140 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



work has become more satisfactory. The following account of 

 bean threshing is prepared by L. W. Fluharty: 



The threshing is usually done with the bean huller, using either a steam 

 or gasoline engine for power. The huller is a double threshing machine. 

 There are two cylinders, one of which is placed in the rear of the other. The 

 rear cylinder operates much faster than does the front one. The cylinder teeth 

 are set one-fourth of an inch farther from the concave teeth than in the reg- 

 ular grain separator. The front cylinder threshes only the beans from the 

 driest pods. The vines, together with the tougher pods pass to the rear cylin- 

 der, thus the beans and the tougher pods are threshed by the high velocity 

 cylinder while the dry beans pass through only the one running at a low rate 

 of speed. Much cracking is prevented by this arrangement. 



A grain separator may, by proper manipulation, be made to do very satis- 

 factory work provided the vines and pods are nearly uniform in dryness. All 

 but one row of concave teeth and generally half of the cylinder teeth are re- 

 moved. The cylinder is run at a speed of from 350 to 400 revolutions per 

 minute, the speed depending upon the diameter of the cylinder the larger the 

 cylinder the slower it must be run. The drive pulley is enlarged so that the 

 separating part of the machine runs at the usual speed for separating grain. 



The tailings from the sieves are returned to the separator at the rear 

 instead of in front of the cylinder. By this arrangement none of the threshed 

 beans pass through the cylinder the second time. If there is a large amount 

 of green pods the tailings are sometimes taken from the machine at the bot- 

 tom of the elevator. In this way it is often possible to avoid mixing the green 

 beans with those that are ripe. If the regular grain separator is used the 

 threshing should be done while the vines are in the sweat, for at that time the 

 seed is tough and not easily cracked. 



The beans are gathered into header wagons, with beds ten feet 

 wide and sixteen feet long. One side of the bed is considerably 

 higher than the other, and a large and strong net is spread over the 

 entire bed, fastened on one side, and into which the beans are forked. 

 This is driven to the threshing machine, where a derrick lifts up the 

 lower side of the net and tumbles the contents onto a large platform, 

 after which the straw and beans are fed into the machine with pitch- 

 forks. It requires eight header wagons to keep the machine busy. 

 Fifteen hundred sacks, averaging seventy pounds each, or one hun- 

 dred and five thousand pounds, is considered a good day's work. 



The machine-threshed beans have also to be recleaned before 

 they are marketed. Yet there is one great advantage with the steam 

 thresher. The rainy season is approaching, and a shower is liable 

 to fall in October while the threshing process is in full blast, so that 

 any beans that are caught on the floors are ruined if they do not 

 manage to cover them in some way, while by the machine process 

 all beans are sacked as they are threshed. 



Bean Cleaning. It is imperative now that beans should be put 

 into good marketable condition. When prices are high the quality 

 and condition of the beans does not materially interfere with the 

 sales, but in times of plenty, the best is hardly good enough and the 

 most scrupulous attention is given as to the quality. To insure the 

 most ready sale at best prices, every grower should have the reputa- 

 tion of putting his beans in the sack for sale in thoroughly sound and 



