The Farm. {From the New Zealand Farmer.) Thatching Stacks versus Warehousing Corn.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 390, 3 August 1889, Page 3

The Farm. {From the New Zealand Farmer.) Thatching Stacks versus Warehousing Corn.

Our South Canterbury correspondent writes as follows on the above subject : — While discussing our unprecedented fa\ curable harvest and rapid (and consequently short) thrashing season, which compels this growers to make a proportionately speedy clearance ot their corn out of their fields where it is stacked, pending wet weather, an old and grievous error of our farming population comes more and more vividly to the view (with its many attendant cvilb) of any man of expciienco prior to colonial settlement. 1 refer to the folly of building stacks in the middle of fields wheicver the corn L* grown, and 'persistently neglecting to thatch the game, trusting entucly to their skill in building and favourable weather to save them from a considerable discount in the value of their crop when ib comes to market. This obstinately and blindlyfallowed evil must partly (but not wholly) arise from icnorance, as we have a goodly percentage of those amongst us who have fanned in the old country, and ot those who have served rigid appienticesliips under careful and expoiienccd farmers, leaininy practically the alphabet) of operations for the year round. These all know perfectly well that any man in England who followed such reckless habits would not be honoured with the name of a farmer, but be reckoned as an incompetent and reckless drone or spondthrift, who must soon come to ruin. There, one of the important duties of a master farmer is to secure as much of the longest of his previous year's wheat straw a« will suffice for thatching his coming crops. This is drawn or straightened and tied into large sheaves (or " bottings," as they are called in the Midland counties), either at time of threshing or in wel or snowy weather, when outdoor work cannot proceed, as there the straw is neaily always stowed beneath a roof. This would be equally applicable here, as a man drawing from<a straw stack could soon furnish himself with a shelter from rain bo work beneath. These bundles aro stacked away secuie till required for coming hay or corn ha.rve.sb. Prior to the commencement of .stacking a quantity is envied to any available stream or pond, immersed in the water and stacked to drain on bank till wanted. In this state it heats to a limited extent, lies closo together, and is much better for thatch than dry straw. •The thatcher can make ' a neat and safe job, with less labour and danger of being moved by wind. This is particularly neces?ary here 1 , where our N. W. winds are often exceedingly troublesome. If a corn stack is finished to-day the thatcher will be on it to-morrow, and follow through till the end of harvest, when he will be only one day in arrear to make all safe against the worst weather that 'may follow. Of course hay stacks are not thatched for two or three weeks after build ing, being lett to heat and settle, during which process rain will nob enter. It requires little argument to show plainly that the place or places selected for stacking on small or lavge farms should be the soundest and driest, approachable at all seasons by a good road, and permanently fenced in. In this country such sites ar© plentiful, and comparatively unproductive blocks of gravel land can bo thu« utilized by enclosure within a substantial fence, with gateway afc each end and a road running through the centre from one to the other between an

