2l6 



Threshing of Barley. 



[JULY, 



In this connection it may be useful to reproduce some obser- 

 vations by Mr. Hugh Baird on the importance of careful 

 adjustment of threshing-machines, which appeared in the 

 Journal of the Highland and Agricultural Society in 1902. 

 Mr. Baird pointed out that if in order to get all the grain out of 

 the ear, and especially when the barley is difficult to thresh, the 

 drum and concave are set too close, there is obviously more 

 danger of breaking and " nibbing " than when they are not so 

 closely set. 



A new machine will break the grain more than after it has 

 been used for a time and the roughness of the beaters has 

 been worn off. On the other hand, when a machine has been much 

 worn, the centre of the drum and concave having had the most 

 work, in consequence of the feeding being necessarily more in 

 the centre than at the ends of the drum, the space or distance 

 between them is greater in the centre than at the two ends, and 

 if they are set to thresh clean in the centre they will be too close 

 at each end, and consequently breaking will occur. This fault 

 can only be remedied in putting on new drum-beaters and 

 concave ribs. 



Great attention should also be paid to regularity of feeding. 

 The engine should be driven at an even speed, and proper care 

 should be taken over the adjustment of the several parts of the 

 machine. 



It is not only in the drum of a threshing-machine that 

 unnecessary damage to the kernel takes place through imperfect 

 setting of the several parts, but also in the barley-awner, through 

 which the grain subsequently passes. Here, if the beaters are 

 set too closely, and the barley is roughly handled, "nibbing" 

 will take place. Different lots of barley require different treat- 

 ment, so that those in charge of the threshing should make a 

 point of constantly examining the sample, and if it is found to 

 be injured in any way, they should ascertain in what part of the 

 machine the injury occurs, and should alter the setting- until it 

 is remedied. 



