178 
Harvesting Mistakes. 
period, very little injury was sustained, while in an adjoining field 
on a bordering farm where the old method of cutting with the 
scythe and allowing the barley to remain in swathe was adopted, 
both grain and straw got to be sadly discoloured, and there was 
considerable sprouting of the former. Both fields were cut at the 
same time ; but the grain of the one was secured fit for malting pur- 
poses, whilst that of the other was fit only for pig-feeding. The lesson 
to be derived is unmistakable. All farmers cannot afford to purchase 
self -binding reapers, but they can universally tie up tlieir barley and 
place the sheaves in stocks when such untoward atmospheric influences 
prevail as those experienced in the recent autumn. The additional 
cost of the tying is generally repaid in there being less waste of grain 
in carting and stacking, but would naturally be saved tenfold in 
such a crisis as that then passed through. 
A further mistake was committed in the management of the 
wheat crops after they were cut and sheaved. There was not much 
sprouting in the fields, owing to the cold weather that accompanied 
the rains, until towards the latter part of August, when the weather 
began to change. I do not hesitate to declare, however, that what- 
ever amount of it was suffered might have been obviated by 
placing the sheaves into those small round “wind ricks” which 
met the eye far more generally in the times of our grandfathers 
than now, but which are still built every season in the mountainous 
districts of the Highlands, and the north of England, and Wales, 
wherever there is a particularly humid climate. 
Whenever we happen to have a wet, precarious harvest, the 
custom of the country generally ought to be adapted to the 
course pursued in these districts, for it is very effectual in pre- 
venting wheat from sprouting after being sheaved, and also in 
allowing it to “ condition ” well, so as to be fit for early threshing. 
I state this much from experience, having in years gone by taught 
labourers how to erect such ricks by building them myself. The 
only art is that of setting a number of sheaves close together on 
their lower ends with their crops uppermost, in a circle of about 
four feet in diameter, the innermost sheaves being quite upright, 
and the outer ones only slightly inclining.’ The builder, fixing 
himself on the centre of this foundation, would place on it con- 
tinuous layers of sheaves as they were handed to him, all having 
their crops elevated to the interior of the rick and their lower ends 
inclining outwards. Each sheaf would be tightly packed, and have 
a bearing on its predecessor, and the rick might be made gently to 
swell until about four feet from the ground, after which it should 
be brought gradually up to a tapering point. There is greatest 
rapidity in construction when about a waggon-load of sheaves 
is placed in one rick and the latter is only made from eight to ten 
feet high. 
' See, in connection with this part of the subject, the communication on 
“Harvesting Wheat in Wet Seasons,” which appeared in the Journal, Vol. I., 
Third Series, Part II. (1890), p. 450 . — Ed. 
