Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1878-10-10
Wire Binders.

While so much is being written of
the losses inflicted upoo the farmers by
the alleged unfair grading Of their
wheat we wish to thus early warn
them of a stillgreater danger to which
they are exposing themselves by the
use Of the s"Wire binders which were.
this season pushed into use by the
manufacturers of some of the various
harvester manufacturing companies.
It has been found by the millers that
vast nu umbers of short bits of this wire
used in binding, from one to two inches
10 length, find their way through the
tbreshing machine and seperators to
the elevators and mills, and pass into
the hoppers with the wheat. Its first
damaging result is, that some of these
bits Of wire become fixed in the crew
ices of the lower or bed stone, and res
naming in one fixed position will
"crease" or wear the upper stone un-
even, thus injuring the evenness and
Uniformity Of its work. But most Of
these pieces of wire, ground to sharp,
but pointed or ragged edges, pass
through the stones into the "boltlng
cloths" which are so seriously cut and
damaged thereby as to lnfict consider
able loss upon the millers in replacing
the "cloths," as as also in the serious
delays occasioned in making the nec>
essary repairs Not onl ly the "bolt,ng
cloths" but the "brush machines"
used in a portion Of the mills, and
which cost from three to four hundred
dollars each, are soon rendered WORTH
less by the destructive agency of this
sharply ground wire. There is still
another, and perhaps greater, damage
liable to grow out of this newly~dis~
covered enemy. The bran and feed
| made and sold by the mills to farmers,
stock-growers and others, IS proving
dangerous to feed to stock on account
of these deadly little fragments which,
taken into the animals stomach.
pierces the same, and results in death.
Several authentic cases of this kind oc~
! curing in this State have already been
reported, and should they continue, as
they inevitably must if the cause is
not removed, the value of bran and
mill feed will be entirely destroyed,
thus inActing great blow both upon
the miller and all classes using these ar
ticles of feed for their stock. The same
objection also lies against the use of the
straw which the farmer may feed to his
cattle. So alarming has this question
become in all its phases, that the mil
lers of Minneapolis yesterday held a
meeting to consider the dangers of the
situation and devise remedy if posi-
! BILE. The troublesome and dangerous
features of the case seemed to be full.
ly appreciated, and the subject was
referred to committee to examine fur.
ther and report at an early date, Thus
far, the millers estimate of the harvest.
ers now in use in this State not
over one in fifty have the wire bin>
der attachment, and yet from those il
use the damage is already so great az
to challenge their most serious atten
ton. The St. Louis papers have al
ready sounded an alarm on this point
had unless remedy can be fount
there can be no doubt but that th'
millers will be compelled to refus,
all grain subject to this objection, O
reduce it in price to such point a.
will cover the heavy losses which they
will sustain in using it., -:,: