60 OUR FARM CROPS. 



It is frequently desirable, either for the purposes of 

 selling or of buying, or for our own satisfaction, to be able 

 to form some idea of the probable grain contents of a 

 stack of wheat. The cubical contents, of course, fall under 

 the general rules for the measurement of solid bodies. 

 When this is obtained a fair estimate may be formed of 

 its yield in grain and straw, by calculating that in a 

 crop (1) where the straw was long and the head small, 

 it will require 36 cubic feet to yield 1 bushel of grain; 

 (2), in an average crop, 27 cubic feet will yield 1 bushel ; 

 (3), in a crop with short straw and full, large heads, about 

 21 to 22 cubic feet will average 1 bushel of grain. 



The straw may be taken at about double the weight of 

 the grain, in average crops, or we may calculate that each 

 cubic yard of the stack will yield, on the average, 1 cwt. 

 of straw. Of course, these estimates must only be taken 

 for what they are worth, as approximative results ; there 

 are too many interfering conditions to allow them to have 

 an absolute value. Old stacks have not been admitted into 

 the calculations, which have been based upon experiments 

 made with the stacks of the preceding harvest, and then 

 a mean period taken as the standard. 1 



The finishing operation of harvest is that of thrashing 

 out the grain for market. Here again our practices differ 

 as widely as in the field work of the crop. The flail bears 

 about the same relation to the steam thrashing machine 

 as the sickle does to the reaper, and is marked by about 

 the same financial results. The cost of hand labour varies, 

 of course, with the district, with the crop, and with the 

 time of year. A wide range of prices for flail work might 

 be given, from which a fair average for comparison with 

 power thrashing might not satisfactorily be obtained. 



larger and stronger than the others. Oak slabs make the best materials for the 

 frame, which may be put together by an ordinary carpenter in a day. 



1 Much useful information may be found, bearing upon these points, in Ewart's 

 Agriculturist's Assistant, from -which several of these estimates are taken. 



