5 i6 



Improved Grain-Drying Sheds. [dec, 



standard, including the strainers, at the necessary heights 

 (5 ft. and 10 ft.), into which the end of each bracket is pushed 

 up to a notch in the wood of the bracket, and an iron hook is 

 fixed to the other end. 



An iron rod is hung to a hook fixed to the standards at the 

 required height, and is attached by a few links of a chain to 

 the hook on the end of the bracket. The brackets and rods 

 can be fixed up or the platform moved in a few minutes. 



Two persons can build to one forker, and, what is of the 

 utmost importance, any ordinary farmhand can build. 



When filling the wires, raise the second lowest wire off the 

 supporting staple and hang it on an " s " hook to the wire imme- 

 diately above, so as to allow room for the first wire to be filled 

 with sheaves. When the lowest wire is filled let down the wire 

 above to its original place and lift up the one above it, then 

 lay the sheaves across the one wire, the stubble end of the 

 sheaf resting on the stubble end of the one underneath. The 

 next and other wires are filled in the same way. 



When the first outside wire is reached a handful of the 

 stubble end of every third sheaf (or of every second if the crop 

 be a short one) should be passed underneath the outside wire 

 and the sheaf drawn outwards till the outside wire nearly 

 touches the band of the sheaf. The double wires at these 

 regular intervals give a downward slope to the sheaf as in a 

 well built stack, they further prevent the mass of sheaves 

 from slipping outwards, acting like a " through-band " in a 

 wall, and further, they admit ventilation between this row of 

 sheaves and the set below. 



Air holes may be left at intervals if necessary, according to 

 the condition of the crop. Newly-cut dry grain can be packed 

 more closely than grain which has been soaked with rain after 

 cutting. 



When the wires on both sides of the shed are filled about 

 20 ft. of space is left in the centre, about 14 ft. of which are 

 available for building well-got grain as in a stack, or grain which 

 has been on the wires for a few days in good winning weather 

 may be transferred from the wires to the centre and the wires 

 are thus ready to fill again. 



Sufficient space must always be left between the solid grain 

 in the centre and the grain on the wires to ensure a thorough 



