Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1876 — Stacking Wheat. [ARTICLE]

Stacking Wheat.

Now that the wheat crop has been harvested and gathered, the next thing to be considered is how to protect it from the weather. In the absence of barns this is done-by stacking in the open air, and to do which requires mi inconsiderable amount of skill and judgment. In preparing for this work first choose* level piece of ground, on which lay a foundation of rails some ten feet wide for a large stack, and so in proportion- In building the stack commence in the center of the foundation by setting up sheaves as if for a shock in the field, only placing the bundles more compactly together, and so continuing until the stack bottom is large, taking particular care not to.maxe it too small. As the butts of the sheaves will gain faster than the heads, by the time this bottom course is large enough to build upon it is flat. By this method the heads of the bundles will not come in contact with the ground; and as the center bundles support the greatest weight of the stack, and are kept (irmly in their position by the surrounding pressure, their firm condition will prevent the middle of the stack from settling as much as the outside, and consequently prevent the admission of water into the body of the stack. Now, get on the stack and continue building in this way, only keeping the middle a little fuller than any other part of the stack, kneeling down firmly every course and keeping the outside of the stack as near perpendicular as possible, until it. has attained a height of about four feet, when begin increasing the diameter, little by little, very carefully and uniformly, by adding on course after course, until the stack is about eight feet high, at which point should be its greatest diameter. Now begin contracting the diameter by “ drawing in” the outside course and keeping the middle of the stack considerably fuller than the surrounding parts. At this stage of the work cease walking on the outside course, and to prevent the outside bundles from slipping stick the butt ends of the bundles firmly in those of the course below it, and so on until the stack is finished.

It is not necessary to give the bundles much slant in the lower half of the stack, as they are not apt to slide out, but after beginning to “ draw in” from the shoulder or bulge of the stack, the slant should gradually''increase until the top of the stack is reached. Nor should it be forgotten that the sheaves as they come from shocks )n the field have one side longest, i. from the bands to the butts, and in commencing to form the swell or bulge of the stack the longest side of each bundle should be kept upward; but as soon as the “ drawing in” begins the short side should "be placed upward. One of the most difficult pkrts of building a stack is to know how to form the swell or shoulder, *. e , where the roof of the stack is to join its body; and unless the turn is made very gradual it will in settling be too abrupt, and thus not only affect the symmetry, bnt the safety of the stack. To keep the mid. die fullest from where yo# begin increasing the diameter until the top of the stack-

is reached is a direction which cannot be too rigidly fallowed. The stacker should, of course, always have some person to hand him the bundles, as it not only assists him very materially in his laborious and difficult task, but the very act of walking over the stack aids iu packing the bundles much closer in the center, and thus prevents its settling as much as the other parts of the stack. Is the above directions are followed, the stuck or rick will not only present a smooth, uniform surface, but never take WAter, and therefore escape all danger of loss from loose and careless stacking,— fll/W ■ , - iii .a ■■■ f ■-friim ..I ii. I,