COST OF HARVESTING WHEAT. 15 
sirable in certain sections (see Farmers Bulletin 678, “Growing 
Hard Spring Wheat.”). | 
The two more important advantages of stacking, therefore, are the 
protection from the weather and, generally, the improved quality of 
the grain. These results are likely to follow good stacking. Where the 
stacking has been poorly done there is often a different story, the 
grain being in worse condition when thrashed from the stack than 
it would have been if thrashed after a reasonable time in the shock. 
HEADERS. 
Thousands of acres of wheat are harvested annually by means 
of the header, but this machine is, for the most part, an auxiliary of 
the binder for reasons mentioned below. Although usually there 
is a slight saving in harvesting with the header compared with the 
binder, in most sections there are some seasons when it is imprac- 
ticable to run the header, so that it is very common to have binders 
on farms where headers are used. (See Pl. L., fig. 2.) 
The principal advantages of the header, in addition to its economy 
under certain conditions, are that it eliminates considerable hand 
labor, covers more ground per day, saves the cost of twine, expedites 
thrashing because of the smaller amount of straw handled, and will ~ 
harvest short grain that could not be cut and bound with a binder. 
In certain sections headers are kept largely for the last-mentioned 
purpose, since in areas where there is little rainfall there will often be 
a fair yield of wheat on straw that is altogether too short to handle 
with a binder. In such cases the header will remove the heads and 
place them in the header wagons with practically no loss. In some 
localities it is frequently desirable to plow the stubble immediately 
after harvest, and when a field has been headed there are no shocks to 
interfere with or delay this work. 
The disadvantages of the header are several. The wheat must be ' 
allowed to ripen upon the stalk sufficiently te keep well in the stack, 
yet, when harvesting is not begun until the grain is in this condition, 
before it can be completed much of the wheat will be so ripe that con- 
siderable loss may result from shattering, especially with certain 
varieties. It seldom happens that all parts of a large field will ripen 
evenly; certain low spots where there is a surplus of moisture will 
remain green for several days after the grain around them is fit to 
cut with a header. The green heads from such spots, if harvesting is 
done with a header as soon as the remainder of the field is ready 
to cut, may cause considerable loss in the stack by reason of heating 
and molding. 
The header requires more men and horses to operate it efficiently 
than are needed for two binders, five to eight men and ten to sixteen 
horses being employed in the crews. The same number of men and 
horses using binders could cut and shock a larger acreage per day 
