AGRICULTURE, 
With regard to the mowing of grass, in 
general, for hay, the workmen should be 
made to cut as low as possible, by which the 
crop is increased, and the remainder thrives 
better than it would do otherwise. Many 
hands should be ready to assist, and five 
makers are not too many for every mower. 
The grass should be shaken out immediately 
after the scythe. By the evening it should 
be raked into rows. The next morning it 
should be again shaken and spread, and in 
the evening it should be put up into cocks. 
These being opened on the following morn- 
ing, after a similar process, may in fine 
weather be safely collected into the great 
hay cock at night. If successive rains come 
on to damage it, as it is stacked a peck of 
salt should be strewed in layers on every load, 
which will sweeten it and render it palatable 
for cattle, which would not taste it without 
this preparation. The stack should be co- 
vered within a week after it is finished, and 
a trench should be dug near it to carry off 
any wet, if it be placed in a situation sub- 
ject to damp. The hard hay of a poor soil 
is little subject to firing, which often occurs 
with respect to that made of succulent her- 
bage. The latter, therefore, requires longer 
time for its making. To preserve as much 
of the sap of grass as possible, without in- 
curring the danger of firing, is the grand 
practical problem of hay making. 
When the stems of culmiferous plants are 
totally divested of green, they are perfectly 
ripe. Some fanners recommend that wheat 
should be cut before this mature stage, not 
only to prevent any of the grain from shak- 
ing out, but as being found to make more 
excellent flour from being cut before per- 
fect ripeness, than after having attained it. 
The latter observation may very safely be 
controverted. But, as it is admitted that 
every moment it remains standing after 
complete maturity, is critical, it may often 
be judicious to commence the reaping of it 
before .the period of full ripeness. Wheat 
has been immemorially reaped instead of 
being mowed, and this method ought always 
to be adopted, as from its high growth it 
Becomes untractable to the scythe. When 
barley ground is purposely smoothed by 
rolling, that crop may be cut down with the 
scythe, which not only, from the greater ra- 
pidity of its operation, removes that grain 
more effectually from the danger of being 
shaken by winds, but brings with it a much 
greater proportion of the straw for manure, 
than any other mode, a circumstance well 
deserving attention. Cutting of corn in wet 
weather ought ever to be avoided, if possi- 
ble ; and, however obvious this caution, it 
cannot be regarded as superfluous, as it is 
unfortunately very often neglected. Barley 
is particularly subject to injury by wet, 
having no protecting husk ; and has a strong 
tendency, when cut in this state, to run to 
malting -. it should not only be cut dry, 
but immediately, if possible, be bound up, 
to prevent its being discoloured, which will 
otherwise easily occur. Peas grow so irre- 
gularly as to make the sickle necessary. 
For removing the produce from the field, 
long carts, moveable upon the axle, by 
which the whole load is moved at once upon 
the ground, and lifted to the stack by per- 
sons appointed for the purpose, are prefer- 
able to other modes. Dispatch is thus ob- 
tained when particularly required, a circum- 
stance always worthy of regard. Instead of 
housing corn, stacking it is a far superior 
practice, as it not only, by the consequent 
exposure to the air, carries what is called a 
finer countenance, but as it is more com- 
pletely preserved from vermin than by be- 
ing deposited in a barn. Every sheaf should 
be made to incline downward from its top 
to its bottom. Where they are laid hori- 
zontally, rain will be taken in both above 
and below. The best form for a stack is 
that of a cone, (the top of which should be 
formed with three sheaves united in a point) 
placed upon a cylinder. The moment a 
stack is finished the covering of it should, if 
possible, commence : materials should there- 
fore be previously collected. If much rain 
should fall before this operation is perform- 
ed, it will be difficult, and perhaps impossi- 
ble, to render the stack dry while it stands ; 
and in order to prevent putrefaction, it will 
be often requisite to pull it down, and after 
fully exposing every sheaf to the air, to re- 
construct it. 
The method of preserving potatoes has 
already been suggested, and to go farther 
into detail on this subject, would exceed 
our limits. 
THRESHING. 
The usual mode of threshing is attended 
with the inconvenience of the straw being 
very often not thoroughly cleared, by which 
much grain is lost ; and with that of afford- 
ing the workmen great and perpetual in- 
centives to depredation, which, perhaps, 
are rarely resisted, or at least are certainly 
often yielded to. A fixed threshing mill will 
give comparative security against these 
evils; and one worked by two or three 
horses may be purchased for from sixty to 
