The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-07-22
HARVEST TINE IN KANSAS.
A GOLDEN STREAM FLOWING IRON
the TRREsHING MACHINES.

N TRREsHING MACHINES.
Way the ThreshinE Il Done Nowadays In the
Prairie states Danger From Record
Of . College Lad Plenty OF Pros
perity Of the farmers-No Time for Fun.
BrILlylrIr, Kan, July is.-This II thresh-
Ing season Ia the prairie States. Many a young
man who came out Of the East 70 work In the
harvest and thought he would put In the sum
mer following a header or binder finds himself
at the business end Of q tErcshing machine.
wor.isR his twelve hours a day and likely to
stay there until late in the fall. The threshing
crews are thick over the plains. One may
stand on an emlnence and see the smoke OF
half a dozen machines In the circle OF prairie
thar stretches away for miles. The binders
and headers are put in the shed. or perhaps
stand out in the field where some careless farmer
unhitched his team. and all the attention Is
given to the threshing.
is II hard work." was asked OF a sun-burned
youth who had been bending over the leeo poA
Of a buzzing machine all day. his eyes pro-
tected by huge goggles and his SLOUGH hat pulled
well down over his eyes.
We'll, 1t amt a picnic by q good deal. was
the reply. 1T depends on whom you work ior
and If things run smooth. IL the boss sooias
and jaws and has a rickety old machine WIN
only about half enough men to run 1t, II Is
mighty tough. but II he tries TO do what Is right
and gives the plen a fair show. It's all right.
That Is about the size Of It. and there are .
good many worse jobs than threshing as II Is
now conducted on the ~prairtes. 1t IL a theory
that a man can get roh running a machine, ana
probably a. many men have demonstrated 'he
fallacy Of the thing IA have engaged IN any
other single speculation In the west ~ looks
feasible. A good machine with q traction en-
CINE that will haul the whole outfit from place
10 place costs about $500. The engine does
oil the hard pulling and only ono team Is needed
and that l. for the water wagon. A sooo mAr
chine In good wheat can thresh about one 'houS-
and bushels OF grain a day. 1t wont average
that because there l. lost time. but there are
many machines that In the season uresh from
90. 100 10 70. 600 bushels, The price PAID ior
this is six cents a bushel II the thresher ana MS
men are boarded by the farmer and seven cents
q bushel II the thresher boards himself. Most
OF the outfits board themselves. taking along
with the machine a cook wagon which Il prao-
tically q house on wheels. This makes the
routine more regular and the men are able TO
nut I'm longer hours. The cost OF running the
outfit Is about SO a day and il all goes well there
Is a good profit AT the end of the season,
But here Is whore the thresher falls down.
Vacations delays occur; the machine or the
engine breaks down and a day Is lost while the
repairs are being made. The weather turns
rainy and there Is lost tins on that account
The roads become too slippery or too muddy TO
make changes from one field to another and
long moves are necessary on account OF the
competition. The threshers try to get all the
work they can In one nelghborhood. To have less
moving. but are not always successful
so in the end it often happens that the man
who bought n machine is at the end OF the
season little ahead, and he Is compelled TO
give up his bargain and lose a part. at least,
OF his Investment. Then the next year the
outfit Is bought by another experimenter and
II Is tried once more. Some OF the threshers
manage to make money, and year ate: year
they go over the ground. working for their
regular customers, as do the ploughcrs or har-
vesters. Then there is another class OF thrc-h-
hrs working on a cooperative basis. Neigh
boring farmers go into a pool and buy a thresh-
Ing machine aud engine and hire men to run
the outfit through the season, each taking his
turn al the use Of the machine. This saves
the profit the maNager OF the machine when
he runs IL as q private Institution.
The men who turn from the harvest feds
do NOT Get rich working on the machine. but
some Of them manage 10 save considerable
money IN the course of the season There
are with every machine about a dozen mon.
There are SIX pitchers. who throw the gram
to the machine from the wagons. II the thrcsh-
Ing is done In the field. or from the wheat stacks
II II Is done after the wheat has been put In
stack. These get the lowest wages, average
Ing from si,?j to $50 a DAY. according to the
extent Of the harvest, This year they are
getting the larger amount, II Il common to
set the machine in the harvest field II the wheat
Ia we'll ripened, and thresh "a the grain Ia out.
This saves one handling. and the farmer Is
thus able 10 get his gram to market with less
expense. 1t has the objection that the grain
Ia rather green and there may be some sweat
ing before there IL any sale made from the
granary.
Then there arc the 'eeders-the men who
put the graIn-laden straw into the hungry
mouth of the machine. These are somewhat
more skilled than the pitchers. and they get
about 8, Il day. The engineers are the best
paid of all. They receive from 81 so to 50 \
day, and are expected 10 zee to II that there
Is no fire set out that will burn up the stacks.
Sometimes this happens. however. and with
the high winds that prevail during the sum
mer the whole harvest scene Ia soon In flames.
II proves very expensive at times. fo- there
Is danger that the machine will be burned as
well as the wheat and the straw. There Ia
danger that some Goals will be left which will
hour, after start the blaze Many losses have
occurred this season b. reason Of this care
l~essness. 1t Is expensive for both employers
and employed.
Tom Brennan. with the Harper outfit. made
q record for himself. He was n new recruit
TO the harvest throng Of the plains. and had
rom from some engineering school In Chic ago
TO earn enough to make his way through the
course the next year. He hired out to Harper
with the remark. IF I can't do the work YOU
needn't pay me anything, / think | know
what I am about"
SO Harper hired him, and when the machine
started Brennan won the boss heart by smash
ING through a wire fence that an ornery farmer
had stretched across the road to prevent the
engine from crossing n convenient prairie.
When the threshing had been going on n week
II was recognized that Brennan did understand