HARVESTERS FOR DRY-FARMING 321 



soil. Besides, there is an ease in handling the header 

 which is not linown with the harvester. There are 

 times when the header leads to some waste as, for 

 instance, when the wheat is very low and heads are 

 missed as the machine passes over the ground. In 

 many sections of the dry-farm territory the climatic 

 conditions are such that the wheat cures perfectly 

 while still standing. In such places the combined 

 harvester and thresher is used. The header cuts off 

 the heads of the grain, which are passed up into the 

 thresher, and bags filled with threshed grain are 

 dropped along the path of the machine, while the 

 straw is scattered over the ground. Wherever such a 

 machine can be used, it has been found to be econom- 

 ical and satisfactory. Of recent years corn stalks 

 have been used to better advantage than in the past, 

 for not far from one half of the feeding value of the 

 corn crop is in the stalks, which up to a few years ago 

 were very largely wasted. Corn harvesters are like- 

 wise on the market and are quite generally used. It 

 was manifestly impossible on large places to harvest 

 corn by hand and large corn harvesters have, there- 

 fore, been made for this purpose. (See Figs. 50, 51 

 and 53.) 



Steam and other motiroe power 



Recently numerous persons have suggested that the 

 expense of running a dry-farm could be materially re- 

 duced by using some motive power other than horses. 



