HARVESTING WHEAT I07 



rhey are manufactured in a number of styles, but in theii 

 essential features they are nearly all practically identical. It 

 differs from the reaper in having a reel to bring the grain 

 against the cutter bar and deposit it on the platform. This 

 reel is attachable at the will of the operator while the machine 

 is in motion. The cut grain is conveyed on an endless canvas 

 to an elevator consisting of t^vo endless canvases which de- 

 posit the grain on the opposite side of the drive wheel, where 

 it is packed into a trim bundle and automatically bound with 

 tsvine. The binding device operates as often as the pressure of 

 the increasing bundle trips it The size of the bundle is there- 

 fore determined by regulating the pressure required to trip 

 the binder. Binders are made which cut different widths, the 

 standard width 

 being six feet. 

 Three horses are 

 used with the six- 

 foot cut, and an 

 ordinary day's 

 work is from ten ^u u ^ 



The header. 



to tr^enty acres, 



depending upon many factors, the most important of which 



are the yield and the condition of the straw. 



165. The Header. — The header and the combined han-ester 

 can be used only where the climate is such as to permit har- 

 vesting the wheat after it is fully ripe and thoroughly dry, and 

 hence are in use only in the western half of the United States. 

 Instead of cutting the wheat near the ground, they merely head 

 it, leaving the bulk of the straw standing in the field. The 

 header conveys the headed grain to the side of the machine 

 and elevates it so that it is deposited in a wagon driven along- 

 side to receive it The grain is either immediately carried to 

 a threshing machine or first put in stacks and subsequently 

 threshed. 



