FOR BETTER CROPS 41 



farming under which our farmers and farm laborers can get good 

 and just remuneration for their work. 



Shocking an Art to be Taught by Example— Modern farm 

 machines liave blocked out a rapid, easy, and effective way of 

 handling the small grains. These crops are practically all bound 

 in bundles by the self-binder, and the bundles are bunched ready 

 for the shocker, who is the only man who needs to touch the 

 bundles with his hands. 



Shocking is an art that is easily taught by example, but not 

 so easily described on paper. Different arrangements of the 

 bundles suit different purposes. For wet grain, or for quick 

 drying, that the grain may early go to the stack, barn, or thresh- 

 ing machine, "two by two" shocks are often best. Sometimes 

 these should be set closely, and under other conditions they 

 should be set open so as to give to the air the freest possible 

 circulation. 



A simple round shock is made by placing four bundles in the 

 middle and then placing around them a circular row of com- 

 pactly placed bundles, each slanting toward the center. These 

 bundles should be firmly set on the ground, and unless rapid 

 drying is needed, each successive bundle should be set compactly 

 against its fellow so that the wind may not get a hold and tear 

 the shock to pieces. Generally two bundles with both butts and 

 heads broken over should be used to set into and lap over the 

 shock so as to serve as shingles in shedding water, and so placed 

 that they will withstand wind pressure. 



Fighting Dampness and Weevil from Grain — As American 

 farmers accumulate wealth, they build great barns, if not suffi- 

 cient for all their hay and unthreshed grain, at least to store the 

 neat grain until such time as good prices or needs of the bank 

 account warrant its being taken to market. Only where the 

 newly threshed grain is damp, is there usually need of extra 

 precautions in storing grain. Then some means of drying must 

 be employed. Large barn floors on which the grain is spread and 

 turned with shovels twice or oftener daily, to avoid heating, and 

 to induce drying, is often the most available method. 



In rare cases grain weevils need to be fought. Then the 

 bisulphide of carbon treatment can be effectively used, and your 

 experiment station or your Uncle Sam's Agricultural Depart- 

 ment will send a bulletin for the asking. 



The bisulphide may be applied directly to the infested grain 

 or seed without injury to its edible or germinative qualities by 

 spraying or pouring, but the most effective manner of its appli- 

 cation in moderately tight bins, or other receptacles, consists in 

 evaporating the liquid in shallow dishes or pans or on bits of 

 cloth or cotton waste distributed about on the surface of the 



