EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 617 



a considerable saving of time in handling bundles rather than loose stalks. 

 It takes fully twice as long to unload the same quantity of corn when 

 loose as when in bundles. At farm No. 16 (Table 2) the corn was cut with 

 a harvester, but no twine was used. It is evident that the increased cost 

 of labor more than offset the saving of three or four cents per ton of 

 silage for twine. Several inventors are trying to construct a corn 

 harvester with an elevator attachment to load the corn as soon as cut 

 on a wagon driven alongside. Some of these machines give promise of 

 success. 



WAGONS. 



Until a loader has been perfected the style of wagon used in hauling 

 needs careful consideration. The rack should be as low as possible. A 

 low, solid-wheeled truck gives good satisfaction on smooth, level farms, 

 with short hauls. The draft is too heavy for other conditions. 



The rack that is quite commonly used in Wisconsin consists of two 

 4-by-6-inch bed pieces, 18 or 20 feet in length, bolted together at one end 

 to form a V. On top of these timbers is built a rack 6 feet in width. 

 The bottom of this rack is about 8 feet long. The end boards are 4 feet 

 high, built flaring so they do not quite touch the wheels. The apex of 

 the V is suspended below the front axle of an ordinary farm wagon by 

 means of a long kingbolt. The other ends are attached below the hind 

 axle by U-shaped clevises. This rack can be easily made. The materials 

 needed in its construction are 80 board feet of 4-by-6-inch plank, 96 feet 

 of boards 1 by 12 inches, 22 feet of lumber 2 by 4 inches, one long kingbolt, 

 two stirrup rods and bolts and nails. 



Hauling green corn is heavy, tiresome work, and too much attention 

 cannot be paid to details of method in order to avoid unnecessary lifting. 

 Before the advent of the corn harvester, when the corn was cut by hand 

 and hauled unbound, it was a common practice to have the cutter set 

 on a platform about 2^/^ feet above the ground. A man could pick up 

 an armful of corn on the wagon and, stepping on the platform, place 

 it on the feeding table. With the corn bound in bundles this arrange- 

 ment causes much extra labor; nevertheless many farmers still keep the 

 cutter upon the platform and lift the corn up to it when they could 

 much more easily drop it on the table if the cutter were down on the 

 ground. 



SILAGE CUTTERS. 



There are several first-class silage cutters on the market — machines 

 that will cut the corn as fast as two men can pitch it on the table. The 

 self-feeding table that is found on most of the modern cutters saves the 

 labor of at least one man. This table should be long enough to hold 

 two bundles of corn lapped at the bands. 



ELEVATORS. 



There are two types of elevators in general use. One is the old-style 

 slat, or rattle carrier, and the other is the blower, in which the cut corn 

 is forced up through a tube by means of a current of air. The chief 

 objection to the blower machine is that it takes so much power to run it. 

 While the blower requires more power to operate than does the slat 



