200 THE WHEAT INDUSTRY 



are apt to lose sight of the fact that hundreds of 

 attempts to solve this problem were made before 

 success came. 



We have seen that the credit for working out the 

 foundation principles of harvesting machinery 

 belongs to English inventors. American genius, 

 however, improved and perfected the machines 

 and thus made them practical. The English 

 originated the idea, but the Americans brought 

 about the real development of harvesting 

 machinery. American harvesting machines are 

 the most nearly perfect in the world and are being 

 used in all wheat countries. 



Threshing the Grain. - - In threshing, no doubt, 

 the first grain was shelled out by hand. There 

 are, however, records of many other primitive 

 ways of securing the wheat. Probably one of the 

 first was to pound the grain out with the sticks 

 or to beat the sheaf upon the ground. As produc- 

 tion increased, these methods became too tedious. 

 The ancient Egyptians spread the loosened sheaves 

 on a circular inclosure of hard ground from fifty 

 to one hundred feet in diameter and drove animals 

 round and round over it so as to tread out the 

 grain. This inclosure was usually an elevated 

 piece of ground so that the wind could be utilized 

 in clearing away the chaff. Since such a method 

 was injurious to the grain, the threshing sledge 

 gradually took the place of treading. This device 



