STOOKING.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 32, 6 February 1913, Page 6

STOOKING.

RIOHT AND-"WRONG-WAY.

It may. seem somewhat absurd £p ■write anything about the proper method of stocking (says a southern writer). The operation seems such a simple one that there is surely very little to say about-it. Yet there is a right and a wrong "way of doing it, and the wrong way is frequently used. In the- first-place, the stooks should point north and south. The sun, inorningj afternoon, and overling, will be shining, on one or other of the sides of the stooks if they are placed! in this •way. The i:o.ws of stooks should be kept straight. This rule should be observed as far as possible even in carrier rows. Some raking may have to foe done in these crops this season, and this operation is rendered the easier if the shook rows are kept straight in line. Then the stooks themselves should aiways be set as uprightly as possible, so that they may not get unduly rest if. rain conies. A badly leaning stook will get wet and keep wot, jwhereas a well-built stook will turn a lot of rain; and if any sheaves do get wet they will soon get dry again. The sheaves should be placed with the binder knot inside the stook. This is the hollow side of the sheaf and will allow the rain to-enter more ■easily, than the straight side opposite the>:knot. Ten sheaves in a stook are ample. More than a dozen should never be allowed.' The greater the auinber of sheaves the more > chance there is of the stook falling down.