Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1897-10-26

about the country. We imaR zine that we
are the only ones who get the advan-
tages of modern inventions, and that
the farmer plays around in the mud
the same as he did when we were boys.
Why, learned more during those
two days on tho farm than / ever ex-
pected to know about farming. Now,
you helped to thresh when you were
a boy. l did, know. can't date buck
to the time when the men used TO
cradle the grain and then beat it out
with fails, but happened along in the
time of the reaping machines. The self
binder hadn't come in yet. We used
to thresh the grain with one of those
horse power separators that you could
hear two miles away. when it got to
grinding. You know the kind, sup
pose-five or six teams of horses going
around on the power and a.man up on
the big cogwheel platform in the CEN
ter cracking whip over them. That
lSnd of machine was q horse-killer
and no mistake. 1t took about five
minutes of digging to get started and
it was hard pulling all the time. Then
IL the feeder happened to let a wet
sheaf get in crosswise the cylindy;
would stick and every horse would 4
up in the air. You probably remcmbv:
that when the traction engine came i
everyone said that it was the final III
provement. 1t Knocked out SO mut.
grain that the separator had to be fed
from both sides-two hand cutters, lwr
men to put the grain into the wage.
and three or four men to stack the
straw. Did you ever work at the TAI!
end of the machine as they used to
call it? Had TO wear goggles, you know.
Chaff flying SO thick that it got in your
ears, nose and mouth, down your back,
sticking to you and tickling wherever
you were wet with perspiration, which
was everywhere; straw piling uparourd
you and threatening to bury you unless
you worked your why out; sun about
% and no shade! And yet the agricul.
tura! papers used to wonder why boys
left the farm!
We'll, when l was at Ezra's went
over with him to look at an improved,
thrcsher. | wouldn't have.believed i!
They don't need anyone at the tai.
end of the machine any more. H..
stead Of the old-fashioned straw car
rier. with its belts and Stats, the I'M
proved separator is provided with l..
blower shaped just like q big smoke,
stack, and all the straw and chaf is
forced through this by powerful fans
This blower carries all the dust auG
chaff away from the machine. In til,
old days you couldn't see the machine
for cloud of dust surrounded it. But.
us | started to tell you, there ure no
men on the strawstack any more. That
big blower swings around and distrib.
utes the straw, making good semi
circular stack. There are no men at
the other end of the machine. either.
The Irvine bands are cut by u patent
cutter, and the sheaves are carried to
the cylinder by an automatic feeder.
All the men have to do is to pitch the
sheaves up on the platform and the
machine does the rest. After the oats
are threshed out they are carried to the
top of the machine, weighed and meas
ured and dumped into the wagon. All
that the man at the wagon has to do
is to keep the grain scooped away.
"The way that grain comes out is
a caution. 1t takes very few minutes
to fill a wagon. AS matter of fact
about the only labor in threshing nova
days is the hauling to and from the
machine. You can probably remember
the time, Miller, when 1000 bushels was
considered big days threshing;. but
understand nowadays they can knock
! out $500 to 1000 bushels. If they could
only in'ent some device to keep grain
at good price they'd be all right
wouldn't they?"
cts remarkable" said Miller. 81
didn't know that the machinery had
been improved to that extent"
Its the same with most kinds Of
farm work." said Goodwin. ezra was
showing me his haystacker. 1t seems
that there isn't much pitching any
more. And you know how they plant
corn now, don't you? don't. but
understand you don't have to pull {
lever TO drop the corn. They've got
eyerythinv now nScnnf a oorn hueLor