690 
0 
‘of vivid health. 
purposes of the miller and the baker, and there- 
fore in a state of truest ripeness, when in the 
medium stage between softness and solidity 
which farmers technically call “raw.” If the 
grain be quite pulpy or too green, it shrivels in 
drying, and suffers loss in both quantity and 
quality ; and if it be quite solid or too ripe, it 
exchanges a considerable portion of its nutritious 
principles for innutritious ones, and is also liable 
to be shaken out by the wind and to shed in 
reaping. Many rules have been proposed for 
enabling farmers to decide as to the precise mo- 
ment when their wheat may be most profitably 
cut; but some overlook casual and important 
differences which occur in different crops and 
seasons, many proceed on false views of the true 
nature of ripeness, and most are empirical and 
allow the crops to stand too long uncut; and in- 
comparably the best rule which has ever yet been 
proposed is to cut wheat when the grain is in the 
state called “raw,” or in medium condition be- 
tween pulpiness and solidity, or, as nearly as can 
be conjectured, about 14 days before it would be- 
come what is popularly termed ripe. This rule 
leads to a great saving in the produce above 
what would result from the ordinary practice, 
and is therefore of vast consequence to the inter- 
vests of farmers and of the whole population; 
and it was worked out and proved, by Mr. Han- 
nam of North Deighton in Yorkshire, in a course 
of masterly experiments and reasonings, which 
we must here detail at considerable length and 
in his own words. 
** Having selected a field of old square-headed red 
wheat for the experiments,” says Mr. Hannam, ‘‘ on 
August 4, 1840, I cut a sheaf. At this time it was 
quite green, that is, both straw and ears were in full 
vigour and full of sap. Though the grain appeared 
perfectly formed, the chaff still adhered so firmly to 
it that it was scarcely possible to separate them by 
friction in the hands. When separated, it was large 
and plump, but so full of milk that the slightest pres- 
sure reduced the whole toa juicy consistency of pulp. 
This sheaf stood in the field for a fortnight, when it 
was housed. On the same day, August 18, I cut 
another. ‘The wheat was of course yet ‘green,’ 
speaking positively, or ‘not ripe,’ if we speak nega- 
tively,—being what farmers commonly term ‘raw,’ 
that is, the straw, though appearing at a distance 
green, when examined closely was of a hue fast ap- 
proximating to yellow, while, for about a foot up- 
wards from the ground, it was quite yellow. The 
ears, too, were more open, the chaff tinged with va- 
rious shades of yellow and green, and the grain itself, 
when separated, soft and pulpy, but not near so full 
of fluid as before. The judgment of the farmer will, 
however, best tell him the conditions of the wheat, 
both at this and the preceding cutting, when I say, 
that in another fortnight the whole field was ripe. 
At the end of this fortnight (September 1,) I housed 
the sheaf cut on August 18, and which had remained 
exposed to the weather in the interval, and cut a 
third. This I have said was ‘ripe;’ but by the term 
I don’t mean that degree of ripeness when the straw 
breaks, the ears curl, and the grain shakes out, but 
that condition in which it is customary to commence 
reaping it,—when the straw, from the roots to the 
ear, is uniformly yellow, and has lost all symptoms 
On the 14th of September the 
third sheaf was taken from the field and carefully pre- 
WHEAT. 
served, along with the other two, till the Ist of No- 
vember, when, out of each sheaf, I selected 100 ears, 
and put each parcel into a separate bag. The straw 
from each of these parcels of ears was preserved care- 
fully. ‘The ears in one bag (No. 1, or that cut very 
green) were now thrashed, the chaff carefully se- 
parated, and the gross weight of the corn yielded 
ascertained by an extremely accurate balance. The 
weights of a fixed measure of a certain number of 
grains were next found: to avoid error, this was re- 
peated several times. No. 2. (cut raw) and No. 3. 
(ripe) underwent the same process: for the results 
of which see the following table. 
Comparative Weights of Wheat reaped at different 
periods. 
Time of Reaping and Gross Equal |Equal Num- 
Condition. Produce. | Measure. |berof grains. 
No. 1. Aug. 4.(very green)| 576 568 192 
No. 2. Aug. 18. (raw) 736 580 234 
No. 3. Sept. 1, (ripe) 650 570 223. 
As this table is merely comparative (the weights 
used being in parts, and decimal parts of the same, 
for the convenience of minute experiments, ) it may 
not be unnecessary to give the following table of the 
absolute weights of each sample in ounces, drams, 
scruples, and grains ‘Troy :— 
Equal Number 
Gross Produce. |Equal Measures. 
of Grains. 
No. joz. dr. scr. gr.joz. dr. scr. gr.joz. dr. scr. gr. 
Ae OR SOM PORES reeset) NTS a (Ole ake as ODS: 
Ni Oo Ba DD UNO ALO alae 
SMe GSO AO Be a Oe | th.) @) ss 
The straw belonging to each sample was now weigh- 
ed (all the parcels having previously been made of 
the same length, commencing from the bottom of 
the ear,) when the following was the result :— 
Comparative Weights of 100 Straws, of an equal 
length, belonging to the Samples Nos. 1, 2, 3. 
No. | (green, ) = 900. 
No. 2 (raw, ) == 475. 
No. 3 (ripe, ) = 450. 
The next thing to be ascertained was the quality of 
the produce, or the comparative worth of each de- 
scription. Believing in the old saying, that 
“ The proper value of a thing 
Is just as much as it will bring,” 
on the 5th of November I attended market and ask- 
edthe opinion of an extensive corn-grower as to the 
values of the respective samples, according to the 
prices of the day. His opinion was, 
No. 1, 6ls. per quarter. 
No. 2, 64s. do. 
No. 3, 62s. do. 
Putting the same samples into the hands of an ex. 
tensive corn-factor and miller, his value, and what he 
would give to buy, was, for 
No. 1, 6ls. per quarter. 
No. 2. 63s. do. 
No. 3, 6ls. do. 
Adding these values respectively together, and tak- 
ing the mean price of each (by which we shall obtain 
as near an approximation to the truth as possible, ) 
we have 
No. l, = 6ls. Od. per quarter. 
No. 2, = 63s. 6d. do. 
No. 3, = Gls. 6d. do. 
