HARVESTING 93 



The greatest width machine that was ever put out was an 

 experimental one of 52 feet. It was built lay a farmer, and 

 was not a success on account of its construction. While suc- 

 cessful machines with a width of 40 and 42 feet have been 

 turned out, there are two standard large size machines, both 

 smaller. One cuts a width of 25 feet, while the other consists 

 of a 22-foot header with a 12-foot extension, making 34 feet in 

 all. The machines of a greater width-can scarcely be considered 

 as a single machine. They consist of a regular cut of about 

 16 feet, with an addition of about 12 feet, making 28 feet for 

 the machine proper. Then an independent header pushed by 

 horses delivers to the outer canvas, thus making the 42 feet. 

 Such an outfit is used only in the very lightest crop, and its 

 exceptional cut is of advantage, not only in covering more 

 ground, but also in keeping the thresher and cleaner sufficiently 

 supplied with grain to insure the best work. The manufac- 

 turers claim that "the steam harvester can handle grain in al- 

 most any condition, whether it is standing, lodged, tangled or 

 overgrown with weeds." 



A Complete Outfit for thus harvesting grain consists of trac- 

 tion engine, auxiliary engine, thresher, header, water-tank 

 wagon and cook-house. The average price of such an outfit is 

 about $7,500. The great expense and capacity of these ma- 

 chines make them suitable only for the larger farms, those 

 containing from 3,000 to 20,000 acres of land. The steam com- 

 bined harvester was put on the market in a commercial way in 

 1892. The average life of the machine is from 8 to 15 years. 

 The great advantages of this machine are economy in time and 

 power on account of combining so many operations in one, the 

 rapidity with which grain may be marketed after it is ripe, the 

 small amount of human labor required, the diminution of risk 

 from fire, and the waste of grain which is avoided. 



It is a Pacific coast production and its sale is at present con- 

 fined almost exclusively to that section of the world. It is the 

 typical machine of the ' ' Inland Empire, ' ' a name applied to all 

 of the Pacific northwest east of the Cascades and Sierras. At 

 least two-thirds of the wheat of California is reaped with the 

 combined harvester. It is a novel, interesting and picturesque 

 valley scene to see this ponderous harvester sweeping through 

 miles upon miles of ripened wheat, devouring swaths from 16 to 



