THRESHING OATS 181 



between the two systems depends largely on the season and 

 the locality, as well as the circumstances of the time. 



If the grain is stacked, it should be left in the shock to 

 cure for a week or ten days, after which it should be hauled 

 to a convenient place near the barns for stacking. The 

 straw can then be placed where it can be used most advan- 

 tageously. The grain should be dry when stacked, as it is 

 Hkely to mold if damp. The bottom of the stack should be 

 built of old rails or some similar material to raise it a few 

 inches off the ground and prevent the absorption of moisture 

 from the soil. The conical stack is preferable to the long 

 rick which is sometimes built, for it sheds water rather bet- 

 ter. Whatever form is built, the bundles should be so laid 

 that all the grain is protected from weathering. 



222. Threshing. If grain is to be threshed from the 

 shock, the threshing should be done as soon as possible after 

 the bundles are well cured, thus lessening the time in which 

 it can be damaged by bad weather. Stacked grain should be 

 allowed to stand for at least two weeks before threshing, and 

 a longer time is even better. The grain goes through a 

 sweating process both in the shock and in the stack, and 

 should not be threshed until this is about completed. When 

 threshed from the shock, it should be thoroughly dry, or much 

 of the grain will not be removed by the thresher. Properly 

 stacked grain is ready for threshing within a few hours after 

 a rain, or as soon as the exposed portions of the bundles have 

 dried off. 



Attention should be given to the threshing machine to 

 insure the removal of all the grain from the straw, and to 

 see that the grain is thoroughly cleaned of chaff and dirt. 

 Threshing machines in good order can do a veiy thorough 

 job in both these respects if properly regulated. The straw 

 should be put up in good stacks or run into the barn, for it 

 is too valuable to take chances on having it spoiled by poor 

 stacking and bad weather. 



