Vol. LXXVII. 
rulilislu'd V»'i‘i‘Ulv l)y The Ktlial I’lililishiiiK ()o.. 
.'tKu W. .'idtli St., New 1'iiik. I’riee One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, SEI’TIEMREIl ‘Jl, 1U18. 
Kntered as Seeoiid-riass Matter, .Tune 20, 187!1. at the Vest 
Ofllee at New York, N. Y.. under the Aet of ,\lareli lS7fi. 
No. 4200. 
Harvesting and Thrashing Wheat 
Done in Old California Days 
H OW T'l' W.VS 01’i:it.\'n:r).--()n Jiasio O."):; yon 
had an illnstratt'd artlc-lt: on your front pa.uo 
doscrihinj,' ;i now way thoy of the Nortliwost Inn’o 
of harvostinir wlnait. Yon do.sorihod tlio niachino 
a.s l)oin;x one •wliitji not only cut (lie wheat, hnl 
tlirashed it as fast 
as it was cut. di.s- 
trihntin;; the straw 
on the fironnd holiiinl 
(he inaehine. tilt' nia- 
t hiiie hein;; imslied 
aliead of the jiower 
lilant. Tlie first time 
I visited California 
was in .inne, 1.SS.S. 
I arrived in Stoekton 
(lie last week in 
.Inne. just in the 
midst of wlu'at har¬ 
vest The ni'xt da.v 
afttn- arrivin.ii 1 was 
taken out into tlie 
eonidry where wheat 
harvest was in full 
swintr. The first 
tliiiif: I Avas shown 
w;is just sneh a nia- 
ehiiie as yon de- 
serihe, exe(*pt it wa.s 
heint; ]nish('d hy .‘>2 
liorses and out a 
swath of is feet. We 
then visited another 
farm Avliere a likii 
maeliine Avas in op- 
(•ration, only it was 
heintf pnslied hy 24 
niiiles. I’.nt in neither 
eas(> was the sfraAV 
distrihiited heliind 
(he machine, hut Avas 
dropiied in jiih's. I 
a.sked Avhy the straAv' 
Avas not distrihiited 
liehind so it could he 
jilowed under. I Avas 
Iiromiitly told that at 
first that jdan Avas 
followed, hut now niy 
inforniant said thi'.v 
knew hotter. That 
method put hack into 
the soil all the nox¬ 
ious weeds and 
;irasse,s. as Avell as 
rye and wild oats, 
which in two or three 
years made the Avheat 
so foil! that it fairly 
spoiled or at least 
serionsl.y injured the 
wheat. lleiK.-e. he 
said, they hunched 
the straw, and as soon as (In' sacks of Avheal were 
lemoved from the Afroniid the straw was hnrned. a 
rational rea.son certainly. 
AN II.I.INOIS ME'f’IfOt).—In yoiir article you also 
Intimate that it retiuires a ceriain kind of Avheat 
out there in order to har\est it in that Avay. and 
as our Avheat should he stacked and put through a 
sweat it Avoiild not answer their purpo.se. 1 had 
sui'pesed that the ohl notion that wheat had to go 
through a sweat was :iii aiicimit myth. In the olden 
days here in Illinois everybody nearly carriial out 
that I'lan. Ilowei'er, a niachim* came into (‘xisteiice 
that was called a header. It cut (iiiite a wide swath, 
and. like (h(‘ ('alifornia machimx it was im.shed 
ahead of (he horses; hnt instead of thrashing (In' 
Avheat or dnmi»ing it on tin* ground, it was soiiu'- 
what ele\ated, and loackal on to a wa.gon ninning 
A If'ftr iror/.v/- reath Ktoncx la ]fal:r flax (^'litirconl, Fifi. 
along (he sidi* 
body mounted 
was dead ri]K‘ 
of till' header, which had a large 
on a comiiion wagon. If I he wlu'at 
it was iirefi'rahly hauled directly (o 
the niuchine, and thrashed. If not ri]ie nor dry 
inoiigh to thra.sh it was stacked and thra.shed as 
soon thereafter as possible, Avhich Avas usually very 
soon, as it was dillicult to stack this headed Avheat 
so as to turn water, d’ho wheat Avas cut one-third 
or one-half way from the head down to the ground, 
Avhich gave a very short straw, lienee the impos- 
sihilit.v of stacking so as to make it secure from get¬ 
ting Ava((>r-soaked. 
ll.Vril) WORK.—I knoAV one instance, Avhicii, of 
coiirsi', Av.is staged for (his siK'cial trial, aaIhot; th(‘ 
A\h(‘at Avas headed, thraslu'd, hauh'd to (In' mill and 
ground, taken to tin* f.inm'r's home, .and the honse- 
Avife nnoh' bread of it. ;i)id the harvest hands ate 
tlu' bread for dinner, 
all during the om; 
forenoon. Farmers 
si'cmit'd to di.scover 
gi’adnally tlnit Avheat 
<lid not nec(‘ssai‘il.v 
hiiA’c to go through a 
sweat h(‘fore thrash¬ 
ing, and so it began 
to he common to 
thi-jish tin; wheat out 
of (he shock. I'lnm 
tin' headei- Avent out 
<ir existi'iice. .and to¬ 
day h(>re in Illinois it 
is safe. I heli('A-e, to 
.sa.v (hat tl.") per cent 
of the wlu'.at is 
thi-aslied out of (In' 
shock. When tin* 
writer of this Ava-; l.s 
yeai’s old he owned 
and h('lp('d run a 
first-class thiaishing 
machiiK' of that day. 
It was known as tin* 
Ohio donhU^ cle.aiu'r. 
and it was a tremen- 
<lons day's Avork t<i 
cle.aii up 4<K> bushels 
per day. .Man.v a da.v 
h.a\'(' f stood on tlie 
master AA'ln'el. A\hip 
in h.aml. and k(*pt tin' 
<‘ight hoi'ses on tluA 
go. .\f(er my turn at 
that 1 would take the 
feeder’s place for a 
similar h'ligth of 
lime, then ('xchange 
Avith the Jiieasni-er. 
R<t it Avent all da.v, 
AA'ith nsnall.v jihont 
Rt)0 husln'ls per da.A'. 
Tilt: .SWE.VT NOT 
E.^SENTIAI,.—O n r 
renter on our farm 
this ye.ar had (id 
acres of Avhe.at Avhich 
averaged 2.0 bushels. 
Aveighing (il and (i2 
pounds jier struck 
hnsln'l. d’here Avere 
about I.. 0 OO hiisln'ls 
of Avheat. and this 
AA'as thraslu'd in about 
Id Avoi'kin.g hours. A 
I'eAV miles north of 
In'ta^ one <d' these master machiin's thrashed over 
ll.ddd husln'ls of ojits in R) hours. So it is .shoAA'ii h.v' 
I he thrashing of millions of huslu'ls of Avheat out 
of the shock that the (dd belief in the necessity of 
wheat .going throu.gh a sAveat is an exploded mylh. 
I do not say that Avheat if stacked early after being 
out Avould not go through what has been recognized 
as a sAveat, hut if so it is only an incident and not 
essential. Neither do I believe that the California 
