12 



fact that larsjo areas arebarvested by labor-savini? modes, and especially 

 l)y the employment of " headers," which leave most of the straw stand- 

 ing. The cost of cuttinji', curing, and stacking- luxj varies with the 

 character of the surface and rate of yield, and averaji^es $4 51 in Xew 

 England. 83 76 in the IMiddle States,' $3 22 in the Sonth, and $2 93 in 

 the West. The average cost of cutting is $1 04. The average cost of 

 husking and cribbing corn is six cents and two mills ; in the West, six 

 cents and nine mills. In the South, the prices named are nominal, the 

 "shucking" being done as an evening frolic, at the cost of refreshments 

 or a supper, or, in some cases, "supper and plenty of whisky." The 

 average cost of shelling corn is four cents and five mills. 



In the threshing of grain the ancient flail has been discarded, except 

 in a few localities and for small patches, for horse-power threshers aiul 

 separators, and to an increasing extent for steam threshers. Yet the 

 most primitive modes of threshing are reported. In Conejos County, 

 Colorado, where a threshing machine cannot be found, the custom pre- 

 vails of hauling wheat and oats to a threshing floor of earth and tread- 

 ing out the grain with horses, substantially in the mode of three thou- 

 vsand years ago. 



The threshing machines employed are operated, some by a single horse, 

 some by two horses, some by four, but oftener, in grain-growing sections, 

 by eight or ten horses. An equal or larger number of men are required 

 to run the machine and make proper disposition of the straw and grain. 

 A i^art of these are provided by the operator, and the remainder are 

 furnished by the farmer, who invaribly feeds the horses and boards the 

 men. The itineracy system is followed by the projnietor of the machine, 

 which makes a circuit of the neighborhood, and does the threshing and 

 cleaning for scores of grain-growers. While most threshing is done by 

 professional threshers, many farmers run their own machines. Unless 

 u man finds difficulty in getting the work done at the proper time, it is 

 found unprofitable to keep a machine costing hundreds of dollars idle for 

 lifty weeks in the year. 



The rate is by no means uniform, being higher in thinly settled regions, 

 with small lots of wheat or other grain, and a minimum charge is desig- 

 nated for setting the machine when the lots are too small for fair pay at 

 the bushel rate. In the principal wheat-growing districts, the rate per 

 bushel is five or six cents, and ranges to seven, eight, or ten cents. The 

 actual cost is increased by the expense of extra "hands," their board, 

 and the feed of horses. Another mode of compensation is by levying 

 a toll of a certain percentage of the crops, after the manner of millers. 

 This is sometimes one bushel in ten, and from that high rate to the 

 other extreme of one bushel in thirty-three, or from ten to three per 

 cent. 



In Maine a toll of from one-tenth to one-sixteenth is taken, and the 

 thresher usually furnishes two men and a pair of horses with the ma- 

 chine. In Hillsborough and in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, six dol- 

 lars per day is charged for a small machine with two horses and two 

 men ; in otlier counties, from eight to fourteen cents per bushel for wheat, 

 and from eight to ten for oats. In Essex and Orange, Vermont, ten 

 cents for wheat; in Bristol, eight cents; and in Addison, a toll of one- 

 fourteenth. In Massachusetts and Connecticut, where little grain is 

 grown, prices are higher — toll of one-eighth being charged in some 

 places. In Tolland County, Connecticut, eighteen cents per bushel for 

 wheat, and in Hartford County twenty-five cents. 



In the larger wheat-producing counties of New York 5 cents per bushel 

 is charged for Mheat, and 2 J to 3^ for oats ; in others, higher prices ; in 