J avenue of stacks. When a farmer barf I stacked, thatched, and insured his crops within such an enclosure I am Biire , he must be far more happy and confiflenb of ' realizing a fair return than the majority of ours can be. Here stacks are almost universally dropped in clumps of 2, 3, or 4 over the fields indiscriminately, without thatching, and the future profit or loss entirely depends on the weather*. Besides the damage done to stacks by a heavy fall of rain ife renders them more or less unapproachable for heavy machinery in atrong, moist lands, while the haulage of the grain is ren, dered moro expensive, and stubble lands thus cut up will take years to restore them to their original tilth. The evils of this system are almost inexhaustible, and the sooner it is reformed the better.- it will be for tho future prospects of, New Zealand as a corn-exporting country. As it is, the majority bespeak threshing machines before harvest is completed, many commencing as soon as the last stack is completed, and even out of the stook. Either is equaljy foolish, as all corn requires from six to eight weeks (according to circumstances) to pass- through the fermentation or sweat and attain to its prime and permanent dryness and hardness. If. nature's process of bringing corn to its most valuable and marketable state is to be" tampered with or infringed on, so in pro,portion must its value decline to the, grower or prrchaser, or both. Corn' thrc&hed out of the stook (apparently as dry as pepper), except ground for immediate consumption, must greatly deteriorate in value, as when sto.rcd in bulk (in warehoube or the ship's hold) it is bound to undergo this &»veat, the result of which is a coating of mildew over all the sacks when removed or discharged, the contents saleable to others than the miller, and a considerable quantity of probably prime samples stored with it considerably damaged. > If corn is threshed out of stack before it has recovered from fermentation it will naturally be tough and unacceptable to the miiler. In all countries where such asystem is practised or countenanced the corn should be kiln-dried, or passed through heated pneumatic tubes, prior to shipment, although this renders it less valuable than if allowed its natural time to accomplish its end in the ear. The chaff or ear solidly packed in the stack is always acknowledged in' England as the best granary for preserving (even improving) the quality of any ?orn, in proportion to length of time stacked. Thi* is palpable when old wheat, oats or beans (I except barley, as malt&ters prefer new barley- ior equal germination) often realise from 6d to Is per bushel above new corn of apparently equ,al 'quality;, as millers always like to secure sufficient old corn to giind with new for I several months. The same would add to the quality .•ojs ilonr .Jtiere, if obtainable. From the"- earliest days of ! corn export from this> country, the abused harvest threshing has been a bane to the real value of good New Zealand wheat in Mark Lane, , as well as loss to the shippers, who were evidently ignorant -oi the evillill severely bitten,- from* the u'noxpeo&ed reports of mildewed cargoes tfyey had shipped arriving in U 'comparatively worthies^ condition. The, truth' has gradually .tlo'me home to them, and they 'have. be.eir_,more careful for the past year/or -two, whjtqh is the cau&c of our. wheat' recovering its." name and competing .-with .other ~ cofa n trie% or prices. It i& to be hoped that tfiiswiU. go on improving, by the farmers acting moro judiciously for the future. Another monstrous evil to which this system gave birth Eas been for. many years visible,,viz., the cropping of large areas by men of-limited means, which' couid only be done by capital borrowed on the security of coming crops. Much of this was and is sub-let land at 50 or 100, per -cent, more th?irifcB>\vort)i. Rent and'.advauce forces the sale of the crops at buyers' prices, -ami consequently accounts for the large number of ne,edy toilers who have worked for many years for the aggrandisement of storekeepers and money-lenders, an^t any rime liable to be sold up and .tendered homeless Joy their plausible -- helpers. This is annually the. Case-Svith many, and will continue as . long as farming is carried on, otherwise than by men of capital corresponding with the areas farmed, and possessed of experience in agriculture and live stock, with all progressive improvements. ,> Now Gomes the subject whioh affects the man of means,. althougjunot so severely as the one who is paying usury for borrowed capital. Never could the follies of wholesale threshing, and consequent necessity of selling or warehousing, have been more clearly illustrated than in this year of prolific crops, tine harvests, and unexpectedly rapid rise in prices, owing: 1 to the dearth in Now South Wales, and shor supply in Anstral : a generally. Doubtless the whole ot our exportable corn will be required by our sister colonies before another harvest comes in, and satisfactory prices may yet be obtained ; but up to the present., injudicious shipments have glutted the market, and caused coi responding depression. Our farmers had no choice but to sell or pay for storage, and consequently eveiy available building is full to the root. Truly fine times for the owners ; r but I should ically think our farmers will gradually awake to the fact that it would be more profitable to them if it were in securely thatched stacks, in a well-fenced rickyard, improving by its age in the chaff, instead, of the lent to be paid for probably many months before prices are sufficiently recovered to sell at,a profit. The great doubt is whether that time will come, for I have good authoiity for stating that the corn in the lowei 1 ) .tiers of sacks (often on or near damp floors) and for a considerable height is materially deterioiatecl in value by the enormous weight and pressure from above, where it is stacked 70 or 80 tiers in height. It comes out. of sacks caked together, and more o£. less injured in quality. Again I advi&e landowners, who are farming their own, arid landlords who respect fchs walfare o£ t theft*--' tenants, to stack systematically, thatch and fence ; or encourage those holdings on letaseto*do so, to enable them to thresh, when' they'can to the'be&6 advantage utilize straw to a profit, ajl'd',' Save .the many dire losses and taxes imposed -upon themselves by -customs j which hitfs>t be abolished bofore-' Ne r w Zealand farming can become more lucrative.