The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1909-10-14
the rainfall Of the early part of the sea.

son Ior use curing the Qfy spells, but
that the rainfall of one season NAV by
this means be retained and made to dc
service during a season when there is
only slight rainfall. The use of the disc
harrow before ploughing also enables the
plough to turn under soft mulch of
dirt which thereafter forms means of
capillary attraction between the turned
| furrow and the ground beneath, thus
| with these discoveries one may now see
a farmer following his reapers with disc
harrows.
The Southern negro finds that the disc
harrow, saves cheap O. hoin.'' Hitch
ing his mules to the disc harrow he pull
verizes his ground and then by adjusting
the machine he forms the ridges neces-
sary for cotton and sweet potato plant
ing. When the cotton is up he adjusts
the disc harrow so that the space be-
tween the gangs enables him to straddle
the row, whereupon he uses the machine
to cultivate. By this means he can save
the work of at least seven men with the
hoe. He goes over the ground frequent
~ with the harrow, at one time so ad-
| justed that the dirt is thrown toward the
plants, and another time away from
them. In this manner weeds are kept
out and the soil receives the most scien-
titic treatment possible. The same
| process is used in the cultivation of corn
Disc harrows of special make are used in
the vineyards of New York State and
the orange groves of California. The
disc harrow is therefore an agent by
means of which the scientific conserva-
ton of moisture, according to the stan
dards of the dry farming system, is
oftentimes perhaps unconsciously dem
onstrated in various parts of the country
When this machine was first put on the
market farmer in Iowa conducted some
experiments of his own, using the disc
harrow for every two alternate rows of
corn. He found that the corn receiving
this attention grew much taller than the
other, and the ears were sweeter and
matured ten days quicker.
IMPROVING THE REAPER.
The gradual growth and perfection of
the reaper, invented IN 1881 by Cyrus H.
Mccormick, and which was the first labor
saving machine used in the field, is we'll
known. 1t would seem as if no further
Improvement could be made in machine
which cuts the grain and delivers it into
bundles ready to be set up in shocks. Yet
late attachment has been devised by
which the bundles are tied with their
own straw instead of requiring Irvine, and
some fairly satisfactory tests have been
made with this device at one of the re-
cent State fairs. The tendency towards
motor driven machinery has naturally
suggested the operation of field machines
by independent motors wherever this is
practicable. 1t has been conceived as
feasible to operate the mechanism of the
reaper and binder with motor to be
carried on the machine, thus materially
reducing the pull for the team. A ma
chine with such a motor has been ex-
hibited. The reaper is found in the grain
fields of every grain raising country of
the world. 1t is seen in the scant Rus
sian fields, sometimes drawn by camels,
and 1T is seen behind teams of oxen in
Hungary, France, Argentine Republic
and Chile. On the Adams farm near Ode
bolt, To-, one may in the harvest season,
count no fewer than forty binders on the
grain line of large field.
The peculiar climatic conditions on the
Pacific coast make it possible there to
take threshing machines into the great
wheat fields and to reap and thresh the
grain and deliver it in bags at one op-
GRAFTON. Sometimes as many as four
teen teams each, may be seen in one of
not practicable in moist climates. The
lack of rainfall during the summer
months on the Pacific coast makes the
ground hard enough to sustain the heavy
machines, which would not be true else
where except under similar conditions.
Moreover the grain can be left standing
until very ripe and capable of being
handled to the best advantage, whereas
in a moist climate it would drop to the
ground if left too long on the stalk
When the Pacific coast grain leaves the
thresher in bags it may be stored for an
indefinite time in the open field without
danger of injury from moisture. In other
sections of the country headers are some
times employed which cut only the heads
from the standing grain, delivering them
into especially constructed wagons ready
to be threshed, or stacked for future
threshing.
NIFTY CORN PICKER.
Of the 1926, 644 900 bushels of corn
raised in 1908 the United States raised
about Is per cent. The handling of this
enormous crop is constant incentive to
improvements in corn harvesting machin-
ely. Vie Ingenious QeNlCG Is luG corn
picker, the operation of which is con-
tinuous performance in legerdermain.
This machine picks the ears from the
standing corn with deft precision, husks
and delivers them into a wagon which is
driven alongside the machine. 1t has
been successfully used in the heavy corn
raised in Illinois and in the large corn
fields Of Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and
South Dakata. Its only drawback is that
it leaves the fodder standing and scatter
ed over the field. Many farmers feed
their stock by turning them into the
fields; but it has been found that this
method does not properly utilize the fod-
der. The cattle will not eat the tough
part of the stalks, although there is much
nutriment in them. Accordingly a ma
chine has been invented which takes the
corn as delivered in shocks, husks and
delivers the ears ready for the Smelling
machine. while at the same time thorough
ly cutting and shredding the stalks, blow
ing the shredded fodder through a pipe
into the haymow or into stacks ready to
be pressed, if desired, into bales in the
power press. In the field there are ma
chimes which cut and bind the standing
corn ready for the shredder.
THE CoRN-sHREDDER.
Dave Rankin, the largest grower of
corn in the world who has sly thousand