Harvesting in a Bad Season. 
213 
fatigue ; and if he have miscalculated his time, and darkness 
threatens him, a light sheaf, easily lifted and carried by his wife 
or child, gets properly placed; il its circumference were some- 
thing like o or 4 feet, as Ave sometimes find in Lincolnshire 
and Nottinghamshire, it might be left on the ground all night, 
or carelessly set up, to be blown down by the breeze before 
morning. Again, with small sheaves such as I have named, 
vou have the further advantage that, if you are short of " hands," 
either from the Irish labourer having returned home or from the 
amateur harvester having finished his holiday, with these small 
sheaves a woman, or even a boy of fourteen years old, will take 
the fork, and " pitch " 400 of them — about a cart-load — in ten 
minutes without difficulty. 
3. As to using Single Bands or Biridings. — By a single band I 
mean only one length of straw, instead of the ordinary band of 
two lengths. After twelve years' experience I am satisfied that 
this is the best plan ; it almost dispenses with the band-maker, 
and there is not so much danger of sprouting at the band as 
when there are two knots instead of one, especially if the single 
knot be properly tied and put inside the stook instead of outside ; 
and by having one length only, you are always certain that the 
sheaf shall not be too large. There is also in threshing an 
advantage in having single bands : you have one knot to untie 
instead of two ; you save time, and often save the threshing- 
machine from being strained in bolting these knots. 
4. Leave the Sheaves open. — By this I mean that when the 
band is laid on the ground, and so much of the corn placed 
thereon as will make a sheaf, it should be left untied, so as to 
get more sun and wind in the middle of the day. When once 
the sheaf is thoroughly dry, the corn is not so likely to sprout as 
it would be if the sheaf were bound when freshly-cut. The 
power of the sun in the middle of the day, from nine to three, 
playing on the loose straw, will often save two days in making it 
ready for carting. 
5. Never allow the Sheaves to lie on the Ground all Night. — 
Men, in their eagerness to make long days, will sometimes play 
the trick of leaving nearly a day's work of sheaves on the ground. 
Even in the dryest time this should not be allowed ; but if a 
pelting rain should come in the night, a sheaf thus left is often 
so thoroughly saturated with wet that it will take two or three 
days more to dry than sheaves that have been standing. Besides, 
the ears of corn being always nearest the ground, they, and the 
best part of the stems of straw, are often bespattered with dirt 
and sand, the corn is very dusty in the threshing, and the straw 
is unpalatable for the cattle. 
6. Make small Stocks. — Some persons put 12 sheaves in a 
