12 



The World's Commercial Products 



as a rule in central Europe, in Spain, and also in Algeria and in Egypt. Sometimes the cart 

 is replaced by a many-sided, heavy roller. Wheat is sometimes threshed by driving horses 

 or mules in couples, in fours, or in sixes, in gradually lessening circles, over the barn floor on which 

 the wheat has been spread. This is a very advantageous method as regards the grain, but it 

 has its disadvantages, namely, that the ears and haulms are crushed, and that the harvest is 

 soiled by the animals' excrements. 

 V^In "Gbma the seed is separated from the straw in a very peculiar manner, namely, by means 

 of large forks or combs, and subsequently spread out. on mats to be further trodden out with 

 the feet. The seed is then winnowed and sifted. The winnower is a kind of flat, two-handled 

 basket. The corn is thrown up and caught again to get out the chaff and the fragments of 

 straw. The mechanical winno wing-machine replaces both the winnower and the sieve, and 

 the seeds and other substances which are lighter than the grain are driven out by the action 

 of the fans. 



A modern development of this method is found in the. combined stripper and thresher, an 

 Australian invention which dates from about the year 1883. A prize had previously been 

 offered in South Australia for a machine which would strip, clean, and bag the corn in one 

 operation, but without success. In 1883 the Victorian Government made a similar offer, 

 and the machine to which the first place was awarded pulled or stripped the ears from the 

 standing wheat, and harvested the grain at the rate of about an acre per hour when drawn 

 by three horses. The straw is not cut at all by. this machine but left standing in the field. 

 In 1885 another somewhat similar machine was invented in Victoria, and a third has since 

 been made in Canada. These machines are in general use in Australia, and have recently 

 been introduced with considerable success into Argentina. They pass through the field, 

 stripping the heads from the stalks, the heads are threshed and the grain sifted, cleaned, and 

 passed out into bags much as in a modern threshing-machine. Special conditions are necessary 

 for these strippers to work successfully. To insure the best results, the wheat must be dry, 

 quite ripe, and free from weeds, especially from thistles. Where these conditions are realised 

 the cost of harvesting is estimated from one half to one quarter of that with a binder and 

 thresher. They are not, however, likely to supersede binders altogether, although most 

 valuable when they can be used to advantage. 



Threshing-machines consist essentially of rapidly revolving drums, provided with barbed 

 beaters, made of hard wood ; they are worked either by animals or by steam or other 

 power. The beaters strike the ears, with which the machine .is fed, with great force, the 

 revolutions of the drum sometimes amounting to 800 a minute. Two kinds of threshers 

 may be distinguished, those into which the haulms have to be put perpendicularly to the 

 axis, and those where they have to be pushed in parallel to it. These machines are continually 



being improved, and not- 

 withstanding the speed at 

 which they work, they per- 

 form their task very well. 

 They also winnow and sift 

 the grain, separating the 

 corn from the chaff, and 

 eliminating other seeds, sort, 

 grade, and bag the grain, 

 while the straw, kept 

 back by nets, glides towards 

 a binder, which automa- 

 tically gathers it into bun- 

 dles. Sometimes even an 

 threshing in india elevator with hooked chains 



