FARM NOTES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 3262, 11 March 1885, Page 3

FARM NOTES.

WIND-MOWS V. STOOKS.

Mr Alfred Saunders, m the course of a letter to the Christchurch Press, writes as follows : — "It ja thirteen years ago since you were kind enough to publish a letter from me, calling on the farmers of Canterbury to abandon the dangerous and often disastrous system of stooking for the safe and secure wind mow m the harvesting of their • wheat. I showed then that m England it was done by a few of the best farmers at an extra cost of one penny per acre, and that it certainly would not cost sixpence an acre extra here, whilst ifc would greatly improve the quality of our wheat, even m the finest weather, Bave it from destruction m such weather as we are now getting, and too often do get, and would entirely do away with, those disagreeable figures, ' Ade- 1 laide wheat, 36s ; New Zealand wheat, 30s.' " Where there is an old horse to spare, too slow or too feeble for the reaper and binder, I believe it can be done with even less manual labor than stooking m the first instance ; whilst it saves all hurry and trouble and anxiety and loss at every stage afterwards. If the practice were general, contract stookers would soon come supplied with an old horse and dray, or even a sledge, and would windmow more easily, and almost aa quickly as they now stook. " Apart from the greatly improved quality, it would always repay a little extra expense by the saving m waste caused by harsh drying, birds and other vermin. " Wheat dried m the shade, besides being a better article both for the miller and baker, will loose lAlb less per bushel m drying, and the oirds, instead of wasting and picking over all the best wheat, would be obliged to take either the stubble waste or the turned over lop sheaf, which m any cbbo would be the worst. •' Whenever wheat is fit to cut it is fit to put m wind-mows containing not more than a small dray load each, so that every sheaf that was cut could be put safe before night. Once m wind-mows the farmer can sleep m peace. However bad the weathbr may be, his wheat will take uo harm, beyond the top inverted sheaf, and that be need not mix with the rest. He need not hurry his stacking or threshing, but can wait until the wheat and the weather are quite fit for either. Thus he can always take advantage of the very driest and best weather for stacking, and do it at the best pace that will give the wheat the advantage of a good airing if it need it. " The reason that wind-mowa are not universally adopted by all good farmers m Britain is, that by drying more Blowly they cause some delay at a time when the sun there is getting low and powerless. I It is not ho here. However bad our harvest weather may be, we almost invariably get fine drying weather after it, so that the farmer who puts himself m a position to wait harmlessly for it will never be wrong. In England, and still more m Scotland, the late autumn sun is often too powerless to produce a good sample of wheat. Here the summer sun and wind are too powerful, and often make the wheat harsh. But, even m England, it has been proved that the wind-mows yield a far better average sample than the stooks, and, even there, the shade-dried wheat is so superior m color that a careful farmer will not mix tho exposed top sheaf with the shade-dried wheat, even after the very finest harvest weather. Nor is the risk from stooks so great, nor the wheat so often completely spoiled either m England or Scotland as it is here. A fortnight's cold rain m Scotland would hardly work the same ruin m a field of stooks that three days' warm, muggy weather does here. " By these simple wind-mows thousands of pounds could be saved by a deserving class that sadly nseds it, the national oharacter of New Zealand wheat could be reversed, and many an anxious hour and sleepless night could be prevented to those whose useful toil entitles them to the sweetest of sleep."