HARVESTING, 
prongs below, fomewhat in the manner of the eommon hay 
fork,eto whic “h are fixed at the upper part two swat, 3 
ie 
it Up, 
while thofe on the upper fide prevent its foes ing back ards, 
and determine the quantity which is fufficient for fheaf; 
By this fimple contrivance, ie is Sinatok that = grain 
may be gat more regularly, and much more expedi- 
tioufly into the fheaf, than by the labour of the hand, as 
the grain is nee from 8 
n as the mower has eéaiténd he end 
ihe oO 
of the field, in fome places, for him to begin to bind and r 
on doing in the 
woman is, in the mean time, each in raking t yobs 
ble, which, on lands that have been. properly harrowed 
and — is ak done, and fo effectually, that Geardely 
a ftem is lott. he work of performing thefe differen . 
here me however, feveral variations to be m 
diferent j laces. : 
oats, bar- 
s, be 
fubftituted ae propriety in the. harveft- fold, 
the of obviating the lofs, i pecrorsd teri and addi- 
tional expence, to which t s fu ubjected, in confe- 
quence of the deficiency in the oon ta of hands, which is 
too frequently experienced at fuch bufy feafons. It is-con- 
tended, indeed, that without the aid which is derived during 
the harveft months from the poor negleéted peafantry of 
Wales and the Highlands of Scotland, the crops in 
many of the more fertile ann rt of - ifland oalate dnot, by the 
_ prefent generally pra¢tifed m efting, be cut and 
gathered 1 in, i a takin fock a a number of hands from 
the various manufaétures of the country, as would be incon- 
venient, and at fuch rates of wages as — ft amount 
to the prohibition vi the cultivation of crops. 
It is ftated, on und of pstreek ey siealeioe: that 
the mode of iareting which is praétifed in 
point of view, as a general 
efpecially. towards the northern ex- 
tremities, every operation of the ——— — &c.-is 
15t 
manu- from the gro’ 
is. more — the weather, and the longer the 
fufpended, - the “art: rey are made to beara thate i in 
the la bours 
defcriptions of them than thofe at prefent employed,. ren- 
dered .capable of being ee eee lefs. diffic a4 
experienced in providing a {efficient num 
manner, and far more expeditior ; 
time the quantity of the nest laey: article ftraw is he 
au 
fement be remarked that greater supaditiond in harvefting 
is requifite in proportion to the heat of, the feafon ;. as 
that is haftily ripened, feorched up by the aétion of the fun, 
and full in the ear, {peedily takes on a ftain, is quickly in- 
y every b 
but immediately to em 
to produce which the 
lefs it then lies abroad, either in the erp or argo ot wey 
Reaping high where the bottom is w edy ma 
in this view. And for hilly aiftrices it ot ee ra fgg 
by an old writer, that, grain can never be 
ss Ce itis perfectly ripe, hard, and 9 no ween of 
atter, a by gripping it and carting as fait as it is cut 
down, as the dampnefs caufed by its eta upon the ground 
during ths night is not eafily expelled. With wheat it i 
fink the g fe to the pene: tho 
laid in lightet seen by which 
if fuffered to remain long 
ure, leave a very high wheat ftubble, on 
of cornare held up and fupported quite 
and of courfe are more eafily 
ond 
dried by the 
fun eer ~~ wind ; for it may ty remarked that on rich - 
ftances, particularly in hill fituations, 
hern y 
. Imall cafes the more forward the beerel® scto sand the 
main with fafety, in the field, whether it 
aves as fuch expofure to the atmofphere_ Ly, look 
not only cepsonapr ayaa t threfh better ane. 
finer, . a8 has been fogs Hi : 
. wheat harv Aleks Pisa siti t 
end of July, which is s the cafe 
