Vol. LVII. No. 2503. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 15, 1898. 
$1 PER YEAR, 
NEW FEATURES IN THRASHING MACHINES. 
HOW THEY OPERATE IN ILLINOIS. 
Lost Time Found; Increased Comfort. 
The thrashing - season usually begins here about the 
first week in July, and closes about September 1. 
No grain is stacked ; the wagons take it direct from 
the shock to the machine. Within a radius of five 
miles from this place, eight or ten machines usually 
operate, although, of course, they do a great deal out¬ 
side that area. Within recent years, the method of 
operating has been entirely changed. Instead of each 
farmer “swapping work” with his neighbors, and 
getting the grain to the machine, the thrasherman 
hires a full set of hands and teams, and does all the 
work except taking care of the thrashed grain. The 
day’s work for all hands is practically from sunrise to 
sunset. The farmers furnish coal for the engine, feed 
for the teams, and take the grain from the machine. 
This method was introduced here by Mr. W. M. Bines, 
who has been actively engaged in farming here all his 
life, and who has, also, done good work as a member 
of the State legislature. Meeting him at the close of 
the last thrash¬ 
ing season, I 
asked when he 
began to oper¬ 
ate thrashing 
machines. 
“In 1878.” 
“How long 
have you fur¬ 
nished the full 
outfit ? ” 
“Six sea¬ 
sons.” 
“Of what 
does the com¬ 
plete outfit con¬ 
sist ? ” 
“One 36-inch 
cylinder, 60- 
inch separator 
with self-feeder 
and stacker. 
16-horse trac¬ 
tion engine, 
water tank, 
kitchen fur- 
nished and 
mounted on 
trucks, tent in 
which the men 
eat and sleep, tables, benches, dishes, knives, etc.” 
‘ ‘ What force is required ? ” 
“ Besides the usual engineer, water-hauler, man to 
tend separator, and one to operate stacker, I employ 
ten men with teams to haul grain to the machine, five 
pitchers in the field, one cook, and two or three gen¬ 
eral helpers.” 
“ What are the advantages of this method ? ” 
“From the thrasherman’s standpoint, there is no 
loss of time on account of hands. I hire men and 
teams at the beginning of the season, and seldom make 
changes. Each man and horse soon learns his place, 
and everything moves like clock-work. We are always 
ready for business. The first wagons to finish a job 
pass right on and load up at the next. One teamster 
hitches to the kitchen, while his own empty w - agon is 
hooked behind some one’s else. Another takes the 
ten^ and tables, the machine follows, and in a short 
time, and without a jar, all are quietly at work again. 
On his part, the farmer has nothing to look after but 
the coal and grain wagons. Ther - ; is no chasing after 
hands, no rushing to town for provisions. The women 
are not compelled to roast themselves alive cooking 
for the little army of men employed, or to provide 
beds at night. To all concerned, there is a great sav¬ 
ing of time, which is money.” 
“ What is the increased cost of running such an out¬ 
fit?” 
“ About $40 per day.” 
“ What wages do you pay the men ? ” 
“Men with teams are paid $3 per day; pitchers, 
helpers, etc., $1.25. I board all the men in addi¬ 
tion.” 
“How much are the emergency expenses of a sea¬ 
son ? ” 
“ Oh, they vary a great deal; it’s hard to tell what 
an average would be. Often we run for days without 
a break, and then occasionally, in cleaning up, a bolt 
or something is thrown into the cylinder, and the re¬ 
pairs, time, bother, telegraphing, etc., may cost $100.” 
“ What is the greatest improvement in thrashing 
machinery since you began the business ? ” 
“ Oh, there are many, and they are all great. There 
is the automatic weigher, which keeps tally and puts 
the grain into wagons. Enough men could not get 
around the spout to do its work. The wind stacker 
does the work that six or seven men used to do The 
feeder does more than four men used to do, and does 
it better.” 
“ What improvements can you suggest in the present 
machines ? ” 
“ None, as we harvest grain. The prominent feat¬ 
ures seem perfect. Details of construction, alone, may 
be improved.” 
“ How do the farmers like the outfit plan ? ” 
“ Well, at first, there was opposition from them and 
from other thrashermen ; now all the machines in this 
section operate in that way.” 
“ What is the secret of successful management of a 
crew of hands ? ” 
“ Hire good men ; give them good wages, good board 
and good treatment.” 
“ How much work did you do in 1897 ? ” 
“ I operated practically within a radius of 10 miles. I 
paid for 19% days’ work, and thrashed as follows : 
Bushels. Price. Amount. 
Wheat. 2,603 7c. $182 21 
Oats. 57,463 3 1,723 89 
Rye. 727 8 58 16 
Timothy. 253 30 75 90 
Millet. 127 12 15 24 
Totals. 61,173 $2,055 40 
Vermilion County, Ill, j. w. u. 
REVIVAL OF WHEAT CULTURE IN ALABAMA. 
POSSIBILITIES FOR THIS CROP. 
Why the Wheat Acreage Fell Off. 
If any of the most important grain producing States 
had increased its acreage in wheat this season by the 
same percentage that Alabama has done, the effect 
would have been evidenced in the markets, by a rapid 
decline in the price. It would, probably, be safe to 
estimate the area in wheat in Alabama in 1897-8 at a 
figure 50 per cent higher than that of the preceding 
•season, and nearly 100 per cent higher than the usual 
acreage of recent years. In many localities, the amount 
of land sown to wheat would have been even greater 
than it is, but for the scarcity of seed, together with 
ignorance on the part of many as to whence it might 
be ordered. 
Another evidence of the unusual area sown to this 
crop is the fact that, in some localities, the drug stores 
have entirely exhausted their supplies of bluestone, 
which is very generally used in this State on wheat, 
and on wheat only, as a preventive of smut. 
Probably the most striking feature in this revival of 
wheat culture 
was a conven¬ 
tion recently 
held in the 
southern part 
of this State. 
Its sole purpose 
was to awaken 
interest in 
wheat culture 
in a county 
where very lit¬ 
tle wheat had 
ever been 
grown. This 
convention 
awakened not 
only interest 
but enthusiasm 
and reports 
state that, as a 
result, fully 70 
farmers in that 
neighborhood 
immediately 
ordered seed 
wheat. Ar¬ 
range m e n t s 
were also made 
for the equip¬ 
ment of a flouring mill. One of the reasons why so little 
wheat has been grown in Alabama since the war is 
the scarcity of flouring mills. In many localities, if a 
farmer grows wheat, he must haul it 30 or 30 miles to 
have it ground. 
Old citizens state that this was not so to the same 
extent before the war, when the South grew her own 
supplies, and that all over the country, are the re¬ 
mains of rotting flouring mills long disused. They 
fell into disuse when the acreage in wheat decreased 
in the decade after the war, a decrease caused by 
the high price of cotton then prevailing. 
Several causes have led to this increased wheat acre¬ 
age of the present season. The first is the present 
relatively high price of flour, which is a convincing 
argument in favor of producing this article at home. 
Moreover, the season of 1896-7 was very favorable for 
the small grains in many portions of the State, and 
success with the last wheat crop has stimulated farm¬ 
ers to sow a larger area for the coming crop. 
The low price of cotton, which hovers about the five- 
cent mark, has driven many to abandon the policy of 
growing but one crop and purchasing nearly all sup¬ 
plies, If the- southern farmers, as a class, grasp the 
