SCIENCE OF THRESHING. 51 



sections of the country rust is prevalent; this forms 

 on the stalks and leaves before they are harvested, 

 making them brittle, while it blights the kernels, 

 which are, in consequence, light. The rust on the 

 stalks has a certain clinging roughness that causes 

 them to adhere to each other and therefore retards 

 the disintegrating effect of the rack or raddle which 

 does not move them among themselves but allows 

 them to travel along in a compact mass. In such 

 case, all that can be done is to adjust the machine to 

 the best advantage, run at good speed and regulate 

 carefully the amount fed to the other conditions. 



Rye Is usually very easily separated, as the stalks 

 are stiff, and comparatively little chaff and dirt is 

 found. In some instances the straw is so loose and 

 fluffy as to prevent it being worked back fast enough 

 by the separating devices, thereby causing the body 

 of the machine to choke up. In case this happens, cut 

 the straw up by inserting more teeth in the concave. 

 By weighting down the check board of a vibrating 

 or rack machine it will compress the straw somewhat 

 and give the table a better chance to handle it. A 

 convenient way of doing this is by fastening a piece 

 of wood or iron lengthwise along its back by suitable 

 screws or bolts. 



As stated before, it is quite essential that the 

 machine stand quite still on its truck while in opera- 

 tion. There is a great difference between the opera- 

 tion of the machine when the frame work is standing 

 still and the mechanisms have their full motion, and 



