Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1907 — STACKING WHEAT. [ARTICLE]

STACKING WHEAT.

Voss to Farmers From Leaving Grain In the Shock. Years ago it was a common custom C*> stack the wheat as soon as it was Well cured in the shock, but gradually ! ihis custom was abandoned until in many parts of the country it was a rare sight to see n stack. Learning From Experience. Of recent years a reaction seems to be slowly taking place and stacking is again coming into fashion, according to a writer in American Agriculturist. The reason for this is not in doubt. It is the bitter and costly experiences that have come home to farmers through deavlng their grain in the shock until the machine came around. Of course, when nobody stacked and the thrashing season occupied six weeks or more, a majority of the crops were necessarily left standing in the shock for weeks, exposed to storms and winds. In Midsummer. Now, of course, while it is a fact that rainy seasons in July are uncommon, they are of sufficiently regular occurrence to make the damage they inflict far outweigh the cost of annually stacking or storing the grain. Protecting the Crop. Stacking can be carried on every moment of the day that the wheat is dry enough to handle. If the stack is uncompleted at night or when a shower comes up it can be covered with a tarpaulin. With his grain once safely in the stack the farmer is independent of the weather and tbe machine boss and can go about his other work serenely conscious that he has done bis duty in safeguarding his principal cash crop.