New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-09-17

lend its aid to the diabolcal proceedings OF man.
and rose earlier than it should by all rules Oh as
tronomy and set later. The reapng machine went
round and round the field. dropping of the unbound
shcaves every few yards. The entire distance was
divided into five equal divisions called Stations
ond q man bound up the sheaves OF one station
while the reaper was making one entire round. ana
was ready to go with the next station as 1t passcd
him Or he was supposed to do this, and II he did
not he was dismissed in gnominy He made the
hand for tying up the sheaf out OF the grain ITSELF
making an ingenious though simple knot win a
necular movement OF the hands drawing II uShtiy
around the bundle and fastening 1t with sort OK
half twist half knot To thus go on ehd!essly
round a field. STOPPING over every few yards ana
lifting and tying the heavy bundles of wheat for
twelve or fourteen hours, with the hot sun beating
Town from cloudless sky, was work which well
eserved good pay. The man who trudged about
.t;ing the sheaves up into shocks or dozen or
y,onty each had a task almost hard. while the
iuckless boy who gathered the bundles into groups
for this man could often be induced to conhde pri-
vatey to a friend that he should follow some other
occuDation than wheat-growing-a resolution he usu-
ally kept. Even the man who drove me reater
and urged on the horses with language forciole IL
not elegant had position to tempt the sybarite
There were pneumatic tires on the reaper hor
too easy springs under the seat and the temptation
to allow his fingers to be cut off In some OF the
machinery often seemed to prove irresistible
MODERN IMPROVEMENTS.
In no department of wheat-growins has 80 much
progress been made in the methods as in the har-
yest-!ndeed there is not much change IN the other
pars of the work Now, then. the grain Is sown
with a machine called seeder, which Is driven
back and forth across the field, and scatters the
soed evenly over a strip eight or ten feet
wide digging up the soil behind it with set OF
movable teeth. After this the land Is zone over
with a harrow or twice. Sometimes the grain
is planted with a drill" which leaves 1t in small
rows close together; but the result Is the same.
This is In April. seldom before-someiimes In the
early part of May. In a few days the sprouts peep
above the surface; IN few weeks the whole land
IS a velvety green. In June or July the heads APP
pear. and in the latter month 1t Is tall enough 10
b.ow itself in the wind, which is always blowing;
and il rolls away to the horizon a sea OF green
which is soon yellow. and then almost white. Csu-
a;ly the harvest is we'll under way in July though
not always. II is seldom finished before some time
in August
But the harvest now is another thing No army
Of men come from anywhere The self-binder Is
everywhere: but there no break In s evolution.
Tho reaper came. perhaps. in the @a' and II Ola
well enough for forty years. But In the I0s II vas
found wanting. and II went down before a machine
called the harvester This was essentially reaper
on which men rode TO DO the binding up OF the
sheaves. the time they saved in rot having 10 walk
from gavel to gave enabling the two to DO the
work OF the former i've. The grain brought
~ TO them on an endless apron. ami there was a
canopy over them for shade. Altogether IL was a
considerable advance. and cut down the number
Of men needed. but it did not last long; tho auto
matte machine sight in few years the
sell -binlcr came in and the men went out alto
so,hcr
The first binders tied up the sheaf with wire, but
this was not very satisfac Glory. and the kind which
les it with manila Irvine soon brought out,
and Is stil used The Irvine is a little larger than
a large round shoestring and comes in balls as
l head he %
binder though simple. Is ingenious as 1t well can
be Place the two ends of string side by side Tor
two or three inches; consider the two as one, and
| tie them in common, plain. schoolboy Knot
! and YOU have the knot made b. the sef-bnder.
Ii is simple. but there is frmer knot. as you viii
discover If you will pull on your experimental effort
In the binder as In the old harvester the grain Is
brought up endless apron. When enough
/ has accumulated for sheaf, curved iron arm
! comes over. bringing one end OF the Irvine. TINS
arm presses the grain down and draws the cord
tightly. \ little thingumbob. like ones thumb and
/ foreinger seizes both ends of the twne turns
around with mpulsiye motion and in so doing
ties the knot let's go suddenly. knife cuts the
twne the sheaf is swept off. and the binder calmly
waits for enough grain for another. Il seldom gets
out Of order. and the work it does is better than
hand work But the machine is not so interesting
a. was the crowd OF men.
FROM FIELD To GRANAIY.
After the wheat is safely in shock 1t is next
stacked built up into great piles. usually four or
them in a place and made that they will shed
rain and keep the heads Of the wheat dry. Then,
either sooner or later in the fall. it is thrashed
There is not much difference between the thrash
ing operations and in the old days. except that
steam has been substituted for horse power. For
! long time after the steam engine superseded the
old horse power. in which the horses, ten OF them,
went round and round all day. each pair dragging
a long sweep behind it; for dozen years these
uffh tea M NJ KIM
they were heavy and 1t was slow work SO the
engines were made 10 propel themselves from place
! to place like a locomotive-traction engines they
are called. This they do 10 perfection, up hill
/ and down often dragging a heavy wagon or two.
! and sometimes the separator or thrashng- machine
proper a great red. car-like structure filled with
machinery. These engines all burn straw, the straw
! out Of which they have thrashed the wheat; even
| when travelling along the road they drag tender
behind filled with their favorite fuel As the straw
costs nothing. this is an important point in prairie
! country. where both wood and coal are expensive.
The most important part OF the separator. which
stands perhaps seventy-tve feet from the engine.
and with which it is connected by long belt, Is a
great skeleton cylinder OF iron covered with steel
teeth three four inches long, which revove rapid
~ among Il forest Of stationary teeth. The grain
is fed evenly to this rushing cylinder, and as II
is torn through the wilderness of teeth the kernels
are loosened from their outside coverngs-the peri
carp-and pass on to the rest of the machinery
mixed with the broken and shredded straw ana the
scattered chaff. This machinery finally separates II
with the aid OF fans sieyes shakers and other de-
vices and II out at the side in a clean steady
stream while the straw and chaf are thrown our
behind. making a mountainous. pale yellow pile Inc
wheat Is put into sacks and is drawn away TO ths
farmers granary. while the straw Is burned LOOK
any autumn night YOU choose across the Minnesota
prairie. and you will a dozen fires. the names
leaping up near at hand throwing duh glow
! on the heavens If the millions OF tons OF straw
which have been burned in the state couid nave
gone back TO the soil whence they came perhaps
tho he,t cron of Minnesota to-day had been larger
Something ike twenty are required to oper-
ate n thrashng outfit. that more men are now