Threshing 



there is no such adjunct such are liable to poor 

 fare and even worse privations. 



In about two hours' time we arrived at Mr. 



S 's place, and as it was just dinner-time 



he and his good wife made us welcome to the 

 meal. We were, however, disappointed to find 

 that he was not pulling out with the threshing 

 outfit at present at all. 



He was a communicative man, and during 

 dinner and afterwards waxed quite eloquent on 

 the woes of the thresher-man, especially in a 

 season like the present one. 



"The fact is," said he, "four-fifths of the 

 grain is not worth threshing if a fair price is paid 

 for doing it ; besides, if it were, it is not fit about 

 here yet — it's far too green and tough " ; and he 

 went on : " If it is ever fit, there's so much straw 

 to put through for the little grain there is, that 

 I doubt if it will pay at all, and a lot of what 

 grain there is is so light that in many cases it 

 wants blowing out to make a decent sample. 

 In some crops," he added, " an aftergrowth has 

 sprung, with little or very light grain in it." 



Then he went on to explain that such an out- 

 fit as his — with the separator supplied with all 

 I he latest improvements, such as a band-cutter, 

 . I leaf -carrier, and a high bagger and wind-stacker 

 —was a costly affair in the first place, and to run 



133 



