The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-06-26

When j. C. Mohler, secretary of ag-
riculture for Kansas, gives farmers
little advice in his letters or bulle-
tins, his talks are usually strictly 10
the point and worth while
A few days ago Secretary Mohler
gave Kansas wheat farmers bit of
advice with relation to the care of
wheat after harvesting, spoke of the
danger in unduly delaying threshing,
etc. Inasmuch as what is profitable for
the winter wheat farmer in Kansas ap-
plies to our own wheat growers and
crops, we are printing few extracts
from the Mohler letter Mr.. Mohle-
goes after the facts in sledge-hammer
fashion. Right now in the midst of
our wheat harvest, with threshing
days almost due, his remarks will be
found very timely. He opens up by
stating that:
mot all losses in wheat growing
are sustained before the crop is ma
tured Kansas loses much annually
after the crop has been matured, in
cutting too early, in standing too long
in the shock, in poor stacking, in waste
in threshing and damage in storage.
Losses From Heat Heavy
Losses because of heat damage to
wheat of last years crop were excep-
tionally heavy, and more complaints
were lodged on this score than in any
previous season to my recollection. An
effort was made to determine the
cause with the hope of being able to
apply a remedy. The state board of
agriculture obtained information as
to shippers of heat damaged wheat,
and traced this wheat to the growers,
of whom inquiries were made. The
replies clearly show that methods in
harvesting should vary with condi-
ton; that all wheat cannot be handled
alike with the same results. For ex-
ample, a Russell County wheat grow
er, who lost heavily from heat damage
| to his wheat, placed the blame on ear
| ly cutting, poor judgment in stacking,
after threshing, and improper hand
! ling afterwards. He says, in the first
place:
1--WE have very seldom had such
short wheat with so little foliage. II
stands to reason that a stack with
/ practically all wheat in it would re
quire a longer time to go through the
sweat than a stack with mostly straw
in it. For such wheat our stacks
should have been built very narrow
Which would have aided them in dry
| ing out This, | think, has been one
! of the greatest troubles with our dam
aged wheat in the season just past
The trouble with my individual wheat
however has been more than that
| threshed a little early and, still worse
1 sr~l,+ Nd -nf
/ piled a large quantity in one bin
1t has given me a lesson | hope tc
profit by hereafter"
Don't Delay Threshing
| cardinal point in this talk t.
wheat growers was this: ITO guar(
!! against heat damage wheat should
not be cut too early, and should 81
into the stack dry. Wheat shoull
not be threshed when damp. Care
should be used in storage"
! Much poor grade wheat in Kansa!
in 1921 was because of threshins
when damp. and from binding il
large lots when the air was moist
There is much damage year afte
year because of wheat standing tor
long in the shock. Wheat should no
be stacked until fully dry. nor SHOULD
the threshing be long delayed.
: With regard to threshing operation
Secretary Mohler says that old thresh
ermen tell him that millions of bush
els of wheat would be saved to farm
ers if every machine in Kansas 'wa
in the hands of qualified operator
He advocates inspection and over
! hauling of every machine befor
threshing operations begin.
The June ! estimate of 117,000,0 90
I bushels of wheat for Kansas, wa
: generally conceded as about right TO