The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-10-19

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hill close to the roots. Held in the
shock former the stalks are wrapped
into compact bundles ready to be car
rled to the barn or stacked amid the
hills. When it is time TO separate
the ears from the husk the farmer
does not call in his neighbor. One of
the hands pitches the stalks and ears
into machine that strips every piece
OF covering from the ears and piles
them into the wagon or on the ground.
Then it takes the husks and blows
them through pipe into the barn
loft to be stored for fodder. Here
again a steam engine having the
power of two or three horses will do
as much in day as forty or more
human huskers, and the only wages
are water, oil and fuel.
The "husking bee" has gone like
the man with the hoe, and even the
haymaker is rapidly becoming q mem
ory. We are ali familiar with the
horse rake which gathers the hay into
long swaths. At last apparatus has
been designed that gathers up the
swath as it moves along, raises it to
the top of wagon, where the man
with the pitchfork adjusts the load.
AS the vehicle moves forward it is
filled by this hay elevator attached to
it's rear and the hay adjusted, ready
to be hauled to the market without
another touch.
The grain field at harvest time pre-
sents an animated scene, especially
when the wheat is thrashed on the
spot where it is grown. The old-time
thrasher with it's horses in the tread
mill was considered little short
Of marvellous, but it was long since
discarded for the one driven by the
traction engine which hauled it from
place to place, and now the visitor to
a California wheat field can see the
climax Of the agricultural engineer s
effort-a mechanical giant, which, as
it passes through the mass Of waving
stalks, cuts them, separates the ker-
nels from the sheaf and binds the
straw. Actually the only manual
labor performed with the wheat itself
IS to remove the bags of grain as fest
IS the machine fills them, and to load
the straw bundles on the wagon to be
hauled away, yet the cutting, raking,
binding and thrashing are continually
being done from the time the man at
the lever starts his motor until he
stops it. In fact, steam power is
utilized in Pacific coast farming more
extensively than elsewhere liz the
world. Tractors representing the
power Of fifty horses are substituted
fos animals in pioughing field, max
! ing series Of burrows twenty feet
| wide and dragging from twelve to
twenty ploughs after them. When
the earth is ready for narrowing, they
are attached to harrows fifty feet wide
specially built for them. The steam
harvester is in common use. With it
$50 acres Of grain can be cut, thrash
ed and sacked in twelve hours, for it
mows ssntch twenty-five feet wide.
The tractor draws its ploughs over
fifty to sixty acres in q day, according
to the character Of the soil.
When one stops to consider what
these figures mean he can get some
conception Of how machinery is aid.
ing in the revolution We have referred
to. The invention Of it has been
stimulated by the demand for labor
aud time saving appliances, but this
demand has originated from che desire
Of the agrioultuTist TO apply methodi-
cal ideas, as in other channels Of
human activity. AS he has studied
his vocation he has realized the great
opportunities Of which he can take
advantage If he has adequate faoili-
ties. If a man believes, he can make
Q thousand or Rve thousand dollars
more By adding TO his acreage he is
strongly tempted 20 make che addi-
tion especially when modern method
will give him the desired results with
out overwork. This is the secret Of
the expansion Of many Of the Western
farms to their present size. Not ell
their owners have succeeded, as in
the instance We have cited, but many
have done SO, and the stories OF the
i rural capitalists VINO direct operations
from their automobiles and drive over
their places behind tes,ls Of thorongh-
breds have more than . grain Of truth
in then, as the camera proves. But
they are Of the clsss who use their
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