Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-05-28
Things You Want to Know % W1.ss'; e9sp the

1t has been estimated Ivy a prominent
economist that the use of Agricultural
machines IN the harvesting Of the annual
1900. coo bushel crop Of wheat means a
saving 600 Another authority asserts
that IL the use of machinery were ellmln-
ated from the sowing and .the harvesting
Of the wheat crop I'm the United States,
1t would require the services Of half OF
the people Of the country 60 produce our
bread alone The wheat crop is the most
versatile of all cereals grown by the farmer,
both in matter OF geographical range and
Of seasons, Wheat is harvested within a
| few hundred miles OF the Arctic circle,
and also near the equator in southern
| Brazil Every month In the entire year IS
| n harvest month for this king of food
/ stuffs. In January, Australia, New Zca-
| land, Chill, and the Argentine republic
have their harvests. In February, March
aud April, Egypt, India, Persia, Mexico,
| and other countries similarly located have
their harvest season. From THAI time on to
| September, the bulk of the worlds crop
is gathered. In November, Peru and South
Africa, and in December, Burma and
New South Wales harvest their wheat.
Perhaps no more striking instance OF
the worlds progress in agriculture is at
. IOfueQ any WneTe lndu III inc case ol Il
great banana farmer Of California In the
days before the civil war, he lived on az
humble farm in Virginia, and harvested
the wheat for his father with the sickle
and the rake. Today he owns thousands
of acres, and operates a great machine
which cuts hundreds of acres of wheat II
single day. threshes it, bags it, ant
weighs it, with never the interposition OF
a human hand, Where once he sowed tn,
grain broadcast from a sack slung across
his shoulders, he now operates a grea
machine which plows harrows and sow
many acres every hour. Thus in his singh
life, is represented more human progress
than in all the hundreds OF generation
gone before, 1t was not a, great step from
the days when Ruth CLEANED after tn
reapers in the fields of Boaz to tn day
when this California farmer handled hi
sickle on the hillsides of a Virginia farm
The harvest season for thousands o
years represented the climax in the twelv
months of labor. Its ending was the oc
casion for general rejoicing, and for un
usual toll. While the devout might max
the harvest home season a time of thank
} fulness to the Giver of all good for tn
bounty they had received, as is done eve
to this day in many OF the eastern states
u yet, for the great mass Of harvest work
ers, 1t was more a season OF rejoicing tina
the days Of strenuous work were past
Q In England, a harvest home processio
v always was in order at the close of tn
season, and the piper and the tabor pre-
,, coded the last sbeaf on the hop car
Z marching along iu triumph and Joy tina
the easy days had come once more. Eve
the famous Roman Saturnalia which ma
become a symbol of wild indulgence an
n AaN fAE
tival. Today practically all the druger
:, of harvest time has passed and with
the great festivals are almost forgotten.
y The first recorded attempt at the elimint
| ton OF manual labor from the work
= the harvest field, is recorded by Pliny 9
/. having taken place about the dawn OF III
n Christian era. 1t seems TO have been I'll
a forerunner of the modern wheat heade
IL was a cart with a sort Of comb an
= knife combination at the front. A bull wa
hitched to 1t in true cart before the horse
n fashion. 1t did not prove satisfactory,
the knife was stationary. From that tin
on until the star of invention rose
NJ. the mind of Robert Mccormick, there wei
frequent attempts to eliminate the labC
= involved in the harvesting, but with I
genuine success
II The present harvest season will be
"A | notable one because 1t Will marx lne lhlT'
:, duotion OF the greatest labor saver in whef
"A harvesting since the self-binder we
70 brought out. This is an automatic shockt
II and it is asserted that 1t will shock tn
ID wheat more satisfactorily than can be dor
!" by hand. AS the sheaves come from tn
binding attachment they are placed
positlon by mechanical arms and when II
shock has been completed and the car
nut over II, 1t is set down solidly an
firmly on the ground by means of tril
ming apparatus. On large farms whei
binders are run in batteries OF from III
teen to thirty machines, this invention wi
work a veritable revolution in the harve
hand problem.
Throughout the west there always hi
been a great demand for harvest hand
SO great, in fact, that millions of bushe
of wheat hive been lost because II WI
impossible to secure enough shocker
Where headers and steam harvesters a
used this problem is not so serious, b.
il is only the very largest wheat farm
that can afford q steam harvester. One
these outfits costs approximately $500.
may have a cutter bar3from twenty-four
forty-two feet long and is driven by
engine of over 1O0-horsepower 1t requir
eight men to operate it and the cost 4
yolyed amounts to from 80 to 50 cents p