18 BULLETIN 1230, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
acres an hour. These were the best cuts encountered, and only 
about one header out of five was found accomplishing 30 acres a day. 
On the average, the headers on the farms visited were averaging about 
25 acres a day when using two barges. 
The combines observed in operation were cutting from 20 to 30 
acres a day. A Kansas investigation found an average of 26.3 
acres and that “the acreage cut per day was rather uniform, with 
-the exception of a slightly larger acreage cut in the western counties, 
where the machine could be started earlier in the morning. The 
amount of straw and yield of wheat did not seem to influence very 
greatly the number of acres which could be cut in one day.’’”7 
A machine on a farm visited in Oklahoma harvested and threshed 
250 acres of wheat in 10 days; one in Pawnee County, Kans., 30 acres 
a day, and another accomplished 20 acres. A combine in Sheridan 
County, Kans., was handling 20 to 25 acres a day. 
These combines had crews of three to five men, depending in part 
upon the distance the grain was hauled and the type of combine. 
For instance, the crew of a combine in Sheridan County consisted of a 
tractor driver, combine driver, and combine oiler, (all of them 
members of the farmer’s family), and two grain wagon drivers, one of 
whom was a boy visiting at the farmer’s home. ‘Therefore but one 
man was hired for this crew. Another combine, a small one drawn 
by six horses, required a teamster, combine operator (farmer) and 
two grain haulers, one of whom was the farmer’s son and the other a 
poe ebers boy. 
he daily cut of binders varied more than the daily cut of headers. 
It was also smaller. The farms using binders averaged a cut of 15 
acres per day; the headers 25 acres per day. Binders were found 
cutting from 9 to 18 acres per day, with the majority cutting from 
10 to 16 acres. In rare cases the binder cut ranged as high as 18 to 
. 22 acres or fell as low as 7 to 8 acres. This variation has many 
causes. Hilly land can not be cut as rapidly as level land. A wet 
soft field where the feet of the horses and the wheels of the- binder 
sink into the mud may reduce the day’s cutting to a low point. The 
binders themselves are of different sizes and cut swaths of varying 
widths. Sometimes two or more are hitched to a tractor. This may 
reduce the cut by each binder but may save enough labor and power 
cost to more than compensate for a more rapid cut by another method. 
When binders are pulled by horses, a strong, rapidly walking team, 
Saeed if four to six horses are used, will increase the cut materially. 
ore important, many farmers both in header and binder territory 
change horses at noon. With a fresh team of horses in the afternoon 
the day’s cut is materially increased. Horses wear out more rapidly 
than men, and tired horses reduce the day’s work of the crew. The 
cut of some machines is reduced by frequent breakdowns, while 
others, in better condition or in the hands of a better mechanic, have 
but few interruptions. Grain that is lodged can not be cut as rapidly 
as upstanding grain. The number of hours worked per day also 
directly affects the size of the cut. 
The binder method of harvesting produces a more elastic demand 
for labor than the header or combine methods. The header calls 
7 Results of an investigation of the efficiency of the combine method of harvesting and threshing, by 
H. B. Walker, agricultural engineer, and E. L. Rhodes, farm management demonstrator, are published 
in ‘‘ Wheatin Kansas,’”’ Report, Sept. 1920, Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Topeka, Kansas, pp. 273- 
281. Cf.also pp. 149-151 of the same report. 
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