Oaten Hay Haruest.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 188, 22 January 1887, Page 4

Oaten Hay Harvest.

There is no crop which a farmer has that la more difficult to save to advantage than Daten hay; there are so many risks of losing Or spoiling it from so many different causes. Rust is a great enemy to this crop. It is [as we all know) a fungus plant, and abounds most in wet seasons and upon wet lands. When once the rust appears the Only plan is cut down the crop as soon as aver you can. Every day it stands it gets worse. The- ear will not fill, and the plant is useless for threshing purposes, and the *talk gets limp and unfit for food; the hay is discoloured, smell* badly, and in fact is fit for nothing. In cases of rust the binding machine comes in well, and in large crops will pay its oiiginal cost easily in saving of time, which in rusty crops means money. If rainy weather sets in when the rust appears for any length of time, , it is generally a case with the crop. Dressing the seed with a picHle of blue stosc u ill in 6ome cases cure, or rather pi event the lust, but it does not seem that farmers agree upon this point. Some say it makes no difference, ami others aver that it is an effectual cure. I sus.pect the truth is that with both ru^t and smut, where the spores of the iungi are in the seed, the pickle will destroy them, but where the land has been already sown with the spores all the pickle upon earth \\ ill not prevent them from attacking the growing crop, should the weather be favourable for their development, and it is not reasonable to suppose thatjt should. Another great enemy to the crop is the sparrow and other small birds. These commit fearful depredations, and a third is the caterpillar. As for the caterpillar, it is certainly worse than the sparrow, because it crawls up the stalk when the plant is yetgteen and bites off the young ears long before they are hard and drops them on the ground, as if for pure mischief. I hare, however, known these insects to do a good deal of good as well as harm (not that the good at all compensated for the harm), inasmuch as by stripping off the flag leaves, on which they feed greedily, they cause the chaff to be free from that drawback. I think the caterpillar feeds only on the flag leaf. It does not seem to make any use of the oat itself or the hard stalk, ■and I Have even known certain species of the insect go right through a crop and atrip the flag leaves completely off, and do Tery little harm to the ear; only even in that case the excrement is apt to get into the chaff and cause a smell offensive to the horses. To the Ichneumon fly (not the sparrow) we owe a vast reduction of this pest. The beat way to deal with the sparrow is to cut down a strip all round the field a little in advance of the harvest »nd expend a tew shillings on poisoned wheat, vrhich will clear off an enormous number of them. At that time they are fihort of food, and eagerly waiting for the corn field, hanging round it in the hedges, and can be de&troyed wholesale. For all these risks an experienced farmer will see that the best possible course to take is to cut as soon as it is possible With oaten h»y the great fault is letting it stand too long. When the oat is in the milk is the proper time to cut, and before any change has taken place in the green colour. I have pointed out again and again to farmers that they were allotting the crop to ■tand too long, and again and again have received positive assurances that it was not so. The green was barely shaded with yellow, and the ear quite unripe, but just wait till you have ploughed up your stubble, and see iff a nice thick crop of shed-out oats will not come up to show you what you have lost by delay. If you have a crop of say two tons of hay to the acre, and it may be taken at a 40 bushel to the acre crop or a little more, then one half ot the weight is in the ear, and that will give you a very fair idea of the loss in allowing it to shed out, to say nothing of the relative values of the stalk and ear for feed purposes. Not only that, but there is a great difference both in the weight and the quality of green and dry stalk. The best plan possible is to have your reaper and everything in order and ready, and as soon as ever you can, even if it be a little too soon, start away, if the weather will let you, and down with h|; but don't go quicker with the reaper than the binders and stookers can keep up with. Let nothing lie on the ground. A good reaper and binder and plenty of hands to stook is of course the best, but next to that I would rather have a light draught back-delivery, than one of those great clumsy side-delivery machines, with tikes like the sails of a wind-mill. They B#«nly8 # «nly an excuse for binders to (die oil eir time, and make bad work. A good toachinist will make far better work with ft back delivery, with