MATURING OF GRAIN CROPS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1981, 11 February 1892, Page 6

MATURING OF GRAIN CROPS.

Beginning with a droughty spring, the cereal crop season ol 1892 was by no means favourable till Well on to the middle of November. Then Blight but welcome rains set in, and crops and pastures throve as they have not done for the past 30 years, Unsettled and cloudy weather has prevailed throughout the summer, but bringing to farmers an exuberance of Vegetation such as has not teen ospel'tenced in the history of the colony. Because of the humidity of tho summer prevailing up to the eve of harvest, the ripening of the standing cereal crops would have been at the best imperfect, and the grain products ivnmaturO and "soft" unless very great care Is bestowed oh the harvesting, and the late Hoods o. cdufcstt Very materially increase the difflcuM; v fiig-eared crops and a heavy yJeM" will be the record for this .yttftt where the effects of the floods Ate not so bad as in low-lying localities, but as exporters it rests with the growers themselves to determine the ultimate value of the product. This will be no season to excuse threshing from the stook, or the growers who Ao Po must content themselves^witb a low scdle of prices compared with what weil-inatured grain must fetch for export. Some weeks ago we reviewed the ]>osition of the Home and foreign grain markets. It was shown that the big American surplus was on the market, and that the glut must of course cause a declension in values to the lowest for tho cereal year. November, December, and January have exhausted American and Indian supplies to such an extent that at the present moment the stocks of breadstuffs in either of the countries named are notably [ less than they were in corresponding seasons j for years back. It is necessary under the cir- i cumstances to warn grain growers against the advice so freely given them to &ell. We have no hesitation in prophesying higher ruling prices for grain in European markets during the next five nvonths than quotations for the past 10 years. The glut in these markets is "past and gone," and now necessities will be the more decidedly indicated growers may rest assured that good grain eXpot'fc— wheat, oats, and — barley will fetch high prices, andthe better the quality the higher the figure. Quality will this year depend entirely upon the attention bestowed on harvesting a crop. " Soft grain" will be the rule unless maturing in stook and stack is carefully attended to. Millers all the world over readily distinguish and prize grain that has been stack-matured. The practice of threshing from the stook is in this colony inexcusable. Strijjpiug and threshing at the same time may be economical and unobjectionable in Australia, under a burning sun, and with from four to ten bushels per acre crops, but in this humid climate, with yields of four times the quantity of straw and grain, and frequently a considerable growth of j green herbage in the sheaves, the seasoning in ' the stook first and afterwards in the stack is of high practical importance. The consideration of this essential towards the production for market of well-matured grain receives but little \ thought in this part of the colony, where it is of the greatest moment because of uncertain j harvest weather. In France, with a much more equable climate, the harvesting of wheat \ crops receives such particular attention that damaged parcels are unknown in the markets. , There — and it must be remembered France occupies the premier position in Europe as a t wheat-producing country — the method pursued in harvesting the crop in wet seasons consists { in placing the wheat for a longer or shorter time in small stacks before finally stacking it. j These small temporary stacks are made as follows : — As dry and elevated a site as possible is selected for each. On this spot a sheaf is placed upright, its straws are then bent at about the middle, and the whole is flattened so j that the ears are brought down to the lower extremities of the straw, but without touching the ground. This constitutes the base. Around and upon this other sheaves are arranged in such a manner that all the ears rest upon the central flattened sheaf, though none of them come in contact with the ground. Care is exercised in disposing the outer end of the sheaves, which mark out a circle whose diameter is twice the length of the straw. Upon the layer thus formed there is arranged another, and so on, the outer wall of the cylindrical stack being kept vertical. At a height of a little over 2ft the workman commences to gradually diminish the diameter by pushing the fresh sheaves a little forward, so that the ears of successive sheaves now begin to cross each other instead of, as heretofore, all radiating from a common centre. As a consequence of this the centre begins to rise more rapidly than the circumference, and when the latter has attained the height it should reach, sft, the summit will form a "cone with a rounded apex. The inclination of the sheaves at the top, whilst not enough to permit of their slipping off the underlying ones, should be sufficient to cause the rain to flow off freely. The structure is completed by placing on the top of the cone an inverted sheaf, the straw of which is so spread as to cover the upper surface of the small stacK, and especially to protect iton the side from which the rain usually comes. The value of such a small stack greatly depends on the care and skill with which it is put together. In France four women carry sheaves to one man who builds. When grain is cut before it is absolutely ripe, it is advisable to put the sheaves in these small stacks, so as to permit the completion of the ripening process.