Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-20

a team without trouble. At the same time
thousands of hands have been imported
from the United States and eastern Canada.
They have received reduced fares from the
railroads and are sure of work at high
wages from now on until the grain has been
loaded upon the cars which will take It to
tine great lakes.
How One American Reaps.
Harvesting on the larger farms is pushed
from sunlight to dark, and even by twilight
and moonlight. Thousands Of bushels of
grain must be reaped within a week or so
and a little delay may ruin the crop. The
grain must be cut when it is just SO ripe,
and no ripper. If left too long 1t will hull
in the harvesting. If it becomes wet It will
lose in quality, and an untimely frost may
ruin it. Take for instance, a farm like that
of Emile J. Meilicke, which had last year
one wheat field containing 600 acres, from
which came 5000 bushels of grain worth
$4,000 and more. That farm is situated
near Dundurn in Saskatchewan, several
hundred miles north of the American boun-
dairy. 1t is owned by a Minnesota state
senator, who probably got his experience
wheat was ripe he started a dozen har-
veSterS into 1t, and worked his machines
from dayibreak to dark until every stalk
was cut. He had relays of horses, and he
instructed his men to push them to their
utmost. There was no stopping for resting
at the end of the field, but every four hours
fresh teams We're put into the harvesters
and the work went on, the machines fol-
ting down scores of acres at one swath.
The result was that the wheat was all har-
vested in time, and it brought excellent
prices.
Among the Threshers.
I have seen considerable threshing dur
ing my trip through Canada. The work Is
done by steam. and in riding through the
coll
sight of the smoke and the noise of the
threshing machine.
The business Is interesting. Let US visit
a farm and see how 1t is done. The field
which we enter contains a thousand acres.
II is spotted with wheat shocks, or stocks,
as they are called here. Each stock con-
sistS of half dozen or more sheaves, stood
upon end, with others on top SO arranged
as 10 shed the rain. In this form the stocks
are thrown on the wagon, to be carried
direct TO the thresher. There are a half
dozen teams moving over the field gathering
them up. Men stand on the wagons piling
the sheayes. AS soon as a wagon is loaded
it is driven to the thresher. There are two
there all the time. and the sheaves stream
continuously into the threshers from sun
rise to sunset.
At the same time there is a little river of
grain flowing out. II comes from the
thresher through a tin pipe which has a
flexible end of canvas. This end Is placed
III the wagon DON ana the wheat Is not
handled by man from the time it leaves the
straw until it reaches the ear Wagon after
wagon comes to the thresher and Is filed
with wheat, its driver carrying it on to the
elevator or up TO the platforms, which are
provided at the stations, from where It may
be shOveled into the cars.
The Travelling Threshers.
The work here, as ON most of the Cana
dian farms, is done by contract threshers.
Few farmers own such machines.
but there are contractors who go from farm
to farm carrying gangs of men with them.
They thresh the wheat at so much per
hushel. They have threshing machines,
many of which come from the United
States. and American traction engines by
which they move their outfit from one farm
to another Every thresher carries with
MIN little caboose npon wheels, which
constitutes the cooking and eating places
of the men. There is also a water tank
wagon in which the water for the engine Is
carried. The ordinary threshing outfit re-
quires a force of about eighteen men who
are hired for the season at wages OF about
$3.50 day, including board. The food is
supplied by the thresher, and all that the
farmers need do is to furnish the wagons
to carry away the grain.
Marketing the Wheat.
In the eastern part of the United States
the wheat is often stored in granaries, and
prise is just right, when they haul 1t to the
station and ship 1t. In the new Canada
there are practically no barns or granaries
The wheat goes direct from the threshers
10 the elevators, or 1t Is sent TO the cars
and shipped to the storage elevators upon
the great lakes. Throughout the wheat re-
sion there are now more than a thousand
elevators. There are several at every sta
ton; they stand out on the landscape,
marking the value OF the wheat districts
surrounding. There are 300 different sta
tons which have such granaries and al
together they have a storage capacity of
30 000. 600 bushels. This IS outside the great
elevators at Fort William and Port Arthur
at the head OF Lake SUPERIOR which will
hold something Ike 2o.o0e,oeU bushels more
The Canadian Elevator System.
These elevators are largely owned by
companies which buy, ship and store
wheat. One company viii own thirty or
forty elevators located at different points.
and its agents will make summer and win