SB 190 .Z5 Copy 1 ILLUSTRATED AND INSTRUCTIVE BOOK ON GRAIN STACKING. WKTTTEN BY CASPER ZIMMERMAN NEW YORK 1885. ILLUSTRATED AND INSTRUCTIVE BOOK ON GRAIN STACKING. WRITTEN BY CASPER ZIMMERMAN NEW YORK: 1885. ^0 n« Macgowan & Slipper, Printers, 38 & 30 Beekman St. ILLUSTRATED AND INSTRUCTIVE BOOK ON GRAIN STACKING. Where there are so many bushels of grain destroyed every year by poor stacking, and when it is as easy to make a good one, I take this means of placing before the public this book of instructions, for the good of the whole country. When you commence to make your stack, stand the first bundle up perpendicular, and then one on each of the four sides, and then one after another around until you form a ring around these central bundles. Continue so doing, keeping the bundles perpendicular, until the bottom of the stack is the size required. Then leave the heads of the bundles lower, and let the butts rise, for the butts of the bundles being larger than the heads will soon raise the outside of the stack to a level; then keep it so until you get the stack eight or ten feet high from the ground, still letting it project out at the top, so as to form a stack as shown in cut No. 1. By the time your stack is finished, the largest part of the stack, or the bulge, as it is often called, will settle so as to Mofec^" Cut 1. Cm 2. be only four or five feet from the ground, instead of eight or ten, as it was when you first commenced to draw in the stack. Out No. 1 represents the bottom of the stack. Cut No. 2, the widest part, or where you commence to draw in for the topping of the stack. Then, when you want to keep the center of the stack high and rounding, as shown in cut No. 2, keep the center high all the time un- til your stack is completed. When you have the stack high enough to commence to draw in for the topping, let a few rows of the bundles project out, so as to lead off the water from the lower part of the stack. Then commence to draw in little by little, and after you commence to draw in, never kneel on the outside row, but kneel on the second or inside rows of bundles. The outside row of bundles is called the first row, and the second, and third, and so on, always keeping the heads of the bundles toward the center of the stack; if one wishes, he can throw some of the bundles in the center while standing, in order to rest his knees and back; but in laying the second, third, and fourth rows, one can work to bet- ter advantage on his knees, for while he is laying one bundle with one hand, with the other hand he can catch the next bundle from the pitcher, and in that way he can stack as fast as the assistant can pitch to him. Be careful never to kneel on the outside row after commencing to draw in. Kneeling on the second row makes that solid ; then lay the third row one half on the second, and fourth row one half on the third ; this will raise up the center of the stack. Cut No. 3 shows when commencing to draw in, kneeling on the second row, and not the first. This leaves the first or outside row of bundles more loose than the others, there- fore, when the stack is settling, the outside row of bundles will settle more, and so makes them pitch down so they will lead off the water. If you see that the stack is inclined to get lower on one side than on the other, then, when you come to that point with your rows, lay the bundles closer together, and in that way you will soon raise it to the desired level. A great many times when a person is stacking, and the stack gets lower on one side than on the other, farmers do not know how to overcome the difficulty, and so they have a crooked stack, when it is just as easy to straighten it as for a mechanic to plane a piece of pine board. In cut No. 5 I will show the way good and poor stacks are made, and how they look, and also explain the correct and incorrect way of building, as I think I am master of grain stacking. I have had stacks of grain stand one year in Minnesota, through the Minnesota blizzards, and when thrashed did not have one bushel of damaged or wet grain, except a little dampness on the bottom, drawn from the ground. Last year there were thousands of bushels of grain spoiled on account of poor stacking ; many farmers lost hundreds of bushels of grain, while now the small sum of fifty cents (50 cents) will save his grain, viz., the price of this book. It is not that I want to get this book up for a great speculation, but for the good of the whole country, not saying if a farmer buys one of these books that he can save all his grain without damage, but this book will save thousands of bushels of grain, if a man has any ingenuity. A man with any talent can learn to stack by the help of 8 this book. Stacking in this Western country will always have to be done. Farmers can not all thrash out of the shock, for it requires too many men and teams, and the Cut 4. grain must be very dry to thrash out of the shock ; but stacking can be done when the grain is more damp, and by leaving it in the stack a month or two it will dry, or sweat out. The wheat, after being stacked this way, when thrashed looks better, keeps better, and will bring a better price in the market. Stacks containing from six to fourteen good loads are Cut 5. about the best size to build, and four stacks together for a setting of the machine is the handiest to work. The stacks should not be too high, for it is hard for the pitcher to pitch up on them, and the wind has more chance to blow them over. A stack may be ever so tall and pointed, and have the bundles slant down toward the center, and the 10 stack will draw in the water until it is like a wet sponge. If, however, the bundles lean down to the outside well, and are even quite flat, the water will be led off to the ground. In finishing a stack, some of the smallest bundles should be put on the top, and then a large bundle should be well bound on one end and well spread on the other, and place it perpendicular on the top of the stack ; then take a sharp stick six or eight feet long, and push down through the bundle in the stack, letting the stick project out. That will keep the top from blowing over, unless a very severe wind comes. Some farmers never like to leave a stack open over night. That trouble is easily overcome. One good load of bundles makes a temporary top, or a roof. By filling up the middle, if you are on the lower part of the stack, and if on the upper part of the stack your center ought always to be high. Then you place your bundles slant- ing down toward the outside, and then, if it rains in the night, it will lead off, or, as some say, will shed the water and if rain does not come, you are nothing out. In the morning the bundles will naturally be damp from the dew, and that will prevent the bundles from slipping, and you can commence to build upon that same top. Be sure and have the bundles lean down toward the outside. 11 Cut LIBRARY OF CONGRESS I m LIBRARY OF CONGRE 002 682 094 7