The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1910-11-04
TIME FOR HARVESTING GRAIN.
If Left Uncut Until Dead Ripe Many
Varieties Lese~ Both in Quality and
Quantity.
(By Robert II. Cahoon.

Quantity.
(By Robert H. Cahoon.)
Among the numerous mistakes that
lead to enormous wastes on the farm,
few are more worthy OF attention
than that of letting grain, oats, wheat,
rye, corn, etc. get too ripe before
harvesting.
No one can ride about the country
in summer without being struck and
amazed at the prevalence of this er-
ror.
You will notice field after field that
has reached, or is approaching, the
periodof dead ripeness, and that ought
to have been harvested several days
before.
The loss arising from this
source is more appreciahle and more
easily estimated, perhaps i'm wheat, of
which we cultivate comparatively lit
tie, than it 1s i'm other grains, like
oats and rye, but the same general
principle applies to all
III wheat is cut two weeks or 10 be-
fore it fully ripens, it contains more
starch, and a bushel will weigh more,
and it will make a larger quantity OF
flour, with less quantity of bran or
middlings, than If it were allowed to
ripen. This is by no means a matter
Of theory. It is the result Of careful
observation.
The straw will begin to change
color slightly two or three weeks be-
fore the grain comes to complete ma
turity.
I'm the best and most favorable sea-
sons it will begin to ripen and change
color at the bottom. I'm some less ia
vorable seasons the upper joints turn
first
In the great wheat-growing sec
tons of the far East, where wheat
growing is carried on to q much
greater extent than 1t is here. they
have studied this point more careful
ly than we have.
The best farmers begin to cut while
a portion of the stalk is green, an
soon AZ the kernel has passed from
the milky" to the doughty state.
The stalk has then begun to change
color, sometimes from the bottom.
sometimes for three or four inches be-
lew the head.
A. most careful and accurate expert
ment was made to ascertain the diff
ference, taking wheat, first, when 1t
was green; second, week after, when
it was changing color; and third.
when fully ripe.
The result was in the first case
19& bushels an acre; i'm the second,
23A; in the third, 23A; and the same
difference was found in the straw.
The total value an acre was !: I'm
that cut green, 5000; in that cut
enc week after, when the stalk was
yellow below the ear, $64.61; in that
cut one week after, when fully ripe,
s56.13.
The first two productions had more
fine flour and less bran than that cut
last, showing that gluten liz converted
into starch in standing to get fully
ripe.
When either end OF the stalk turns
yellow, the sap ceases to flow, and the
covering or shell OF the kernel thick
ems and becomes hard, and OF course
gives larger proportion of bran and
less fine -four.
Beside, in early cutting there liz less
less from Smelling out in handling,
and from high winds, which involves
very heavy loss in ripened grain.
Now what il true Of wheat is, In
the main, also true OF other small
grains-oats and rye. If we raise
them for seed to sow again, they
ought to be allowed to ripen fully,
hut III for grinding or for feed for
animals, they should be cut early, il
they would be i'm their best and most
nutritive condition.