404 CEKEALS. 



are properly cured, say in a week of sunny weather, they 

 will be ready to house, and no delay should take place in 

 this. But there are many small farmers and improvident 

 ones who have no shelter, consequently they must resort to 

 stacks. It is not every man who can stack oats so as to 

 preserve them from the weather. If carelessly done the 

 oats will be a total loss. If properly done they will keep 

 an indefinite length of time. Attention to the following 

 necessity is all that is required to make a good stack, viz : 

 Keep the heads of the bundles higher than the butts. This is 

 easily done if the stacker will only bear it constantly in 

 mind to elevate the heads. This can be easily done by oc- 

 casionally laying a bundle under the upper head. At the 

 same time be careful not to give it so much pitch that the 

 superincumbent pressure will force out the bundles and let 

 the stack tumble 



In the countries where oats form a large part of the 

 regular crops, it is the universal practice to thresh the oats 

 before feeding them, and then feed by measurement. In 

 the South however we have adopted the very slovenly and 

 wasteful habit of feeding in the bundles. It is true some 

 are careful enough to pass the bundles through a straw 

 cutter, but the largest number will simply throw a bundle 

 loosely in the manger or rack. 



If the bundles are cut up finely they will be eaten, straw 

 and all ; and this is a good plan, for the seeds are in this 

 way dispersed all through the straw, and the horse, in 

 seeking the grain, is perforce obliged to take all. Our 

 more careful neighbors however will cut the straw, mixed 

 with a modicum of good hay or bran, and then pour the 

 grain, either whole or crushed, over the mass and their 

 horses are kept in the best order without the use of corn, or 

 at least with a very small quantity of corn, beans or 

 peas. 



Some farmers pass oats and barley through the thresher 

 together, and the grain mixed is a very excellent stock 



