Threshing 



office in the month of November, which had now 

 come. On one such day we were threshing a 

 crop of flax going about ten bushels to the acre, 

 and as this crop is not so easily damaged by frost, 

 it was rather more encouraging. 



It is, however, a very difficult crop to thresh, 

 and, indeed, to handle generally, and opinions 

 differ as to the best way to deal with it. Some 

 advocate dumping it off the binder in little heaps, 

 which can be turned over with a fork like hay 

 to facilitate drying, and there are special attach- 

 ments sold for the binders for this purpose. The 

 most approved practice, however, seems to be 

 to bind it in the ordinary way and place in small 

 shocks, which it is said may be left out all the 

 winter and threshed in the spring without damage. 



As the straw is very tough and apt to mat 

 together, it is very liable to wind round the 

 cylinder of the separator, causing vexatious delays 

 and increasing the cost of threshing, though 

 here again special attachments can be supplied 

 to assist in the operation. 



The price for threshing a crop of tough flax 

 may be as high as twenty cents a bushel, and 

 the Winnipeg prices seem to fluctuate a good 

 deal ; but as they may easily range from a dollar 

 and a half to two dollars, and the yield of a good 

 crop may run from fifteen to twenty bushels to 



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