half the horse labour, tnd they are not half so likely to get out of Drder, besides which the binders have to keep up with them. Every man has his allotted line to do before the machine comes round again, and when that is done he can Sit down and rest, and has no chance to "yarn," but when the side delivery works the men go in gangs and talk and idle, each thinking to do as little as he can, and make the rest do more, and there is apt to be a quantity left on the ground at night, running weather risks. I would always advige farmers to have a binder on the farm and a combined reaper and mower (back delivery) as well. Then as long as the binder works well and good", but it it breaks down (and this is too often the case) your mov\er, (which you want at any rate), also comes in to take its place whilst the binder is out of the field, but as for a eidb delivery I would not have such a thing on the place. Some people argue that the shoaf ought •o be cut anti left a day or two, and, •yen to « certain ex*t?nt spread and turned before tying up. Of course it is understood we are talking now of oaten hay grown for chaff, and not for threshing ; but this is quite a mistake. Cut the oats quite green, but at the same time quite free from tvater moisture. Tie them up at once as Boon as cut, and fctook them in lots of not more than six or eight sheaves as openly as will admit the air amongst the butts, and you will not lose one ounce of the hay from tying up too green. Always have a very

strong stooking party, and let thorn be men who understand the work. There is generally far too little importance attached to this item, and the consequence is inyarinbly that with every puff of wind, and indeed even without it, down go the stoolcs in every direction, and they have to bo rebuilt and rebuilt time and again, and very often get wot as well. Far better pay a little more and have them done properly at first. Perhaps it might be as well to say a few words about tho right way to do this work. In the first place, if you see a man carrying one sheaf at a time, setting it up, and then going for another to place against it, you may know that fellow would be better out of it. His stooks will only fall down and get wet. Then if you are building wit.li a man to " help you, and when you settle a pair of sheaves he comes up and loans a third on them, you had better dispense with his assistance. Let each man build his own stook, whether he is a good or a bad hand. Stoop down and take a sheaf in each hand, lifting it above the band near the ears and take so much in t jbhat you do not draw a handful out xf the tie is not tight (as it ought to be); carry them with the ears pointing forwards and the butts ftft; go to where you wish to build, stand with the sheaves (one in each hand) fair before you, your elbows bent square out and your grasp on the outsides of the sheaves. You will then " dab" the two buts simultaneously against the ground, to level the butts and to make them firm against the t-tubble, and clap the ear» together. You •>% ill have made a rapid selection of two sheaves of as nearly equal ' lengths and thicknesses as you could at a glance, and so you will stand them up in the form of an isoceles triangle, "the angles at the base being equal to one another, etc, etc." Next, you will pick up four sheaves, one under each arm, and one i (ah before) in each Land. When you get to the first two you will stand up close to them just where you were when you left them. Drop the two from under your arms and reach past the first pair, and plant the second pair in like manner, only you will draw their heads slightly towards you, letting them lean very slightly against the first two, not enough to push them over. Then you 'reach down and lift the ones you dropped, and stepping back a little, set them up in the same way, leaning them slightly from you on to the centre pair, so as co counter-balance the weight of the ones on the other side. This done, you will draw from your belt a strip of tiax (if no flax, take a little of the oats) and securely and tightly bind nil the heads of the shea\es together. This keeps them from falling : it also keeps out the rain, and it, in a great measure, prevents the caterpillar from cutting off the heads. Some people recommend reversing a sheaf and tying the butt ends of it anoutid the head of the stook, but any man of actual expeiience will tell you that it is better in theory than in practice for many icasons which are easily seen whew jou come to try it, A? a rule a good close tie is quite sufficient, but if the weather is likely to be bad, or if birds and caterpillars are much dreaded, then your best plan is to take a sheaf, open it, double the" heads inwards, place round the tied top of the stook, and tie tight down. That will make it perfectly secure against every contingency. If the birds ever do eat caterpillars it is tvlien they are crawling about the tops o* ;he tied sheaves, and this, too, is the most •atal time for them with the Ichneumon 3y. I have been thus particular about the booking because it is quite surprising how :ew people do this simple work properly 3r quickly, and it is so easy when once you get into the right way» of it. One of the greatest annoyances in it is from people " helping " you, wbo would be verj much more useful sitting down rating tli^a--elves. It may appe.ir a gre.it ded of trouble to take, tyin^iiie stools, but- you must remember th..t thic crop has oi trees..