WHEAT IN THE UNITED STATES 255 



thresher or from the granary to the nearest rail- 

 road. One driver, by driving one team and lead- 

 ing the other, often handles two loads. Every 

 town has one or more elevators. The load is 

 driven upon a hinged platform, the rear end gate 

 drawn, the wagon tilted downward at an angle of 

 45 and the wheat dumped into a pit, from whence 

 it is elevated and discharged into railway cars. 



FIG. 109. Twenty stacks of wheat in one selling, Nebraska Loess Plains. 



In this region there is operated a complete chain 

 of wheat-producing conveniences. It will be ob- 

 served that the ground is prepared, the seed 

 planted, the harvest, threshing, and marketing 

 performed, with but very little manual labor in- 

 volved. Power (either horses, steam, or gas) 

 and machinery, under the direction of man, do 

 practically all the work. 



The yield per acre is from ten to twenty-five 

 bushels and the total production is about 38 per 



