72 WHEAT 



productivity. The wheat crop is very susceptible 

 to injury from unfavorable weather conditions 

 at almost every stage in its growth. Dry weather 

 at seeding time may cause a thin stand, or the 

 grain may blow out or winter kill or be injured 

 by drouth and hot winds almost up to the ma- 

 turity stage; or it may be damaged by hail or 

 lodged by storms and wind either before or after 

 maturing, and even after harvesting it is liable 

 to be damaged by wetting in the shock, causing 

 bleaching and sprouting, thus reducing the yield 

 and injuring the quality of the grain. 



DATE AND METHOD OF HARVESTING 



The wheat harvest of the United States begins 

 in Texas in May and ends in North Dakota in 

 August. In California the harvest begins about 

 June first and continues nearly two months. East 

 of the great plains, wheat is cut as soon as it is 

 ripe or a little before, the harvest extending us- 

 ually over a period of only a week or two weeks 

 on a single farm. The grain is bound into bundles 

 with a self binder, and placed in small shocks in 

 the field; and later when it is dry enough it is 

 hauled directly to the thresher, or more often put 

 into stacks or barns and threshed later. 



THE HEADER 



In the western plains the common method of 

 harvesting is with the header. The wheat is 

 allowed to stand until fully ripe, when the heading 

 begins and the headed grain is loaded loosely 

 into barges and hauled directly to the stacks, 



