CHAPTER XIII. 

 WASTING GRAIN 



There is no place on earth where a kernel of grain 

 looks as large and is of so much value as at the tail 

 end of a machine. To see some hunt and search for 

 them, one would think each one a diamond or priceless 

 gem. There is no time when a farmer is so careful 

 of his property as right then. Any amount may be 

 wasted by the harvester or in handling the grain, but 

 let him discover a few kernels going into the straw 

 through the separator and he at once loses his reason 

 and imagines ruin stares him in the face. He will 

 show them to the operator with an autocratic air of 

 u do better or quit." 



In a bushel of oats, 32 Ibs., there are about 

 600,000 kernels. In a bushel of wheat, 60 Ibs., 

 there are about 1,000,000 kernels. If the farmer 

 should hold his hand where the grain is wasting 

 fastest for half a minute, and should catch ten kernels, 

 he would say that half of it was going in the straw. 

 Let us see. Counting 26 days for a month and 

 10 hours for a day, it would take him over three 

 months to catch a bushel of wheat. Oh, yes, he 

 says, but he only held his hand under a small 

 part of the falling chaff. Well, suppose the ma- 

 chine was 52 inches wide and his hand only two 



78 



