Derrick threshing from stacks of headed grain offers a novel variation on threshing. A derrick lifts headed grain onto a table, from which the grain is fed into the thresher. In the East, eastern portions of the Midwest, and parts of the South where grain is threshed, rings and custom threshing are in full swing. In Kansas and other parts of the Great Plains, winter wheat is prominent. Steam engines become larger and carry higher pressure.
Big engines typify threshing in the western portions of the Midwest and in the West.
In sections of the West where vast acreages of grain have long been grown for commercial purposes, the use of combines becomes more widespread. The combine has a history too complicated to be told in this appendix. It has been around for many years but only now is receiving attention. On more recently developed farms in the Midwest, threshing in open fields is now popular. One reason for this preference is that new barns have mows too small for the straw.