The Sauk Centre herald., 1912-09-19
Market Clean Wheat.
BY c. n. BAILEY, Cereal Tech
nclogist, Minnesota College
of Agriculture.
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According to the reports of chief
| Inspector of grain for Minnesota the
spring wheat marketed in MINNEAPOLIS
| and Duluth the past ten years cen
tanned an average of 21s per cent OF
| dirt, weed seeds and other grains
| (dockage). This means that during
this ter-year period approximately
| $4,000 tons of dockage was contained
| In the wheat received at the Mime
sofa terminals.
The marketing of this quantity of
dockage represents clear loss to the
farmers of the state, although this
may not appear to be the case at the
time the grain is sold from the farm.
The man who produced the grain
does not receive one cent for the
dockage assessed against his load at
the country elevator.
The shippers Of wheat estimate
how much dockage is to be expected
in the average graiG in given local
ity and when considerable of the
wheat marketed contains several
pounds of dirt to the bushel the whole
community may suffer through gen.
eral lowering of the price.
The farmer is also a loser in that
ne actually gives away material which
possesses considerable food value.
Ground screenings are a satisfactory
sheep feed, while the coarse screen
ings which tail over the top or scalp
ing sieve Of the flaming mill often
contain enough oats to make them
suitable for horse feed. Certain mills
in Minneapolis separate out several
cars of oats every week which are
sold to feed merchants.
Another way in which the farmer
loses in the long run is in the loss
of plant food contained in the weed
seeds and other grains, which are do
mated to the elevator man. Converted
into animal manure and spread over
the land it would result in the return
of the fertilizer elements removed by
the weeds.
The sale of the grain crop with the
consequent loss of large quantities of
nitrogen, phosphorus and potash is
bad enough in itself, but when the
plant food contained in the weed seeds
is added to this the loss is further
increased without any adequate money
returns. Better to grind and compost
the dockage than allow it to represent
a permanent loss to the fertility OF
the land
1t is a serious question whether the
present system of assessing doekase
against wheat when marketed does
not encourage careless farming If
the farmer knows that he can sell his
crop, dirt and all, without an apparent
reduction in price for the wheat actu-
ally present, he is not So apt to keep
his fields free from certain noXious
weeds as though this were not the
case. If, however, he knew that the
grade would be lowered when consid-
erable dirt was present, with con-
sequent reduction in price. he would
proceed to find a way to produce
cleaner grain.
Weeds in the wheat field not only
deplete the fertility of the soil, but
make use of the moisture which
should be employed in growing the
crop. Most weeds are vigorous feed
ers and it becomes a contest between
the wheat plants and the weeds. In
continuous grain growing weeds soon
get the upper hand.
We should therefore turn our attcn.
ton to the means at hand for the pro-
duction of clean grain. The use of
clean seed, the rotation of crops and
destruction of weeds by cultivation
are the iirst moves in the campaign
A little judicious supervision of the
threshing machine will often result
in the removal of many fine seeds
which can be easily taken out at this
time.
Whether or not to clean the
threshed grain before marketing 1t
question which each farmer mus
answer for himself. With the neces-
sary cleaning machinery and cheap
| source of over the wheat may be
cleaned on The farm. Where the farm
er lacks facilities he may often ar
range with the elevator man to run
the grain yer his separators. Thus
the farmer may not only recover the
dockage for feeding purposes but raise
the grade of the wheat as well. The
proper solution of the whole problem
Is to raise cleaner grain and improve
the reputation of Minnesota spring
| wheat