446 FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRICULTURE. 



chines were devised to harvest the different kinds of 

 crops. Such crops as wheat, rice, oats, barley, rye, 

 etc., need a machine which will gather all the heads 

 of the grains and keep them separated from the straw. 

 Machinery for harvesting the grasses wherein it is im- 

 material whether the blades are kept perfectly straight 

 or from mingling together, are more simple than for 

 harvesting grains; while machinery for harvesting 

 root crops are yet a new feature. 



Sickles, or reaper hooks, were the. first implements 

 used for gathering the grains. 



Cradles. The cradle has taken the place of the 

 sickle in nearly all countries where hand machines are 

 yet used. This machine is simply a heavy scythe with 

 several fingers extending above the blade in such a 

 way that they gather the stalks of grain as they are 

 cut, and hold them together so that they may be de- 

 posited in a uniform pile on the stubble. The bun- 

 dles are then gathered together and tied in sheaths 

 by hand. Although this was a great improvement 

 over the sickle, it was not satisfactory, and inventors 

 kept working on new machinery until the self-rake 

 came into use. The self-rake cuts the grain, drops 

 it on a platform, and when a sufficient amount has been 

 cut to make a bundle, large arms or rakes come around 

 and rake the bundle off the platform and leave it on 

 the ground. At one time the dropping of the bundles 

 from the platform to the ground was accomplished 

 by a man walking behind and raking the bundles off 

 with a hand rake. It was a tiresome piece of work 

 to follow a self-rake, stoop over and gather the bun- 

 dles and tie them up; hence, a machine was devised 

 wherein two men could ride and tie the bundles as fast 

 as they were gathered. Such a machine did not sat- 

 isfy the wishes of the inventors, so after more study- 

 ing and experimenting, the self-binder was produced. 



Self-Binder. The self-binder now in use cuts the 

 grain, gathers it, ties it in bundles and deposits the 

 bundles on the ground. 



