Seed Wheat. 



53 



It is a common experience of the farmers who take the lead in this direction, that such 

 machines can be made to pay their way in fees from other farmers who require to have 

 their seed graded, but have not the facilities for doing the work themselves. The 

 machines can often be hired out at a remunerative rate. 



Fig. 36. An English grader in which the meshes are made of wire in such a way as to 

 be adjustable in width, without removal. The machine gives four grades of grain 

 and does very good work. At the back near the top is the brush for keeping the 

 meshes clear. This machine may be had with or without a fan. 



The price at which wheat can be graded for seed by a miller varies according to the 

 sample to be cleaned, the machinery at hand, and the skill with which it is used. Some 

 foreign seeds are more difficult to remove than others ; some samples clean nlore slowly 

 than others, owing to the relatively larger proportion of small grain, &c., &c. While 

 some samples can be cleaned for a penny a bushel so as to be fair seed, others will cost 

 two to three times that amount, or even more. To this the miller's profit has to be 

 added. Three pence per bushel would be an average price, 2d. would be low, and few 

 samples would require 4d. These latter prices are the prices to the farmer, and include 

 all costs, even rebagging. The prices assume that the miller has the facilities for the 

 business and the inclination to go into it. If the miller considers grading for seed to be 

 too much of an interference with the regular work of the mill, his price may be higher 

 than those given above. The relative cost of cleaning a small quantity will always be 

 greater than for a large quantity. Millers should always be required to exercise care 

 sufficient to prevent mixing of seed. This is a matter that needs special attention. As 

 a rule the modern machinery designed to handle large quantities of wheat is responsible 

 for a large proportion of the mixing of varieties that is now-a-days so prevalent. The 

 cleaning machinery in use by millers is no exception to the rule, but rather a striking 

 example of it. 



The farmer who raises his own seed has it in his power to reduce the cost of his seed- 

 wheat very materially by selecting and harvesting separately the best portions of his 

 crop for seed purposes. 



Though we have paused here and there in these pages to examine the flimsy tissue of 

 words that has done service as an argument or excuse for the use of small and shrivelled 

 seed -wheat, it must not be forgotten that the main object, as stated at the outset, is to 

 arrive by experiment at average figures that may be made the basis of definite rules for 

 practice. With this object in view we endeavoured to tabulate and picture the best, 

 worst, and average seed-wheat practice of the State. This furnished a clue as to the 

 answer our best growers would give to the question, " How far is it best to go in 

 improving an ordinary sample of wheat before using it for seed ?" The nature of that 

 answer has been clearly indicated, and it is such that if it is to be taken as a guide we 

 must set out to improve our seed by much more care in sieving ; but in doing this we 

 naturally wish to know how far we may go before we pass the limits that will bring in a 

 profit, and at what point the profit reaches a maximum. May we spend up to Is. per 

 bushel with no fear of incurring a loss, or may we go as far as 2s. per bushel with safety, 

 or as far as 5s. ? How far may we go with safety ? That is a leading question, but there 

 is another that to the ordinary grower is more fundamental, namely, " At what point 

 does the profit reach a maximum ? " For it is evident that as we approach closely to the 

 limit of what we can afford to spend in sieving, the prospective profit begins to decrease, 

 and at the limit ceases altogether. 



