74 WHEAT 



iorate in quality in the field. It is sometimes dam- 

 aged by sand storms. The club or square head 

 wheat is the type generally grown, and its 

 short straw and tight glumes prevent lodging 

 and shattering. On the great wheat fields of 

 California and Oregon the "combine" is used, 

 which harvests and threshes the wheat at a single 

 operation, the grain being sacked and left in long 

 trains in the field or later placed in large piles, 

 from which it is hauled and loaded directly onto the 

 cars for shipping. The relative harvesting capa- 

 city of the different machines and methods may 

 be compared as follows: 



Width of Swath Harvesting Capacity 

 Machine in Feet per Day in Acres 



Binder 5 to 8 10 to 20 



Header 8 to 14 20 to 30 



Horse combine. .. 16 to 20 25 to 45 



Steam combine. . . 24 to 42 . . . . 75 to 125 



The average price of a steam "combine" outfit 

 is $7,500.00. They are used almost exclusively 

 on the Pacific coast, and only on the larger farms 

 containing from 3,000 to 20,000 acres of land. 

 The horse "combine" is most advantageously 

 used on the smaller farms having less than 3,000 

 acres. 



BEST STATE OF MATURITY TO HARVEST 



Wheat makes the largest yield and best quality 

 of grain if harvested with the binder when it is 

 just about fully ripe when the straw has mostly 

 turned yellow and the grains are quite hard or 

 in the hard dough stage. Wheat cut immature 