- ify to icinain much bitter in the He'd than any other crop, it hu.-> not 011I3* ft • fry, but di> tied up giLt-i in bhcu\»j' and .0 mu-t remain in the ope:i air till it it tuopeily v.ved, and thcie U nearly >ure to be wot weather ciunuji the tlnce or foui ueeks which often me lequiud foi the ;iur()o«e 2s ot Oijly that, but tne least v. et, tiui d tying a^aiu. bpwi'.s it for chaO lifuf nnibC be gi- cj, an.i l v '!ii je.low anil i\ lute colour, and it mu«»t bebiijit. Now ' .u Lit>i mm will turn it o; a natty dull, ■ark yellow, and it is. s>uio to be hj.oiltyl by Ihe mildew. On the oilier lund, it you -tack it too soon it will gf>t mouldy, moie ■r lets and lote both colour aud brijjitiii>«. The proper time to stack is vlien 'lie " joints " have become dry. If they are :i--ct) it will "fufct" ia the stack, to a I w 1 Uunty. I Always have a sheet under your «tuff in I <i'tin_r, and let 11-e !-'-en\es be h.inillrd I <-i.tl\. The 141.11 M 'i/jny.- to a vu)y slight Mia. id. which biuul.-; -,o very c i-*i !y w hen I liy ili.it by want, of caie juii 10-e great p.i intnies of coin. Tin- is one _ieat reason I \lij letting the ciop .-taud tou lo"JL r i-s bad. - •■> you will rind out wtien you c me to cut .' into cliatt. Another thing is that when 1 lie c.v* is full it make 1 ; the cutting ten t!me> ' ii-'ird'jr, as any one will hud by iodemg at 1 lie indicator to kee how many pound* «>f r<tia steam you lequiro, and tho clta'l i« not ho good, as wcil. Another little mat ten is woith noticing >Y hen .the stgoks> are 'n-incr r-nrlid 1 obeii see strong young men stick their fork into a whole tied stook and pituti it up at a lift, but it is a bad plan for several reasons, and it would pay to employ \ boy to go in advance and cut them loos-e md tlnow away the tics (if they are of tiax). For one thing, the loader in the cart loses more time in placing than the pitcher saves in not cutting, and he knocks the sheaves about and spills the 'corn. Again the same thing happens when he is unloading at the stack, and the flax gets in the way everywhere. Too often oats are grown on dirty land and the butts are full of sorrel and other weeds. These should be picked or shaken out, if possible. They are sure to spoil the good stuff, more or less, in the stagk, and are very bad indeed in the chaff. I will now jubt allude to one or two tilings to be avoided in this work. Never, if you can help it, make your oaten hay in cocks. There are several objections to it. One is that the chaff cannot- be cut so fine as the straws are presented to the knife at every angle, and sometimes long ways on. You may save some time in the cutting and heaping, but you lose more in all the subsequent processes. You cannot make so good a sample of chaff in any respect, and you run a great deal more risk from the rain. . But, if owing to the crop being bad, light or short, or any other reason you decide to mow, then be sure and keep the machine teeth (same applies to the reaper) or the scythe blade very sharp, as

oatfi, and particularly light crops, are very apt to pull up by the roots with blunt tools, and when you windrow you must do it with the tork, and not use a rake, or you will add a fine collection of earth, roots, and weeds to your hay, and ruin the sample, and never draw your cocks along the stubble, instead of carting them, unless, indeed, the ground is one mass of sorrel, in which case, if that is the way you farm, no advice is likely to do any good. As to the general management of a field of this kind the same remarks made last month as to grass hay will npply, and also a few peculiar to the crop. For instance, when you measure off the spaces round the field so as to divide them amongst the binders you must make one lot less than the number of men. Eight good men is a fair field, and that makes seven spaces. First of all you have a strip mowed by hand all round the field, or if it is a large one, round a convenient part of it. Then you take your seven sticks (if there are eight men), lay them down where the machine is going to start from, and pace round the piece to be cut. Suppose it goes just 700 yards, then you call all the binders up and take your sticks in hand. One man you leave at starting and put in a stick, and at every 100 yards you put in another stick, and leave a man with