NEW YORK, AUGUST 10, 1907. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
A DAKOTA THRASHING CREW. 
Modern Machinery in the Great Graintields. 
I'ig. 296 shows a North Dakota thrashing crew, taken 
near Cando, N. D. '1 his shows a cook and bunk 
car along with 11 bundle teams and water-tank, one 
man for hauling supplies, etc.; a 25 horse power engine 
and separator. They thrash about 2,000 bushels of 
wheat per day; 3,000 of oats. With these rigs they 
board the hands and horses and all go with the ma¬ 
chine. Daily expenses are $100 to $125; they aim to 
clear $100 per day. 
The thrashing starts about September 1, and the sea¬ 
son continues about 30 days when there is a good crop. 
A man got up in the court house at Cando and counted 
35 thrash rigs in 10 square miles; they are from 25 to 
35 horse power, and all burn straw. This is a full crew, 
11 bundle teams, one straw team, one man to haul food, 
etc., tank man, engineer, fireman, separator man, two 
spike pitchers to help unload at feeder; cook boss. You 
will also see the cook and bunk car in view, and a grain 
four days to a week at one farm. Some have out from 
500 to 2,000 and 3,000 acres of grain. The biggest thrash 
bill amounted last Fall to $1,400. We all live in these cars 
and camp out in the field, sometimes one or two miles 
from a house. They move about once or twice per 
week. Sometimes we move on the next farm, and 
sometimes a few miles; always try to move at night, 
and work 15 hours per day. All one can see up in 
North Dakota is grain fields, and it is a fine place up 
there for those that have a start. In thrashing season 
people come from Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, 
Missouri, Kansas. Nebraska, Wisconsin and Ohio for 
this work. h. N> kerr. 
Iowa. 
RAW OIL AND IRON ORE. 
I am just putting new roof on my buildings, and am 
using galvanized iron. About two weeks ago I painted 
the under side with raw oil and iron ore; on top I use 
iron ore and red lead to give it a brighter color. I 
buy the oil and dry paint and mix it myself; then I 
paint the under side of a galvanized roof (page 505), 
and I doubt the utility of painting the upper side. It is 
very difficult to make paint stick to galvanized iron. 
It may be that ordinary paint is not sufficiently elastic 
to conti act and expand with the metal, or there may 
be other reasons, that men better versed in the science 
of the case might give for the cracking and peeling of 
paint from galvanized iron. The Lehigh Valley Rail¬ 
road Co., in one of whose paint shops I worked three 
years, tried many experiments to cause paint to adhere 
to the hoods of their passenger cars. No kind of prim¬ 
ing was successful until the plan of coating the bare 
metal with a good elastic varnish, as a foundation. 
1 his surely would be too expensive for a barn roof; 
and I firmly believe that well-galvanized iron, will wear 
better without any coating whatever. Now, as to the 
other questions on page 509, about painting with a spray 
Pump, l am not competent to speak as to using a Bor¬ 
deaux nozzle; but will say that there are comparatively 
cheap pumps in the market that are especially made to 
spray paint and whitewash. I can say, however, that 
A THRASHING CREW IN NORTH DAKOTA. ALL HANDS, INCLUDING THE COOK. Fig. 296 
tank in picture which eastern farmers have never seen; 
they haul 125 bushels of wheat on one load. They 
usually have three or four hauling away with four 
horses mostly; when they get the grain tanks empty 
they come back in a gallcp. I he engineer gets $7 per 
day; separator man, $6; each bundle hauler gets $2.75; 
for each team, $2.25; total for man and team, $5 per 
day; cook, $4; water tank man, $5; fireman, $3; two 
spike pitchers, $3 each; total expense per day is $100 
to $125. And if the boss does not clear $100 to $125 
per day he does not think he is doing much. We 
thrashed one day barley and oats; started after sun-up 
and quit before sundown, and thrashed 3,100 bushels. 
The average day’s work for wheat is 2,000 bushels. If 
the men lay up a few days about anything the boss 
feeds them free; if he did not he could not keep hands. 
Prices for thrashing are nine cents for wheat per bushel; 
six cents for oats and barley; 20 cents for flax. Each 
farmer hauls his own grain away. I have seen them 
thrash and let the grain run out on the ground; wagon 
loads of it; they did not have room for it at the eleva¬ 
tors, or waiting for better prices. They average about 
know what I have. I always use raw oil, as I think I 
get better results. On inside work where I want to 
hasten the drying I use Japan drier. I doubt if there 
is any paint in existence that is more durable or has 
any more stick-to-itiveness than raw oil and iron ore. 
You may put it on glass, and when it is thoroughly dry 
it is next to impossible to get it off. One very im¬ 
portant point to keep in mind is plenty of “elbow 
grease”; don’t be afraid of wearing out your paint 
brush; rub it on good and hard. About thirty years 
ago I was carriage painting, and tried an experiment. 
Two carriages were treated in the same way, given the 
same length of time to dry. On one raw oil was used, 
and on the other boiled oil. They were owned by two 
young men; both had about the same use and care. At 
the end of five years the difference in appearance was 
largely in favor of the raw oil. a. l. 9 . 
Waverly, N. Y. 
It Will Not Stick. 
My experience as a painter, in nearly all departments 
of industrial painting, which has been almost continuous 
since 1S65, leads me to the opinion that I would not 
the oil in the paint will not greatly injure the hose, if 
any, though I believe that paint to spray well should 
have added to the linseed oil, benzine or turpentine; 
and these would injure the rubber hose. Since I left 
the car shop the Lehigh Company has adopted spraying 
for its freight cars; but I am not able to give informa¬ 
tion as to the mode. l. g. 
New York. 
FRUIT NOTES FROM MASSACHUSETTS. 
I think the prospect is good so far for a crop of 
apples. I usually count the trees in full bloom; about 
May 12, 1905, 359 trees were in full bloom, and I gath¬ 
ered in October 170 barrels M fruit. May 12, 1906, 169 
trees were in full bloom, and we gathered 300 barrels 
of apples; one-half the number of trees in 1906 gave 
twice as much fruit as 1905. This year it was May 22 
before trees were out full, and 543 were in full bloom. 
We think the honey bee is of service in carrying the 
pollen from flower to flower. This season it was so 
cold thousands of bees left the hives and got so chilled 
they never returned. Will this affect the set of the 
