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customary in Scotland , neither does it appear called for inthe alternate system of husbandry which prevails in the wellmanaged districts. Every farm of any extent uniformly hasa proportion of young clover and rye-grass every year, suffi-cient to supply the ewes and lambs when turnips and ruta-baga fail in spring, and until the older leys or pastures haverisen to a sufficient bite: and it is a general opinion that eat-ing over young wheats, in a northern climate, might give acheck to their growth and advancement towards maturity, soas to run the risk of occasioning the season of ripening andharvest to be somewhat later, which would be attended bydangerous consequences.
§ 10. Reaping and hanesting _Having already, in the
12th section of the First Part of this Chapter, given adetailed account of reaping and hanestmg in general, as-practised in Scotland , it docs not seem at all necessary togive any particular description of these operations in thisplace, aS the harvest work for wheat, oats, barley, and rye,nearly resemble each other. Some observations on the sub-ject, so far as wheat is concerned, may however be added,and these are principally derived from an agricultural writerof much experience in this branch of husbandry *.
There is some difficulty in determining, when a crop ofwheat shoukl be cut down, as it is necessary to distinguishbetween the ripeness of the grain, and that of the straw. Insome seasons the straw ripens or loses its succulency, andturns yellow from the root upwards, giving the appearanceof full ripeness to the eye, while the grain in tire ear remainsstill in a very soft and unripe state. In such cases, some far-mers contend, that though the grain can receive no farthernourishment from the root, it were yet improper to cut down-Hie crop, as it would then be deprived of the benefit which it
* Brawn’s Treatise on Rural Affairs.