it, till all are placed. This pi'eoise method of doing things prevents loss of time and confusion ' and argument, and aUa the people rflEnfffg here and there all over the field. Every man waits at his stick till the machine passes him, and then he binds after it till he reaches the next stick, where he waits for it- to pass him again, and then he follows it to the stick further on, and so on, each man going round and round the field. In this w ay no time is lost going back to the starting place, and if one line becomes (an it will) shorter than another, or is ea&ier, it does not matter, as they all;lea\o ifc in turn*. By this means, too, every man knowing that the frooncr ho is done the longer le-sthe will have, liu tries on, and | foiLiuately for you they are all at that; game, and a little rhahy Mil! often keep the bu>ine?s going on verybiihkly. It a stoppage dots come you can get a little spooking done. i 'uly bindery as a rule,' artthed, and don't like lliaL &n well as a rest; but one good thing- is that thet-o back delivery machines are veiy simple, and if in q od order to begin with and a few simple bolts and a spaie finger or two and tjxnvi kniie mo on hand, theio is veiy Jitllo •topp.ige with a fair crop and a good umel.ini-t. PI ice a can ut dunk at .«ay t^o places in the lumid, so that, they can have no excuse- for going out ot the way to jbiiiiii it, fin one man gone stop^. the m hole I e!d It is c-\ ident that one bad hand, who iNahwi}> behind, koops all the rebt back, •ml \feiy often costs more than his woik will pay for ii yo-i had it for nothing. i hertioie it is not a bad plan to hue a man j: tv. u n.oie than you want lor " hacking " pii'pocjs "])uur encoimiger los autres," out 1 v, oniu lather stall, v»i:hafew good men 1 knew could be depended on, even tf tl'( n pay was a little higher, and you should aiways remember that when you L'o lound, as you ought continually, to see things aie light, that you may be nice and cool, and rejoicing in a fine crop, but the poor tellows aie hoi and tired, and (tie twining but a few shillings at mo^t, and a kind w (\ d of encouragement i.s better Mian a good blowing up. As we aie at it I may a^ wellghe \ou a him 1 got from a man who could always manage refractory boy«i and lough men bcttei than anyone else. When you find iault with any one of them aluai* make common cause wiih the rest of the party, and place the delinquent in the \.ioug with them. In thib case perhaps >uiue little extia treat or advantage ib to be deu.ed from good and quick -yvoik, and the huy one ib "polling the plar.. Good men and true deserve liberal treatment and kind words, and they earn them, but, let one be c\er bo short handed, a bad man is. better out of the held, and a grumbler is never oi any use in buty times. EUILDING THE STACKS, I would very strongly advise you to build your eheaves on proper f>tand-5. The trouble and expense is very little, and you will have it in the first season, and piobably a. great deal nioie. and thoy will last many years It tukes very htfclo time to make them if you go the right way about it. First of allyou choose the thickest post. Plant it in the ground ■where you wish the centre ot youi stack to be. As to the height, that depends upon whether you^mean to make it rat proof or not. Two feet will do quite well to keep it dry, and higher makes of course more work, If the stack is two feet above the grond and clear underneath the mice and rats are veiy I apt to be caught going to and fro ior water, by dogs and cats, etc. At the same time these astute vermin know that, and they will [ often remain in the stack and trust entirely to the morning dew or showers of rain on the thatch for drink. If you -wish to make them vermin proof you should build them three teet or three feet six inches high, with tin nailed round them. Take a string with a loop at the end of it, aud having tacked a nail into the centre 'of the post, draw a circle round it to give the required circumference. A good size is &ay sixteen feet in diameter. This circle, you can divide into eight parts (of eight feet each); you will then plant a pile at each eight ieet all round, and using strong rails, join each outside po,*t with the centre one and then with each other, nailing them down securely. Cross pieces of lighter stuff and a little dry fern Mill complotc tho arrangement, and there will not be the loss ot a single s>heaf from wet ground, nor (even if the stand it not rat proof) one half the u&ual loss from vermin, and with a little caie it will last many years. The *po&t^ need not be far in the ground. Ordinary se\en iei-t posts cut in two will do. Iheit is not much likelihood of oaten stacks being built this month, so until the next number (nofc to tane up too niucn room ju»L now) I will deter a tew remarks apon the building, and also sumo hints as to tho thatching and chali" cutting. Komata.