WHEAT HARVESTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 December 1942, Page 2

WHEAT HARVESTING

MOISTURE TESTING SERVICE. AVAILABLE TO GROWERS. A moisture testing service for wheat growers in the North Island is to be conducted by the Seed Testing Station, Palmerston North, on behalf of the Wheat Research Institute, Christchurch. The service is free and all growers are invited to make the fullest use of it.

The testing is to ascertain that grain is in the proper condition for storing, as otherwise it is liable to develop moulds and encourage insect pests and may become unfit for human consumption. It is stated that half the wheat in the North Island this season is likely to be headed, which eliminates the period between cutting and threshing, so that the moisture content of the grain must be low enough to permit safe storage. Farmers taking samples must ensure that they are truly representative of the crop. The best way of doing this is to walk along two diagonals of the field and pick at random about 150 to 200 heads by their straws. The picker should avoid the larger or smaller, or riper or greener heads. A sample of about four ounces of grain is required, or about a two-ounce tobacco tin full. The collected heads should be rubbed out and the chaff eliminated, the tin sealed and sent by the fastest route to the Seed Testing Station, Moisture Service, Box 609, Palmerston North, enclosing name and address, telephone number (or neighbour’s) or nearest telegraph office on a paper inside the tin. The result of the test will then be telephoned or telegraphed. The upper limit at which wheat can be headed is 17 per cent. Above that, it must not be headed under any circumstances. The safest and best way is to head under 15.5 per cent.