Year: 1879

by millers in the great milling States of tt
. west to use every means in their power


have the use of wire done away with IN I'll


binding of grain. The feeling against tn


means Of binding has been growing ont


and to our mind, the evil, undoubtedly


very serious one to millers; has been aggr:


waited by the want of care among man


threshers and farmers in working threshin


machines.


The Prairie Farmer long ago called al


tentlon to the disabilities that must resul


to the grain and also to the straw, when th


wire was allowed to be passed through th


thresher with the sheaves, and advised tha


the greater care be used in clearing tn


wire bands from the sheaves before feedin,


into the machines.


1t is claimed that not only does it mingl


with the straw, and 80, eaten by stock


causes serious trouble, but it enters thu


bran after being further ground by the


stones, and is highly dangerous when fec


to stock. This is, however, an az part


claim. That the wire in the wheat is Sc


rious detriment to milling, so far as the


stones and the sitting bolts are concerned,


there is no doubt yet we think that a care.


full examination will show that the wire is


more apt to be rolled or twisted up in pass.


ing between the stones and cast out than


it is to be ground fine. We think the &C


ton OF the Minnesota millers in their reso-


luton that the price of wheat be degraded


ten cents per bushel under corresponding
grade in purchase of any wheat containing


Wire, to be obnoxious in the extreme.


The damage to the grain for millers' use
could never, under any ordinary event.
amount to anything like the price stated,
and fair inference is that the Minnesota
mlliers have prescribed this acute remedy
with view to driving wire binding ma
chinery out of use. This they never will
do until the twine or other binders may be
made to work fuccessfully. 1t may indeed
act badly for the millers of the state, by
causing the best grades of wheat to be car
ried out of the State for milling, for it is an
undlsputed fact that millers are by no
means unanimous in their ideas as to wire
bound grain being a fatal objection. 1t is
simply bosh this talk about the wire bind
ing being destructive and death-dealing. 1t
Is all very well for the millers' association
| OF any State to recommend the discontinue
ance of wire binders. That it Is detrimen-
tai to the milling interest there is no doubt.
1t should be no more difficult for milling
| engineers to invent the means for taking
the small wire out of wheat left in the pro-
cess of ordinary cleaning than for inventors
to perfect the means of automatic binding
by wire.


At the late session of the Illinois Millers'
Association, the subject of wire binders was
brought up. The secretary stated that be
had been requested by the Mlllers' Associa-
ton of Minnesota to bring the question of
wire binders to the notice of this associa-
tion; that vast damage resulted to mill
= mn a ohinary from grinding wheat which had |
been bound with wire. In response to this
request he presented the following resolu-
tion:


Resotoed, That we consider the use of |
wire binders as injurious to our mill ma
chinery, and that we strongly recommend a
oiscontinuance of the wire binders in favor !,
of cord or other binders that will work NO
injury to our machinery.


+. The discussion which followed did not
seem to show that any especial amount of
terror was exhibited by Illinois millers over
the wire question. The subject was dis
cussed in somewhat earnest manner. Sew
eral members showed pieces of wire taken
from different machines, and said they had
found pieces of wire in the wheat in the
bins, in the chat, and in the -four and bread,
but they did not seem inclined to say they
would degrade wire bound wheat ten cents
per bushel. In conversation with gentle
man largely interested in wheat raising
near st. Louis, he said that the milers
about there made no difference in the price
OF wheat on account OF its having been
bound with wire.


The Wisconsin Miliers' Association, which
iately convened at Milwaukee, seem not to
have been badly scared over the wire ques-
tion. They passed resolution in relation
to Fife wheat, which may be of interest to
the farmers of that State, requesting all
millers to furnish farmers with Fife wheat,
that the quantity Of hard wheat raised may
be increased.


2 The gist of the whole matter lies in a
nutshell. Where labor is as scarce during
the harvest as it is in Minnesota and other
western States, the farmers will bind with
wire until other economical means is given
them. No one State controls the price of
wheat in the markets Of the country or of
the world. If the great wheat fields of the
west should be obliged to go back to the
old system of binding by hand, the crop
would rot in the fields and the west would
lose the supremacy as the wheat granary of
the world. There are number Of feasible
plans which might be suggested for Kidding
the wheat of wire. One is water and sub
sequens drying. This would seem, consid-
ering the relative price of wheat and high
grades Of -four, as still possible to leave
fair margin Of profit to the miller. Certain
mills have for many years not ground wheat
until washed, We adYise the millers, rath-
er than make the onerous determination of
the Minnesota millers, in regard to wire
bound wheat, to use their inventive facul-
ties in discovering some means to free the
wheat from the wire, if it will be cheaper
than wearing their stones and bolting
cloths 1t will hardly do to start scare to
the effect that wire bound wheat is injuri-
ous to, the health of the individual using the
-four. Particles of iron small enough to
pass through the bolts will not injure the
stomach. There could in no case be more
than an infinitesimal quantity. In fact, it
might act as good tonic.


In the meantime, we would earnestly ad-
wise every wheat grower, as we have here
tofore done, not TO allow the wire to pass