Threshing 



morning. We found it at a farm where some 

 of the grain had been stacked. For this work, 

 of course, the stook teams were not needed, but 

 as several of the gang had not returned after 

 going to their homes on Saturday, Jerry was 

 glad of our help, and we were soon on a stack 

 pitching the sheaves on to the separator to have 

 their bands cut and be fed into the cylinder. 



For such threshing the price per bushel is of 

 course much less, as so much work has already 

 been done, but it may easily be from four to six 

 cents, according to the crop, and as large fields 

 are often grown by a single homesteader, it is 

 beyond his power to stack it. 



Then came the threshing of a field of oats from 

 the shock, which yielded fairly well and were 

 not so much damaged as the wheat, as the yield 

 was about eighty bushels to the acre. They 

 fall from the separator so fast that the men at 

 the spouts with bags and wagons have some 

 difficulty in keeping pace with the flow. Thus 

 threshing of various kinds continued for about 

 two weeks under more or less difficulty and dis- 

 couragement. 



One or other of us visited my homestead on 

 several occasions to see that Nancy had water, 

 as the sloughs were now becoming thickly covered 

 with ice. 



I4X 



