34 



BULLETIN 917, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



from the shock. It is not often that much damage is done by rain 

 to the grain in the shock. The thrashing crew consists of an engineer, 

 separator boss, water-wagon man and team, four pitchers, and 

 usually eight men, teams, wagons to haul the shocked grain to the 

 thrasher, and two men to sack the grain and sew the sacks. Usually 

 the thrashing crew is not boarded at the farm house. (Fig. 25.) 

 The farmer has to receive the grain when sacked, pile it back from 

 the machine, and haul it to the bin. Some farmers haul the grain 

 directly from the field to the elevator or shipping point. In these 

 districts the ground is usually dry and firm at harvest time, and 

 cutting the crop is attended with little difficulty. One man and 

 three horses constitute the most common crew, covering 8 to 10 

 acres per 10-hour day. 



, 



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Fig. 28.— Cutting beans. 



Wheat harvest begins about July 10 at Rocky Ford and extends 

 to July 20, oats being cut from July 15 to 25. At Fort Morgan and 

 Greeley wheat and barley are harvested from July 10 to 25 and oats 

 from July 15 to August 1. Thrashing for grains that are not stacked 

 begins about August 15 in these districts, but for stacked grains no 

 thrashing is done until about September 15. The thrashing of 

 stacked or unshocked grains is usually completed before October 1, 

 as the beet and potato harvest begins about this date, and the cost 

 of getting men and teams for thrashing is then greater; moreover; 

 the farmer does not wish to do thrashing during beet-harvest time. 

 (Figs. 26 and 27.) 



The stacking of grain, which may begin a few days after it is cut, 

 is mostly done from August 1 to 15. 



Bean harvesting begins about September 1 and continues until 

 October 1. It is done with 2-horse bean cutters. As the beans 

 are cut the plants slide off the end of the knife and to the row center 



