“Barley Harvest” barley and distance out of focus, “Shocking Corn,” same effect.”  ⎯ P.H. Emerson, Sept., 1889,  To The Student 

From Chapter X: Harvesting

“Our second plate shows a harvest-scene on a Norfolk marsh. As a rule, but little wheat is grown on these lowland farms, the soil being better adapted to other crops. Here, however, the marsh-farmer is at work on another part of the marsh, while his two sons shock the corn, one building up the pile, whilst the other brings him the schooves.” p. 79

Editors note: Clearly, the young man at foreground is arranging harvested wheat, not corn, into a schock, or a collected group of grain sheaves. The boy in background arranging harvested corn stalks. The word schooves may be a dialectical variant from Norfolk. Clarification welcomed.