Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-07-08
FARM, HOME AND GARDEN
A word about Stacking.
The Kansas CITY Farmer.


The object of putting grain and hay in
stacks is to save ii from loss by rain. The
secret in good stacking lies in making it
shed water, and to do this there must be
a matching, kind of straw Singing on
every part of the outside above few feet
from the ground. All the outside straw
or hay must incline downwards, and it
must have that tendency fixed when the
stack is built.
The first thing to be learned and re-
membered about stacking is to keep the
middle full. Start in the middle of the
foundation. Put the first forkful there
and build around It, Not only must the
middle be kept full, but it must have the
most tramping if any is done, the point
being that if any part of the stack is more
solidly built than another part it ought
to be the middle, so that in settling the
middle will not sink faster than the out
side. Then lin case of hay) if the out
side layers are so arranged with the fork
as that the stalks and blades he straight
ened out enclining downwards, they will
settle that way.
The same principle holds with wheat,
rye and oats, but it is not so difficult to
get the straws into position because they
are bound beforehand. But the stack
must be begun in the middle of the foun-
dation. Lay bundle down, then put
another on top of that, let the but end
extend little beyond the heads of the
under sheaf Build on and around these,
tops in, butts out, ring after ring, until the
bottom is large enough. If the stack is
to be Tonga rick-and not round, then,
when the rings widen to the proper size
as to width, build back and forth on the
two sides that are to be run out as ends.
Widen the stack little as it is raised to
about 6 feet then place two er three layers
so as to keep the outside going up per-
pendicularly. After that draw it until
the stack is finished. AS soon as the
stack is high enough to commence the
drawing in, the middle should have the
filling. On a stack of ordinary width the
middle, when drawing in is begun, ought
to be at least two feet higher than the
outside. Keep it that way to the top.
DWhen grain is very short it is not best
to undertake to widen any up to the
"bulge," because there is danger of the
sheaves slipping out. Where the straw
is long enough, the stack may easily be
extended three or four feet on each side
beyond the outer lines of the foundation,
and that makes room for good deal
more grain than can be put into STACK
that is run up straight, or drawn in from
the bottom. The writer of this always
did his stacking of grain, except the fill
ing of the middles, on his knees. But
the work can be as we'll done standing by
using good fork to place the sheaves
Every bundle ought to be pressed into
place by the stackers weight upon it.
A stack whether of grain or hay, after
q Il III III IL
be raked so as to comb out the straw and
make a good matching. The top may be
secured by a few sticks tethered with
straw or hay bands, twisted and ten tc
twelve feet long, and thrown across the
top of the stack. If rick, the weigh
ought to be about four feet apart. The,
need not be heay-just enough to keeI
the bands in place.