Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-09-18
DlMINUTlvE THREsHiNG
OUTFIT APPEARS TO
GET GREAT RESULTS
Special to Times Republican.

hall this season bought new thresh-
ing machine for use on his farm,
little bit of a 1886 that he runs with
a. 1e-24 tractor. Sort Of a boys size
outfit all round. Such an affair with
its two-man management. five grain
ha(llers, one on the straw and one man
to haul grain away from the machine
appears rather insignificant when COM
pared with the twenty-ma outfits to
which we have been for years accus-
toned. But following are some fig
ures that seem to justify the reversal
of the commonly accepted theory OF
the order Of progress,
That little machine with its abbre-
waited crew can thresh out from l,5oo
to 1900 bushels of grain per day. The
oil required to thresh fifty acre field
cost $3.50 or about Is cents per hum
dred bushels of grain. Coal for larger
steam outfit is said to cost from 60 to
rs cents A few years ago a local
farmer kept track Of the distance he
travelled to and from his work III
Changing threshing" with his neigh
bors. 1t footed up a total of sixty
miles-not great distance for an
automobile but a long way with team
and rack. Assembling the help re-
uuired with large outfit is no small
lob in these days Of scarce labor. with
a small outfit like this the matter Is
simple one. With the big outfit there
is not much Of the time that every man
is at work. With the smaller one II
is different. Delays will occur around
the threshing machine: there is a big
difference in loss Of time when large
and small crews are compared. In
the matter of capital involved the ad-
vantage of course, Is very greatly IN
favor Of the small outfit. Commenting
on the small thresher the Wisconsin
Agriculturist in an interesting article
says:
, I'VE stand ready to prove the state
ment that today there are more COM
petent, all around mechanics on the
farms than there are in the machine
shops. These boys are not so finely
trained as some Of the specialists
They may not be able to set valves
or finish lathe work so nicely but
they can do thousand repair jobs
to farm machinery that only an all
round mechanic can do. They can
operate engines and threshers and
feed mills and other machines now
found on the farms in a way that would
cause city boys to open their eyes.
1--WE, know farm boys who are ensi-
'neers. threshermen. binder experts,
feed mill operators, and good many
other kinds Of machine operators, In
GLIDING auto drivers, all under one
hat. Each one Of these bright fellows
is a good farm manager as we'll. and
there is more than one who can run
a typewriter and play the piano as
we'll, We are proud Of such men.
Unto the hands Of such young farm
ers as these the work Of threshins
grain is passing. Slowly but surely
the farm power plant is increasing in
horsepower units, until now there are
many farms with engines OF ample
power to run the thresher. On hun
dreds Of farms the tractor engine is
the source Of belt power. 1t is only
natural, then, that home threshins
crowns the work Of the season.
I'm the old days. many a form boy
had as the height OF his ambition the
operation of a threshing rig. Today,
this bent for mechanics Gamble salts
fled we'll without the rather doubtful
venture Of buying large outfit
which we have known to mean the
mortgaging and loss Of the home
farm.
This is not an argument against
the threshing machine OF large capa-
city. The machines are necessary
out in the sections where grain areas
are large. But there Is small profit
in the large machine where threshing
Jobs are only half day stands"
Another Ellsworth farmer, Axel
Void to be specific. has possessed him
self Of a farm yard equipment which
is new to this part Of the country at
least. It Is contrivance to facilitate
the work Of loading manure on a
spreader and as suoh Is an unqualified
success There are three principal
parts to the outfit, viz: a large shallow
box with a sheet metal bottom and
open ends. a strong steel framework
equipped with cable and pulleys and
sort OF scraper like an old-tashioned
road scraper but with four heavy
meta! teeth instead Of solid bottom.
The spreader Is driven alongside the
framework, an extra team is hitched
to the scraper and the manure Is
scraped into the pan, three trips
filling it full Then the clevis connect
ing scraper and doubletree and which
has a hook attachment similar to that
used in chain work involving the hand
ling Of logs and timbcrs, Is detached
and hooked to cable running from
This operation elevates the loaded pan
and dumps it's contents into the
spreader, the scraping, loading and ell
evating requiring little longer time
than Is necessary in writing about how
it Is done. Not a particle of fork work
required to empty barn yard Of all
the winter accumulations and scatter
it evenly over the fields where next
years crops are to be raised. Farming
Is not done these days like it was forty
years ago. not even the once disagree
able job Of hauling manure-but 1t
takes money now to get together tho
complete working outfit.
A successful local farmer, comment
ing on the enormous waste of farm
machinery thru neglect of housing ad-
vanced what looks like a good idea In
the way Of preventing by cheap and
simple means the too often early de-
struction OF the farmers machinery.
In late fall he goes over his imple-
ments and machines with a brush and
crude oil. For only few cents expense
ba ron rnof tho evposed nurts Of a