42 



INDUSTRY 



WHEAT HARVESTING. 



|. F. STEWARD. 



CHAPTER I. 



WE HAVE been told, "Ye cannot 

 live by bread alone," which is no doubt 

 true, but aside from the use of animal 

 flesh as food, bread in some form has 

 played the greatest part in sustaining 

 mankind. 



There have been found, on every con- 

 tinent and every island of the globe, rude 

 stone implements that tell, by form only, 

 of their possible use. We read the story 

 of pre-historic relics largely by compari- 

 son with modern things, and hence judge 

 that the crescent-shaped flint implements, 

 serrated upon their inner edge, to be 

 seen in the British Museum and else- 

 where, may have been used by the sav- 

 ages as reaping hooks. 



The natural habitat of wheat must 

 necessarily remain a matter of dispute, 

 for history cannot tell us of the time 

 when the wild grain 'began to be culti- 

 vated by the savages, whose traditions 

 are silent, nor when it was introduced 

 into the various countries. 



The first harvest scenes depicted are 

 found upon the stones of ancient Egvpt, 

 representing slaves with reaping hooks, 

 at their tasks, scenes cut there before the 

 time of Moses — long before the exodus. 

 In the ruins of Egypt bronze reaping 

 hooks have been found, differing little 

 from those now used for trimmiing lawn 

 nooks. In the sediment of Lake Neu- 

 chatel, in Switzerland, where have been 

 discovered the remains of an ancient and 

 forgotten people, whom we name merely 

 "the Lake Dwellers," wheat and other 

 grains have been found, and also reap- 

 ing hooks of bronze ; and from the bogs 

 of the Scandinavian countries, where, in 

 conformity with religious rites, were 

 thrown prized articles, upon the death of 

 their owners, sickles have been taken. 



From the time of bronze in Egypt, to 

 the centuries following the dark ages, the 

 reaping hook was probably the only im- 

 plement used in the harvest. 



When comes the beginning of the end 

 of barbarism in a nation, then industrial 

 progress germinates, and in proportion 

 as barbarism has decreased, the efforts 

 for improvements in methods adapted to 

 reduce human labor have been success- 

 ful. The cloud that cast its shadow over 

 Europe during the so-called dark ages, 

 practically suppressed all efforts, and it 

 is only since then that the energies di- 

 rected to mechanical progress have had a 

 fair field. 



Following the reaping hook, not many 

 centuries ago, came the scythe for mow- 

 ing hay. It was but an enlarged reaping 

 hook, so planned as to call into action 

 the entire physical system, however, in- 

 stead of the mere right arm, and with it 

 a man was able to lay in swath many 

 times more grass than had been accom- 

 plished by any previous implement. In 

 America at the beginning of this cen- 

 tury, the scythe had been modified so as 

 to adapt it to the cutting of grain, and 

 with it the straw was laid in a neat swath 

 by the man who swung it, ready to be 

 raked and bound by another. This, how- 

 ever, was nothing more than an imple- 

 ment. 



We read that machines were attempted 

 before the beginning of the present cen- 

 tury and are told by Pliny and others of 

 a box-like cart pushed by an ox between 

 rearwardly extending thills, and having 

 a comb at front, adapted to pull the heads 

 from the standing grain. A man walk- 

 ing beside with a hoe-like instrument 

 scraped the heads into the box. It is no 

 marvel that this implement, made by the 

 Gauls as early as A. D. i, did not come 

 into general use. 



We also read that a machine was at- 

 tempted in Hungary during the latter 

 part of the eighteenth century, and that 

 prizes were offered in England for a 

 reaping machine. It is safe for us to 

 consider, however, the efforts of Mr. 

 Gladstone, of England, who, in 1806, pro- 



