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HAIRY-VETCH SEED PRODUCTION. 19 
course, does not run his machine so fast as to injure the hairy vetch, 
but many operators habitually run at an excessive rate of speed, 
and these must be cautioned to proceed more carefully. At times it 
may be necessary to change the pulleys, to allow the cylinder to run 
more slowly than the rest of the machine. Just as much seed is 
thrashed in a day by running slowly, because less seed goes over in 
the straw. When the speed of the cylinder is not reduced it is advis- 
able to remove some of the concave teeth. 
Thrashermen who are accustomed to hairy vetch and rye do not 
as a rule make any extra charge for thrashing, but treat the mixed 
crop like straight rye, provided the output from the machine is the 
same for a day’s run. When too much hairy vetch is present, the 
daily output is cut down and the thrasherman charges 1 or 2 cents 
a bushel extra to make up for the difference. : 
The greatest difficulty in thrashing is likely to come in attempting 
to thrash a semigreen crop. All thrashermen object to working with 
the tough, wiry vines, as they wind around the cylinder, become 
tangled in the shakers, and cause an endless amount of trouble and 
loss of time. Cases are known where farmers have been charged as 
_ high as 18 cents a bushei for thrashing such a crop, and the charge 
is not wholly unreasonable in view of the difficult nature of the work. 
In order, therefore, to avoid argument as to price and to insure run- 
ning the machine at the proper speed, it is usually best when thrashing 
green hairy vetch to pay for the thrashing by the day instead of by 
_the bushel, as is commonly done. Most thrashermen consent to such 
an arrangement provided the agreement is reached before the work 
is started and they are insured the normal daily earnings. 
DISPOSAL OF THE CROP IN MICHIGAN. 
CLEANING AND SEPARATING. 
Since hairy vetch is usually grown as a companion crop with grain, 
the seed must be cleaned and separated from the grain before it can 
be marketed:as commercial seed. Cleaning is accomplished by means 
of an ordinary fanning mill or seed cleaner, which removes the trash, 
weed seeds, and more or less of the grain. Most farmers and all 
elevators have cleaning machines of some kind, and any machine » 
that cleans grain will clean grain and hairy-vetch seed in mixture. 
To remove the grain from the.hairy vetch is a more difficult process, 
as the seeds are so nearly of the same size, shape, and weight that 
no ordinary machine separates them. Small lots of seed can be 
separated fairly well in a fanning mill and the excess grain picked 
out by hand. A better method is to pour the mixed seed on asmooth 
slanting surface, such as a tin shed roof, to which have been fixed 
horizontally thin strips of wood. By sweeping the mixture up the 
slope with a broom, the grain is held back, while the hairy-vetch 
seeds roll down the slope and off the edge. A similar plan consists 
