The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1927-06-24
Grain Combines
Reducing Costs
New Machine Materially
Lowers Expense of Cut
ting and Threshing.
prepared by the United States Depart
ment Of Agriculture.)


ment Of Agriculture.)
Harvesting costs are reduced so ma
terially by the use Of the combined
massachusetts, that this machine
Is rapidly replacing other harvesting
machinery in the Great plains east of
the Rocky mountains, according to a
study just completed by the United
States Department of Agriculture in
cooperation with the Texas, Okla
homa. Nebraska and Montana agri-
cultural colleges. The advantages of
this machine are in the lower cost of
cutting and threshing grain, reduc-
ton in labor requirements and in
shortening the harvesting and thresh-
ing periods.
East of the Rocky mountains type
of combine is in use which is con-
siderably smaller than the kind for
merly seen in California and in the
Northwest states. Most of the new
machines have a 10 or 16-foot cut,
having auxiliary engines, and are
drawn by tractors.
Reduces Amount of Labor.
Eight-foot combines harvested 275
acres Of grain on the average, and
16-foot machines averaged 6S2 acres
last season. Except where the grain
was very heavy, the yield per acre
had no appreciate effect on the rate
of cutting. The minimum crew for
15-foot or 16-foot combine is two
men, not including grain haulers.
Similar machines having a power
drive from the tractor are sometimes
operated by one man. 1t is estimated
that the combine reduces the amount
Of labor necessary for harvesting and
threshing in the Great plains from
about SO man hours per acre for cut
ting with the binder and threshing
with stationary machine to about
075 man hours per acre.
Operators of combines estimate the
life of the machine to be about eight
years. Their first cost ranges from
about $1,000 for small machines to
$4,000 for the larger sizes. Extend
ed use of the machine during the har-
vesting season is essential to a low
harvesting cost per acre. When the
farmer has only a small acreage to
cut, the investment and replacement
charges of a combine may be too high.
TO Make Combine Profitable.
In order to make the combine a
profitable harvesting implement, the
acreage to be cut must be greater
than ordinarily cut with one binder.
Harvesting with the combine, says
the department, is not cheaper than
with the binder and thresher unless
100 or more acres are available for
cutting. There must be $50 or more
acres available for cutting before
costs with the combine fall below
costs with header and stationary
thresher. This reckoning takes into
account only the direct cash expenses
ordinarily paid by the farmer, and
the necessary replacement charges
for the machines. The minimum
acreage for more economical harvest
ing depends somewhat on the size Of
combine used:
Farmers in the Great plains allow
grain to stand for five or seven days
after it is ripe enough for binding be-
fore they begin harvesting with
combine. This unavoidable delay in
creases the risk from weather and
shattering. Few farmers, however,
consider the losses from SCATTERING
or bleaching to be serious in this area.
Harvesting losses attributable to the
machine itself are generally less with
the combine than with other ma
chimes. Tests made show that prop
erly adjusted combines separate grain
as efficiently as many stationary
threshers. Losses due to heads left
on the ground in fields on which OBJ
servations were made averaged &c
per cent of the total yield for the
combine, 3.3 per cent for the header,
and 6.1 per cent for the binder. A
condensed report of the survey is con-
tanned in preliminary report which
may be obtained upon application to
the United States Department of Agri-
culture, Washington, d. G.