180 



FIELD CROPS 



shock is built, if the shock is properly set up and capped. In 

 wet weather bundles may be set up and capped later. 



Oats are often put into shocks without capping, but this 

 exposes all the grain to the weather, when nearly all could be 

 protected by putting a little more time into the operation. 

 The C2p consists of one or two bundles laid on the top of the 

 shock to form a protecting cover. These bundles should be 

 firmly pb.ced and so bid that they will protect as large a part 

 as possible of the heads of the bundles in the shock. If 



two bundles are 



Figure 72 — A setting of well-built stacks of grain. 



used in capping, 

 the head of one 

 should overlap 

 the head of the 

 other. The long 

 shock is to be 

 preferred for 

 grain that is not 

 fully ripe or that 

 contains a con- 

 siderable pro- 

 portion of weeds, because it allows a better circulation of air 

 and dries out better than the round shock. 



221. Stacking. It is usually advisable to stack oats, 

 though threshing from the shock is a very common practice 

 in some sections. If good weather for several weeks after 

 harvest could be assured, and a threshing machine could 

 always be obtained when desired, there would be little ob- 

 jection to the practice of leaving oats in the shock until 

 threshing time. Frequently, however, continued rains pre- 

 vent threshing and cause much damage to grain which is left 

 unstacked. A better quality of grain is almost always ob- 

 tained if oats are stacked about ten days or two weeks after 

 harvest. Stacking and threshing costs about one cent a 

 bushel more than threshing from the shock; the choice 



