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THE FARMERS' HANDBOOK. 



Straw stacks had better be thatched. It is possible to build them without 

 thatching by keeping the middle well up, but it is a more difficult job than 

 with hay, and a novice is not advised to attempt it. 



A fair average roofing-sheaf, taken from a stack 

 which had been standing for seventeen months. 



These are the most exposed sheaves on the stack. 



The same sheaf after brushing off the rotted 

 trash, which is seen on the ground. 



This is practically the only loss in the whole of 

 the stack. 



Precautions against Mice and Fire. 



Many devices have come under notice from time to time to cope with 

 the mice pest. Building the stack upon a raised platform does not answer 

 the purpose; the mice will climb up the blocks upon which the platform is 

 built, run along underneath the platform-boards, and so enter the stack. 



The only successful method of keeping them out is to enclose the stack 

 with a fence of galvanized iron, either plain or corrugated, about 2 feet 

 high. 



Let the iron into the ground to a depth of 4 inches, and place it in a 

 slanting position, leaning outwards, all round the stack; t:.ke care to leave 

 no open space at the corners. It will be found impossible for mice to enter 

 a stack thus protected. 



If it should be found that mice are troublesome in the stack, poison with 

 arsenic dissolved in water. Place dishes of the solution all round the stack ; 

 if it will not entirely eradicate the pest, it will, at any rate, help to keep it 

 in check. 



Precautions should also be taken to protect the stacks against fire, or at 

 any rate against heavy loss by fire by insuring at an early date. 



B. — Harvesting with the Stripper. 



The .grain, if bitten, will be found to be hard when the crop is fit to strip, 

 and the heads of those varieties with pendant heads will hang down. In a 

 paddock which has not had the edges cut for hay with a binder it is advisable 

 to strip enough of the crop near the gate to admit of the winnower being set 

 up. The winnower should be set solidly on the ground, and so placed that 

 tin- wind blows from the fan and diagonally across the machine and away 

 from the man feeding it. It should be turned at an even speed, and the 

 tailboard set low enoitgh to allow the chaff and eavings to blow over, but 

 high enough to catch the white heads and grain. 



