HARVESTING AND STORAGE 471 



A common method of building shocks is to tie together CHAP, 

 the tops of four hills, as they stand, uncut, and then to cut and X ' 

 shock around them the rest of the hills in the square ; this is 

 called the four-saddle method. Another way is to use a 

 three-legged wooden horse as a temporary support. " In 

 either case the shock is built around the support with great 

 care, to prevent it from being blown over by heavy winds or 

 damaged by rain. In some cases the maize is tied into small 

 bundles which are set together to form the shock ; more 

 commonly the stalks are gathered as cut, and set up, an arm- 

 ful at a time. Where the wooden horse is used, the shock is 

 built about it by leaning the first bundles or armfuls against 

 a pair of projecting arms formed by inserting a stick through a 

 hole bored at right angles to the horse. When the shock has 

 been set up the stick is withdrawn, the horse removed, and 

 the shock tied lightly near the top or left without tying, as 

 the case may be. A rope with a hook at one end is some- 

 times used to draw the tops together before tying. 



In the South African Bush-veld, where sticks are easily 

 obtained, stakes are driven into the ground at suitable intervals, 

 in rows through the fields, and the cut stalks are stood around 

 the stake until a shock of suitable size is made, which is finally 

 tied with a strip of bark from the "mimosa" thorn {Acacia 

 horridd). Strips from the fresh green leaves of the New 

 Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) are also useful for this 

 purpose. 



In the United States it takes about a month for shocked 

 fodder to cure properly. After this the shocks are gathered 

 together and stacked to prevent loss from frost and winds, 

 or are husked by hand if it is not intended to feed the grain 

 with the fodder. 



445. The Maize Shocker. — Maize shockers have the ad- 

 vantage over binders in that they require the work of but one 

 man, as the machine does the shocking of the maize bundles. 

 Maize shockers cost about as much as binders and weigh ap- 

 proximately the same. But the shock is not so easily loaded 

 on a wagon, for the whole shock must be loaded at once, 

 requiring some form of loading device or horse-power derrick, 

 whereas the individual sheaves made by the binder can be 

 loaded with a pitchfork. 



