16 FARMERS' BULLETIN 836. 



they will decay and be of some value as a fertilizer. It is best to 

 remove only those portions of the plants which contain sufficient 

 seed to thrash, but this is not always possible, even with a header, 

 unless the field contains a fairly thin stand and the plants are not 

 more than 4J to 5 feet high. When the seed crop is to be cut with 

 a grain header, it usually is permitted to stand somewhat longer than 

 when other machines are used. 



A tin pan or some other receptacle should be placed at the lower 

 end of the header elevator in order to save the seed which otherwise 

 would be lost at that place. 



The plants are carried into header wagons or barges in the same 

 way as grain. When a heavy crop is cut it will be necessary to have 

 two men in the barge to handle the plants. The floor of the header 

 wagon should be made perfectly tight, or it should be covered with a 

 canvas or tarpaulin, so as to save the seed pods which shatter. 



When the crop is cut at the proper stage it may be placed directly 

 in stacks or ricks without danger of heating or molding, provided the 

 ricks are covered or topped with some material which will shed water 

 and are built upon a foundation, so that air may circulate under 

 them. Native grass or green sweet-clover plants of the first year's 

 crop will serve very nicely for topping the stacks. 



It is the custom of some people to place the barge loads close 

 together in individual stacks so located that they may be hauled 

 quickly and easily to the thrashing machine. On other farms 

 enough barge loads are placed together to make a rick approxi- 

 mately 10 by 10 by 40 feet in size. When each barge load is placed 

 in a separate stack it- is necessary to load the plants again, so as to 

 haul them to the thrashing machine. The shattering of seed pods 

 and the extra labor caused by reloading and by hauling the plants 

 may be avoided for the most part by placing the crop in ricks large 

 enough for a day's thrashing. It is good practice to place such ricks 

 in pairs sufficiently close together for both to be pitched directly to 

 the feeder of the machine. When this method is employed two days' 

 thrashing may be done without moving the machine. 



The header binder, consisting of an attachment placed upon the 

 header to bind the cut plants, has been used successfully in cutting 

 the sweet-clover seed crop. 



THE CORN HARVESTER. 



Corn harvesters are proving to be efficient machines for cutting 

 sweet clover which has made a growth too large to be cut with a 

 grain binder. Even when the field has been seeded broadcast a 

 , 3-foot swath may be cut with the corn harvester, provided the 

 gathering or divider points are extended to collect the plants. This 

 may be done by fastening to each point a piece of wood or iron about 



