The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1912-06-21
Air Cured Seed NOn=Combustible


The stripping of the bluegrass seed
and getting it into sacks is by no
means the end Of what is known IS the
harvesting Of the crop, though. of
course, it is by far the most ina. J3nt
part of the process, for befJ.e the
seed is stripped, many things NAV hap
pen to prevent its gatherings rainy
spell about harvesting time, for
instance, NAV prevent the gathering OF
the seed.or the growth of weed in the
pastures may make the gathering i'm
possible. But after the seed is all
stripped it must be "cured" or dried,
and the manner Cf doing this is one of
the most interesting features of the
bluegrass harvest When first gather
ed, the seed is more or less green and
sappy, and in the curing or drying
process it lcses from % to 40 per cent.
of its weight according to its condition
Of ripeness at the time of gathering,
and the amount of weeds and grass
mixed with it. Dealers pay about 80
TO 10 per cent. more for the cured seed
than for seed delivered directly from
the stripper.
Until about fifteen years ago it was
thought the seed had to be protected
/ from the weather in curing it. aud it
was put into large barns and stirred
and turned with pitchforks daily for
some two weeks until thoroughly dried,
as the sappy seed. if not stirred. will
get SO hot as to kill the germ and will
produce spontaneous combustion.
Some fifteen years ago, however, K.
b. Hutchcraft, Of this city, in curing a
lot of seed near Centerville. this cOun-
tv, and not having barn room for il.
tried the eXpreimen of curing small
quantity outside. The experiment
succeeded so well that Ford Brent, also
Of this city, the following year cured a
large quantity of seed in the open
fields, and since that time all persons
who handle bluegrass seed in large
quantities cure it in the open air, as it
is claimed that it cures better and
more quickly than under cover.
A sloping ground is usually selected.
so that the water will drain off, and it
is prepared by simply moving the
grass, after which it is ready for the
seed, which is piled in long windows
about two and a half feet high and
extending in parallel lines up and
down the hillside.
A force of hands is put to work and
these windows are turned over with
forks daily and shaken apart. so that
the air gets to all the seed. This pro-
cess is kept up until the seed is dry
enough to sack without fear of heating,
which usually lakes about ten days,
more or less, according to the weather.
1t is singular fact that, fluffy and
loose as the seed appears in these
windows, the heaviest rains will not
penetrate it more than one inch or
less, but runs off as it does from
roof. and few minutes of sunshine
after hard rain will leave the seed as
dry as before the rain.
1t is thisIfact that makes the curing
of the seed outside possible, and none
who handles bluegrass seed largely
yer thinks now of curing it under
ever.
When sufficiently dry the seed is
taken up and sacked and is ready for
storage in warehouses until the time
comes to clean 1t, or to separate the
seed from the hull just as the cleaned
wheat is separated from its hull or
chaff by running 1t through a thresher.
The machinery used In cleaning blue
grass seed is expensive, the more so
because.so few machines are needed to
handle the seed output, there being
only about seven cleaning plants in the
bluergass, three of which are locatd in
Paris, one in Mt. Sterling one IN Win
chester one in Georgetown and possibly
one in Lexington.
These plants prepare for market the
entire bluegrass output most of the
seed in fact being produced in a few
counties in Central Kentucky known
as 1.-The Bluegrass Section" 1t is one
OF the most valuable crops of this rich
and highly favored section since when
the fields are once set in grass it re-
produces itself annually without'toil or
expense to the farmer and to the
constant enriching of the soil.
One Bourbon county farmer sold this
wear to seed spectators the right to
gather seed from eighteen hundred
acres of land for S10,25
The enormous yield of the present
season is unprecedented, and has at
tracted the attention of all the people
of Kanfupky IN this inducfrv