644 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



confines of the United States he has taken 

 a hop, skip, and jump, and is now in Cuba. 

 Where will he wander next? 



On the occasion when I photographed the 

 Rambler on the fly, as he was humped over 

 on the bicycle, our little company was g-o- 

 ing out half a mile or so from Reedley to 

 see a combined reaper, harvester, and 

 thrasher at work in one of the enormous 

 wheat-fields in the vicinit3'; for it should 

 be understood that the fields in California 

 and other portions of the great West are 

 not measured by the five and ten acres, but 

 by quarter - sections, half - sections, and 

 whole sections. A whole section represents 

 a square mile, or 640 acres, so that you can 

 get an idea of the size of some of these enor- 

 mous wheat-fields. But if j^ou can imagine 

 four or five of such fields put together you 

 can form some idea of the immense acreage 

 of wheat that is grown. Obviously the 

 sickle, the cradle, or even the combined 

 mowers and reapers of the East, would be 

 too small to handle such vast areas of gold- 

 en grain. New conditions demand larger 

 and more elaborate machinery. 



When our little company reached the 

 field we saw a procession of thirty mules. 

 This was followed by the combined reaper, 

 harvester, and thrasher, all in one ; and 

 (would you believe it?) it was cutting a 

 swath about 20 feet wide, and it would cut, 

 thrash, and sack 40 acres in one day, or 

 what would be the equivalent of 1500 bush- 

 els of sacked wheat. Four men handle the 

 whole outfit, and as this machine goes up 





"oh! no, you don't. 



"now you think you have done it." 



and down the field the great sacks of wheat 

 are tumbled oft' in the rear. As there is no 

 liability of rain, the grain is allowed to lie 

 in the field until it is all cut, and then it is 

 gathered up in wagons. It would take four 

 or five hours for the machine to go around 

 the field and come back to the starting- 

 point, and therefore we had to plan our vis- 

 it so as to catch it near the roadway where 

 we were located. As it came nearer and 

 nearer with its whirr of complicated ma- 

 chinery the Rambler and I stationed our- 

 selves in position to get snap shots. It be- 

 ing a little late in the day I did not succeed 

 in getting such a picture as I wished; but 

 the reader will get some idea of the enor- 

 mous size of the outfit from the picture I am 

 able to present from one of mj' photos. 



In some cases a traction engine is used 

 for pulling the outfit; but mules are prefer- 

 red in some places to the engine, because 

 the soil is too soft to support the great 

 weight of it. It was possibly so in this 

 case. 



Now, dear reader, please stop and think 

 a minute. A field of wheat in the East is 

 usually not larger than ten acres; many of 

 them are only five acres in size, and even 

 less. How in the world farmers on this 

 side of the Mississippi can compete with 

 such extensive agriculture as this (and I 

 am told it was a fair sample of what can 

 be done in many places in the West) is be- 

 yond my comprehension. Were it not for 



