HARVESTING AND THRESHING 



13* 



likely to bake, the peas should be put in at the lesser depth. 



Harvesting and Threshing. Special preparation should 

 be given the land by plowing deeply in the fall and disking 

 early in the spring. The growing of peas is greatly facili- 

 tated by rolling and dragging the ground before and after 

 seeding in medium and light clay loams. This also pre- 

 pares the land for harvesting. Peas are cut with a mower 

 provided with buncher attachment or a pea harvester, and 

 are left on the ground to cure. 



Canning peas are harvested in the green state, by pulling 

 up the plants, picking the pods from the vines and sacking 

 them by hand, or by using a mower or a harvester for cutting 

 the peas and leaving them on the field in convenient shape 

 for handling. The pea vines are then taken to the factory 

 and run through a machine known as a viner, which shells 

 the peas, separates them from the vines, and runs them 

 into the factory where they are graded and canned. 



Another practice followed by canners is to have the 

 grower deliver the peas ready shelled, for which they pay a 

 certain price per pound. The canning of peas is a large and 

 growing industry in the Northern States. The vines are 

 used for silage or dried for pea straw and are greatly relished 

 by farm animals. 



Field peas when cut after ripening are left on the ground 

 in bunches to cure before hauling in. After being fully 

 cured they are hauled from the field and stacked or stored 

 in barns to await the time of threshing. 



Peas may be threshed with a special pea thresher or with 

 the ordinary grain threshing machine. When the grain 

 thresher is used the regular concaves of the machine are 

 taken out and blank concaves put in their place to prevent 

 the splitting of the peas. 



