Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-12-20
MERITS OF THE COMBINE,
Comparison Made With Cd Msthoo
of Harvestin

OF harvesting.
A Spokane man wrote TO the Wash.
lnpton State EXPERIMENT station staff
Pullman, recently. inquiring relative tc
the growing and rul ting OF wheat, the
and -four making content of the berr,
as affected by coil, climate and method,
OF cutting. Professor 4. w. Thatcher,
director OF the station, answered the
Inquiries rs follows:
i. Does the wheat lose any of the
essential elements for good -four by
standing until ripe enough to cut and
thresh at one operation.
"Wheat does not lose any of it's con.
stituents by standing unit it is thor
oughly ripe. II does, however, manu-.
facture and store up a somewhat larger
proportion of starch than if cut when
in the dough, resulting in a slightly
softer wheat with a larger proportion
Of starch and a small'r proportion OF
gluten. The difference in this respect
is rather small. however"
2. Are the berries az plump when
cut by combined machine as wher
the grain is harvested by binder OF
header, and threshed after standing ir
the shock, OF havin. b, Ell stackedf
We are informed lh't the wheat buyer,
and milles make IA difference between
grain harvested with he combined ma.
thine and that cut with the binder OF
header.
"The berries are plumper than when
,ut by the binder and left standing il
the shock, for the same reason; that is
greatr production OF starch fills tn,
berries plumper "
3. Do the berries lost their colo
when left growing until ripe enough t.
cut with combir ell machine2
'The color of the berry is o chang
ed materially unit after Il le grain il
dead ripe. after winch it mny be bleach
cd out to varying extent, depending
upon the leng,h Of time and the eli
matte condition."
4. Is all the wheat in one sack of ar
sven grade when harvested with the
comb ned machine?
"The wheat in single sack Of grair
harvested by combined machine is moi
necessarily of an even grade. Since tn,
machine is run up or down hill, it may
cut and run into the sack wheat growinl
under quite different conditions. This
however, is equally true of any other
method OF harvesting. 1t is wei
known that grain flom the top of ella.
point il different from that of nortl
hill slope, and both of these are differ
snt from that Of a south hill slope, O
upon fiat. do not think any meth
od of harvesting will secure absolutel
the uniformity you suggest"
8. Is there more wheat lost durin
the operation of the conbined machin
than through harvesting and threshin
by the old method? II so, how much
1--WE have no information which
would make it possible for us to stat
definitely whether there is more or les
wheat lost during the operation of
sombined machine, than by harvestin
and threshing by the old method. W.
are aware of the objection that has beel
raised in California to the use of a com
bined machine, but do not think it is
great objection, as has been stated.
"There is no question but that tn
grain cut with a combined machine
slightly lower in proportion Of glutel
which it will show. The yield per acr
Is certainly little later, if the grain /
allowed to become ripe. am person
ally of the opinion that the most seri
ous objection to the com mbined machin
is in the distribution over the field O
the threshed out weed seeds"