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be done on a family spring scale or on a large postal scale. The grain 

 should then be threshed either by nailing it or by rubbing it carefully be- 

 tween two large blocks of wood covered with corrugated rubber such 

 as is used for step covering. 



If this work is to be done very carefully it will be found convenient to 

 build a small machine for threshing, such as is shown in Fig. 108. This 

 machine consists merely of a cylinder and concave, the teeth of which are 

 made of cut nails. Such a machine can be built by any one who is at all 

 skillful in mechanical work. If only a few rows of oats are to be threshed 



Fig. 109. — Seed-cleaner for use with small amounts of seed 

 Courtesy of A. T. Ferrel Company, Saginaw, Michigan 



the machine may be turned by hand; but in work at this station, where 

 there are many rows to be threshed, the machine is run with a motor as is 

 shown in the illustration. 



After the seed is threshed it may be freed from chaff by pouring it from 

 one pan to another in the open air; or, if machinery for this cleaning is 

 desired, the small counter seed-cleaner shown in Fig. 109 is recommended. 

 This is a very handy machine, not only for oats but for all seeds from beans 

 to the smallest grass seed. 



After the seed is cleaned the product from each row should be weighed 

 and the weights carefully recorded. The weights from the check row 

 also should be recorded, so that the yields of the selected rows may be com- 



