper manner. ‘The full grain which {wells the chaff, 
even until it opens it i ft bare 
in fine fruitful years, is almoft ba 
eff i 
more e 
It is pretty generally the pradtice in moft parts of the 
king 
in a toothed ftate, while in others it has fimply a cutting fe 
edge, The work is commonly done equally well whichever 
is made ufe of for the purpofe. The bufinefs of reaping is 
performed differently, in refpect to height and other circum- 
ftances, according as the cuftom of the diftrit may prevail, 
Tt is ufual, in fome of the midland counties, and in many of 
thofe on the fouth-eaft coat, to cut the wheat crops at the 
height of twelve or fifteen, and fometimes eighteen, inches 
from the ground ; the handfuls, as they are reaped, bein 
faid on bands formed from fome of the reeds of the cro 
- twifted or knotted together near to the ear part. ob 
i sels bein into what are termed 
either fuffered to lie upon the ftubble for a few 
clining againft that of the other oppofite to it, fo as to form 
- a fort of irregular triangle if the bafe be included. But in 
fome c i 
without being hooded. . 
~ In moft of thefe cafes, as foon as the crop is carted off the 
land, the ftubble is mown by means of a fcythe, and, after 
- being raked into large heaps, is conveyed away to the farm- 
nit where it is ufed, either for thatching buildings, corn 
and hay ricks, or as litter for the ftock 
However, in the n 
otland where wheat and rye are » the 
tan 
thele hood-theaves in the , 
eg hgh ak pie Ee 
Gtuaioas in Which ey inne beh 
“together, form a fort of ropes, that, joe | 
the fheaves ate fet up into a kind of ftouk 
f 
and weft of this country, and in to 
‘put, 2 parcel of ftraws, the fual thicknefs of a band, is taken 
‘from each fide below the dof one o ich, 
conveyed round 
er, and of courfe 
t be too much expofed 
grain is thin, a 
flight fhower is often of great benefit to it. Ina rainy eat 
in the 
ranches 0: 
way their wheat crops were formerl — 
weeks, or longer, in the field, before they were carried, a8 
no wet could, it was imagined, urt the § in, or caufe tt 
grow inthe ear. Thefe are now, however, let ftand 2 
much fhorter time in the field, being kept more clean irom 
weeds. 
In the county of Wilts it was formerly a pretty Comm, 
practice to form their. wheat crops, after being cut into lied 
are fet im a circle wit 
the ears upwards, on which another circle of fheaves 38 place’ 
he pile termmatc® 
‘point, over which a 
turned with the ears down 
of 
hat is much hac 
1 the field a much fhorter time than was for 
lids, it is a mode that takes up too mucl 
