Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1907-08-23
CHANGE IN THRASH|NC
What Modern Machinery Has
Done For the Farmer.
NO MORE THRASHING BEES.
Only Small Crew Now to Care Fer
the Annual Clean up-Nstural Gas Is
Burned In the Engines In Some
Cases-Rslisf For Farmers Wife.


busy crews hauling the shocked wheat
10 the machines and then hauling the
grain away to the elevator or 10 the
bin. writes COffeyyille correspondent
OF the Kansas City Star The little
cloud of smoke which used to mark
the location of the thrashing engine
over the hill can no longer he relied
upon absolutely. for In many fields ut
Coffeyville the engines are hooked up
burned instead Of coal. In thrashing
as in everything else. the last few years
have brought many changes, and the
task Of getting the grain separated
from the garnered sheaves has be-
come an easy one compared TO what
II was ten years ago.
Where thraShing used TO be consid
cred an annual event and would call
forth the combined assistance Of all
the men in the neighbOrhood il is now
little more than an ordinary everyday
AFFAIR, and the interest and enthusiasm
that used TO anticipate the coming Of
the thrashers in The rural community
have In this strictly commercial epoch
given way TO calculations on the
amount of grain per acre or the price
1t will bring when sold to the nearest
elevator
The machinery for thrashlng has
been perfected wonderfully in the past
few years. and the hands" that were
formerly summoned long in advance OF
the great thrashing day are needed no
longer The crews once consisted OF
an engineer, water hauler. two separa-
tor men, two feeders two cutters,
three weighers and three stackers
The forces have been reduced until
now the only men who accompany
the thrasher in its rounds through the
wheat belt are the engineer. water
hauler and separator man. The farm
er instead of spending day riding
over the community seeking all the
help he can get. as he used 10 do,
now calls up his nearest neighbor,
hires two or three teams and men
TO help haul away the grain aud waits
the coming of the thrasher with no
more anxiety than he does the coming
Of the rural mail carrier or some other
perfunctory event.
The thrasher these days is a self
feeding affair. and when ii has taken
the grain from the straw ii separates
the two with all the skill and thor
oughness that can lie devised. The
men with their wagons haul the shocks
TO the machine, throw In the sheaves.
and the machine does the rest. The
band cutters and the feeders who used
TO face the rapidly revolving cylinder
as they fed it with the loosened straw
are no longer in the deal at all. The
separator sends the grain TO the scales,
which dump it in thirty pound lots
into wagons, count 1t and thus calcu-
late exactly the amount thrashed.
The straw is blown out at the other
end of the machine through long
tube which revolves in a semiCircular
form, building crescent shaped stack.
mere luEtt IlOIe lutll udNt btth
pensed with. In olden days the straw
fell from moving ladder device at
the back end of the separator. Then
later the ladder was made 10 travel
in a crescent shaped circuit. but three
men had to be used TO place the straw
as ii fell from the cranelike bumper.
Now. however, there Is strong large
fan in the center of the separator
from which the wind blows the straw
through a long tube out TO the stack.
more than fiber, for the thrashins
machine of today cuts It completely
and breaks it up into a chaff. No man
could stand In front of this blower on
a stack, for the straw comes out more
like dust than as original stalks OF
wheat Some Of the farmers say that
the new method OF stacking loses them
some of their wheat by blowing 1t out
with the straw. but the thrasher men
come back at this by saying that their
machines of today thrash much cleaner
than the old ones did, and they thus
Offset any loss by stacking by getting
so much more grain out of the straw.
There has been no advance in the
price per bushel for thrashing because
the machines can do so much more
work in a day than they used to. The
charge in southern Kansas is 3 cents
q bushel for wheat and 2h cents for
oats. The thrasher men, however, have
caught the spirit of the times and are
talking of organizing and demanding
4 cents for wheat and 3 for oats. The
! capacity of the machines runs all the
way from 600 to 800 bushels of grain
n day, and at this price the men own
| Ing them can prosper. The new ma
chimes can be set up quicker than for
| merly and offer much less danger from
fire. The farmer has to furnish the
coal for the engine where no gas Is
used.
The farmers wife also profits by the
new era in thrashing. Formerly she
bore the brunt of the days work in
having 10 cook for all the thrashing
crew and the other hired men. Now
the thrashing gangs carry their own
kitchen wagons and get their own
meals out In the fields. The farmers
wife has only the usual number te
cook for. and it is safe statement to
saw that she appreciates more than
any one else this relief from the trials