The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1924-09-04
N EW MACHINES
SLASH THE COST OF
WHEAT HARVEST
CHEAP MECHANICAL METHODS
OF HARVESTING ARE BEING
STUDIED BY COLLEGE
Former Outlay of 25 Cents a Bushel
Now Cut Down to 4 and 5; Exam
pie of Operation Shows Success In
South State District.

Cheaper mechanical harvesting
methods are being studied by stu
dents of agriculture as. one of the
factors to save Montana wheat
growing on a large scale as a single
crop, in the present costs crisis
which threatens to drive some
wheat areas out of production for
lack of profit.
The experts at Bozeman state col
lege experiment station, also have
been studying the problem. They
are of the opinion hat the greater
gluten content of Montana wheat
will have a tendency to keep the
state in the growing of wheat on a
large scale, but admit hal the situa-
ton is fraught with alarm for the
states agriculture.
All over the world the problem of
costs is pressing upon the wheat in
dustry with the of extinction
in spots. A great agricultural evolu-
tion is seen under way. Montana Is
vitality effected, as it is best fitted
by distance from markets, character
of it's grain and of its lands for large
scale wheat production as the back
bone of its agriculture.
The success of the Campbell farms
in the adoption of their processes to
farm machinery has shed some light
on the possible solution of the prob
lem in that way.
r. D. Sarver, nine miles west OF
Broadview, is making his ranch a
demonstration of the same solution.
Last week a party of machinery and
farming experts went out from here
to witness the operation of a combine,
one of the few in the state so far.
Use of this machine has enabled Mr..
Sarver to harvest his wheat at a
reduction in costs from rs cents a
bushel to four and five cents a bushel.
The machine which Sarver uses ar
vests 80 acres a day and threshes 1t
at the same time. 1t requires two
men to operate it
Last year Sarver harvested 500
acres of wheat, producing 1O,700
bushels. The cost was four cents a
bushel. He saved more than half of
the cost of the combine and tractor
that operated it in the reduced cost of
harvesting over that for the year be-
fore by old methods.
In addition he removed 185 bushels
of weed seed in the course of the dual
operation of cutting and threshing
the grain, the loss of just that much
in dockage at the elevator terminal
being avoided by the cleaning process
on the field. Besides he had the
weed seed and Clipped grain for live
stock and poultry feed, which gave
the dockage a potential value in it
self, instead of saddling a loss on him
Another gain will come later. His
seed will be cleaner and there will
be a reduction in the quantity of
weeds sown with the seed grain. Each
year the machine thus will operate
to keep the weeds down in his harvest
fields. So far this year Sarver has
harvested and threshed 100 acres Of
wheat, marketing 1000 bushels, or
40 bushels tt the acre. He says his
costs have been reduced Is cents a
bushel this season on the three OPP
erations. And he adds that he thinks
it is the only way to preserve wheat
growing on a profitable scale in Mon
tana.
Two other advantages enumerated
by Sarver are the fact thai the ground
is at once ready for blowing for fall
seeding when the grain has been re-
And the dispatch with which
operations are conducted by a smaller
crew of harvesters means less work
the ranch women.
The combine on the Saryer farm is
operated by A. e. Rogers, while Mr..
operates the tractor hat drags
it.
The party that studied the opera
lions of the machine vas headed by
County Agent w. P. Stapleton, now
agricultural expert for the Northern
railroad. 1t included James
Shoemaker, secretary of the CONNER
cial club, and a number of harvester
experts from here and Chi