136 



ELEMENTAEY AGRICXJLTUEE 



the grain without a single touch from human hands. 

 On one side the wheat is cut, and on the other sacks 

 of wheat are dropped in piles ready for the market. 

 This machine is drawn by great teams of from 

 twenty-four to forty horses and mules, and it har- 



FiG. 75. Shocks of golden grain. 



It 



vests from thirty to forty acres of grain a day 

 requires only four men to operate it. 



Steam Harvesters. There are large combined har- 

 vesters run by steam. They harvest from seventy- 

 five to one hundred twenty-five acres a day. They 

 are used only on very large farms, from three thou- 

 sand to twenty thousand acres each. In the days 

 of the old Eomans it took four days and a half of 



