Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-05-28

acre In the eastern states il costs fully
double this amount to thresh tho crop
alone. while tho harvesting operation rep
resents perhaps rs much more.
The modern civilization ci the world is
practically built upon the sowing and har-
vesting machinery. without these implo-
ments it would be impossible TO furnish the
hundreds of millions OF urban residents
with the food they require. SO great is
the demand for such machinery that
completed harvester is turned out for every
two minutes of every year. II is estimated
that the American people require ccven
bushels of wheat to the person, out OF
which they mako $40 loavcs OF bread each
year. one begins TO realize how, under
the reign OF the farm machine. bread has
been made cheap when he considers that
the average man gets thirty ioaves of
bread for a days wage and spends the
price Of thirty loaves for n theater ticket
and the price OF three loaves for a shave.
The romance OF the introduction of har-
vesting machinery is one Of the most at
tractive in the entire history Of man. No
| sooner had Mccormick perfected his reaper
until there were many imitators, and for
years there was an intending succession OF
bitter fights in the courts. one of these
fights may be said 70 have been the cause
Of the election OF Abraham Lincoln as
president OF the United States, In the
suit against Nanny by Mccormick, Lincoln
was retained as counsel for the defendant,
and his $1,000 fec enabled him to particle
| pate in the famous debates with Douglas
which made him a figure of national po-
litical Importance.
After the days Of litigation came the
/ ~ oil nj
| petition whitley, originator of the Cham
pion, was the greatest figure in these tests.
At one time he had a competition with an
other machine and after failing to out
point his competitor with two horses he
took out the and continued with the
other. His competitor followed suit and
still held even ground. At last, whitley,
in a moment OF desperation, declared that
he could pull his machine himself He
took out the remaining horse and did ac-
tually cut swath around the plot with
the horse collar on his own neck. One of
those who reported this great field day
was Whitelaw Reid, then young news
paper writer and now ambassador to Eng
land. BY pulling his machine for ten
minutes Whiteley effected deal with
Warder and Bushnell which netted him
S2,OO0OO, or 100000 minute. After this
Whiteley shipped seventy carloads Of
machines in single shipment and the
, present president OF the Pennsylvania rail-
signment by sending them forward in one
long, flag-bedecked train
road made capital out of this great con-
| one of the most unique contests ever
5 pulled off in the introduction of harvesting
| machinery was that which took place some
years ago on farm owned by the German
7 Emperor William. The harvester agent Of
I fered to pit his machine against forty
Polish women in grain field on the en-
peror's estate. The offer was accepted
I and the race, began. From the first it ap.
3 peared that the harvester would come out
ahead. 1t was an easy winner, and today
e the American harvesting machine has Nc
;. stronger admirer than the German ruler.
For many years economists figured tina
the day must come when the number o.
bread eaters would make the demand fol
wheat greater than the worlds supply
But with the advent of the Argentine Re
d public and western Canada as great whea
e growing regions, these gloomy foreboding
have been set at rest. 1t is said that i
only one-half of the available territory II
the Argentine were sown in wheat and tn
crop therefrom should be only ten bushel
to the acre it would produce an amour
equal to one-half of the entire crop of tn
world today. In a single season north
western Canada produced over twenty-fiv
bushels TO the acre from nearly 10000
acres of ground. The largest records
yield of wheat on a thousand-acre tract
held by the state Of Washington with
production Of fifty-one bushels to the acre
The geographical origin Of wheat whic
i is by long odds the worlds greatest millln
crop, never has been determined. Evidenc
seems to point 10 Mesopotamia as tn
home OF II. II once grew wild In the val
u legs of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Tn
i botanist asserts that wheat is o membe
of the grass family, while the evolutionis
$ declares 1t to be a degenerate, q blac
!; sheep OF the lily family. He tells us the
S before 1t was developed into a seedin
5 plant by utilitarian influence II bore
J. flower akin to tho one borne by the ar
o cestors OF the Gala lily. If the next hur
It dred years shall bring about as grea
IS progress in the development of the wheG
Il crop as has been brought about in III
L last half century the world will see a
o area OF bread SO cheap that the scent los
n OF today may become the penny loaf {
IS that time.
l. BX ,FREnERIC ]. KAflRIH.
n TomorroW--Tho Riotn In China.