1861. 



THE ILLIKOIS FAKMEE. 



195 



Harvesting. 



Every farmer understands all about har- 

 vesting, and yet there is a vast deal of un- 

 necessary waste and slovenness about it. In 

 harvesting we should aim to save all of the 

 grain in a good, tasty, workmanlike man:er. 

 and at the same time to economize labor. — 

 The bleaching and growing of wheat is a 

 very careless and unprofitable business, and 

 argues largely of bad economy. The thresh, 

 ing of wheat from the shock is a bad prac. 

 tiee, as the grain will always be more or less 

 bleached, and if rains occur is liable to 

 sprout. All grain in the course of curing 

 gives off more or less of dampness or really 

 water, and there is no condition so natural 

 as when in the straw, as the straw will ab- 

 sorb and give it off slowly, leaving the grain 

 in the best possible conditio ; in fact, there 

 is no other way to store grain whe:e it will 

 keep so well as in the stack, and were it not 

 for all kinds of vermin that live upon it, 

 this would be here, as in England, the true 

 way to keep it in store. It is probable that 

 our farmers may yet to some extent adopt 

 the Eno;l sii mode of stackins, but the age 

 is almost too fust for such careful considera- 

 tion of the future. In harvesting the grain 

 should be bound as soon as possible after be- 

 ing cut, and the shocker should follow the 

 binders. Some farmers set up a dozen 

 sheaves in a double row with the heads in- 

 clining inwards. In good weather this is 

 the cheapest plan, and a good .one to cure the 

 grain, as two or three days will suffice to pre- 

 pare it for stacking, when no time should be 

 lost in getting it up, as every dew that falls 

 on it after it is cured will bleach it and ren- 

 der the grain of less value. With our heavy 

 dews and hot harvest sun it will require but 

 a few days to lessen the value of the crop 

 full ten per cent., and yet our farmers ap- 

 parently pay little attention to this fact. — 

 When grain is to stand any length of time 

 in the field, or when it is intended to thresh 

 it without stacking it should be put up in 

 round stacks and capped, or in hand stacks 



of from one to two hundred bundles j in this 

 way the grain and straw will cure without 

 damage from weather, and will sweat less af- 

 ter threshing. "When grain has stood a long 

 time in the field in open shocks it stacks 

 badly, and the grain will shatter out in hand- 

 ling; in fact, this is such a shiftless way 

 that we wonder that it is toterated at all, yet 

 we find this the most cammon mode of put' 

 ting up grain. As a general thing most far- 

 mers want to get througe cutting before they 

 begin to stack, but we cannot too strongly 

 deprecate this practice, for it is better to se- 

 cure half the crop in good order than to have 

 the whole badly damaged, as is often the case. 

 Even if part of the crop is cut one or two 

 days later the loss by shattering will be less 

 on the standing? than on the cut a:rain, be- 

 sides the less risk on account of the weath- 

 er. We are liable to not only heavy, but 

 often long continued rains during harvest, 

 which should admonish us that we should 

 make all safe as we go along. In stacking, 

 when the stack is two-thirds up, it should 

 be left a day to settle if the weather will ad- 

 mit, but even in this case a load of sheaves 

 should be piled up in the ceuter, which in case 

 of a rain can be set out to dry the first fair 

 day, when the stack can be finished. In fin. 

 ishing the stack a quantity of slough hay or 

 red top should be placed on top to keep out 

 the rain, though the English farmers always 

 thatch the top of their stacks, a practice 

 that should be adopted here when the grain 

 is to stand any great leu'^th of time. Thous- 

 ands of bushels of grain is lost every year 

 in the stacks by the rain running down 

 through them, probably more than enough 

 to pay for thatching, certainly for putting on 

 a good cap of slough grass. Occasionally 

 we find a good stacker who will cap out with 

 the grain in such a manner that no rain wa- 

 ter can get in. In stacking, great care 

 should be had to keep the middle of the 

 stack the highest, for as the center will have 

 the greatest accumulations of weight it will 

 settle the most, and if not much the high- 

 est, will, when settled, form a basin into 



