The farmer. Time to Harvest. Turning the Straw to Best Account.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1991, 11 April 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

The farmer. Time to Harvest. Turning the Straw to Best Account.

Few farmers realise how much waste there is in harvest when grain is allowed to get fully ripe before cutting. In old timc^, when grain was cradled gnd bound, and then set up in stooks or shocks, it was cut before it was fully ripe, in order to bind well, and then it was allowed to cuie in the shock. With reapers it is managtd differently, and grain is usually left till it is ripe, so that it may be out and harvested with as little delay as possible. The point with most farmers is to save hand labor, and to do as much as possible with machinery. This one idea often entails considerable loss. There are several sides to the harvesting question. After the straw of any kind of grain cea3es to be white, it loses in nutritive value by the drying up of the juices and a change into woody fibre, and the proportion of waste by shelling is also largely increased. In all cases where grain is left to turn yellow and to become " dead ripe," as the farmers say, more than the original seed will be shelled out and wasted. I think the straw is reduced more than one-half in value, and besides, the grain never has the bright, clean appearance it has when cut as soon as it is in, or just passing the soft or doughy state. Many old farmers contend that wheat will make better flour if it is cut when in the milk ; but it is apt to be more or less shrunken if cut in such an immature state. It is said that the longer wheat is allowed to stand before cutting, the more bran it will have ; and this notion has led some farmers to cut it when in the milky form, so as to get more flour from it. Grain will not thrash so easily when cut comparatively green , but with a machine, this makes bat little difference. In California, the waste from the harvesting of grain is allowed to re-seed the land, and a Becond, or " volunteer " crop, is often raised without any plowing or additional seeding. The cold winters on the Atlantic slope, in most of the States, would render this sort of seeding inoperative, except in the case of wheat and rye which are winterproof. It would, doubtless, surprise many farmers to know that, by plowing their wheat and rye stubble in the autumn, the land would be reseeded to these grains from the waste of the harvest. Straw can be turned to iuch good account for fodder in winter, that it should be in the best form. There will be more and better grain by cutting it as soon as it begins to turn white, and the straw will be in a much more valuable condition. Farmers should take pains to secure their grain crops at this period of growth. Straw is worth much more to feed, than simply to throw into the barnyard to rot for manure. Fed with a little grain, it will keep stock in as good condition as, if not better than hay alone, and the manure will be more valuable than that from hay alone. It ia evident, then, that by harvesting the fltraw when in the best possible condition, a large amount of stock may be kept on the farm, and the farmer can thus add to the value of the manure pile ; or he may, if he choose, utilise his improved straw for fodder and sell a portion of the hay, letting the straw and some grain take its place. The day for burning straw, or letting it go to waste, for the man who has any wisdom is gone by. This fact is made more emphatic, because mcatß of all kinds are so high, and the experience of some farmers has shown that by good management, as I have indicated, the straw may be turned to a valuable account in the rearing of animals and in enriching the farm. The stubble from straw cut when full of juioes, is worth more for fertilising the soil, to plow under, and it will pay to turn it nnder as soon as can be done, while it retains its moisture and the juices stored in it. Such stubble is quite an important factor for the next crop, whereas an old and dned-up one is comparatively worthless. — Col. F. D. Curtis, in the Rural New Yorker.