29 BULLETIN 876, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the only attention required being occasionally to remove particles of 
straw or trash that may become lodged in the spirals. 
With such an arrangement of bins a single separator can handle 4 
to 5 bushels of mixed seed in an hour, or 90 to 120 bushels in a 24- 
hour day. 
Much time is saved and more hairy-vetch seed separated in a day 
if the mixed seed is first ‘‘scalped’’ by running through a regular 
seed-cleaning machine to remove some of the grain. The seed cleaner 
works more rapidly than the separator and will remove 50 per cent 
or more of the grain, thus leaving the mixture much richer in hairy 
vetch. The rich mixture not only runs more rapidly through the 
spirals, but the hairy vetch is graded more evenly. If the seed 
cleaner is not used, the vetch must often be run through the sepa- 
rator several times to obtain a good separation. 
The charge for separating hairy-vetch seed is usually 10 cents per 
bushel of mixture. This is based on a capacity of 50 bushels of 
mixed seed a day, although a well-arranged outfit can handle 65 to 
75 bushels in 10 hours. On the basis of 5 pounds of hairy vetch 
per bushel the cost of separating is about 2 cents a pound. Ordi- 
narily, aman who grows 8 acres or more of hairy-vetch seed each 
year can afford to own his own machine. Many farmers who own 
machines do custom work for their neighbors, charging a little more 
if they have to move the machine from place to place than if the 
grain is brought to them. Nearly all local grain and feed merchants 
in the hairy-vetch districts are equipped to separate and handle 
vetch seed, and most of them consider the machine a profitable 
investment. When a local machine is not available, however, the 
mixed seed can be shipped to one of the large seed dealers who buy 
the seed and separate it themselves. 
MARKETING. 
About three-fourths of the hairy-vetch seed grown in Michigan 
is sold directly to country elevators or to the large seed jobbers, - 
either through their local agents or by correspondence. A few 
farmers make enough of a specialty of this vetch to advertise in 
the local papers and sell directly to the consumers. Others are 
able to dispose of all their product to their neighbors. On account 
of the rapidity with which the hairy-vetch seed industry developed 
in Michigan, some time was required to establish a satisfactory 
marketing system. Many farmers who grew seed with the expecta- 
tion of receiving high prices found that there was no way to dispose 
of the seed after it was harvested, as the local dealers were not 
prepared to handle it. Thus, there has been a considerable in- 
equality in the prices paid to farmers in different sections, and some 
growers have been forced out of the business because of uncertainty 
as to the returns. This difficulty is being gradually overcome as 
business machinery for handling the crop becomes better organized. 
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