Harvesting in a Bad Season. 
211 
The observations which I then made as a boy have been 
serviceal)lo to me in practice on a farm in Yorkshire of 500 acres. 
Darin;; the last twelve years 1 have experienced three liarvests 
in which I had not a drop of rain, except what might, unknown 
to me, have fallen in the night ; but I have also had to contend, 
like the rest of my brethren, with wet weather in the other 
seasons. 
Any suggestions that I make are given, not from theory, but 
practice and my own observation. My directions will be reduced 
to the following heads, on each of which I propose to comment 
A'ery briefly, with this preface only — that I am not aware that I 
ever had a stack on fire, or was compelled to pull one to pieces. 
I do not pretend to teach as one who knows more than others, 
because I feel sure that thousands of farmers could teach me 
more than I know ; but we all know and regret that the know- 
ledge of the most experienced is very apt to live and die with 
them. My object, then, is to prompt others to set me right 
Avhere I am wrong, and to give to all the benefit of what little I. 
know myself. 
Directions 
1. Reap early. 
2. Make small sheaves. 
5. Use single bands. 
4. Leave the sheaves open as long as you can before 
binding. 
5. Never allow the sheaves to lie all night on the ground. 
6. Make small stooks. 
7. Do not use hoods. 
S. Rather let corn be " muck in the stock than muck in 
the stack." 
9. Carefully watch it. 
10. When dry, quickly cart it. 
1. As to Time of Reaping. — Corn ripens first in the ear, and 
next in the straw, whether it be wheat, barley, rye, or oats. I 
never yet met with any one who could give me a positive rule to 
know when to cut corn, and I doubt whether there is any such 
rule. It has been my practice to take six ears of the corn 
picked from different places, and cut them off a foot long, in- 
cluding the car, and strike them smartly on the palm of the 
hand, when, if the grains fall off, the corn is ripe enough to be 
cut. 
Much has been said about cutting early, and I decidedly 
tliink it is better to cut too soon than too late. To men in the 
south tliis early cutting may not be so important, but my harvest 
rarely begins until September. On the 28th September, 1856, 
p 2 
