22 PEAS AND PEA CULTURE 



peas. Three men and a team can harvest ten acres 

 a day, under favorable conditions. Some growers 

 provide a homemade table, something similar to 

 that on a reaper, for vines to run back on to, and 

 then one man follows with a rake and pulls them 

 off in bunches. 



If peas are well matured when harvested, the 

 curing will be simple, unless very rainy weather 

 prevails. In this event it is well to keep bunches 

 turned to prevent molding and sprouting of those 

 on the bottom. Peas can be hauled direct to the 

 thrasher or to the barn and can even be stacked 

 satisfactorily. In the latter event be sure to pro- 

 vide a suitable covering of hay, meadow grass, or 

 something of that character, on top of the stack to 

 protect against rains. The^ coarseness of pea vines 

 makes it very easy for rain to soak through if not 

 carefully topped out with suitable material. It 

 is well to remember this when stacking the pea 

 straw outside, to be used later for stock. Some 

 farmers do not take the trouble of harvesting the 

 crop with a machine, but turn in the hogs and let 

 them clean up the peas. 



Thrashing. This may be done either with stock, 

 with a flail, or with a machine. The latter is the 

 approved method, especially in a large way. The 

 vines are simply run through a machine very sim- 

 ilar to a grain separator, only that the cylinder is 

 specially constructed. The cylinder should be run 

 slowly to avoid cracking. If peas are to be fed 

 to stock, this is not so important. Quereau 11 de- 

 scribes a pea and bean thrasher which does good 



Tenn. Exper. Sta., Bui. 79. 



