The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
1203 
C HANGED CONDITIONS.—It is 
wonderful liow invention follows 
up to help necessity. Some half dozen 
States in the Northwest are now pro¬ 
ducing most of the bread for the Amer¬ 
ican people. The concentration of wheat 
growing into this area has* made it 
necessary to devise new methods and 
new machinery. The shortage of labor 
and the demand for a shorter harvest 
day has compelled farmers to substi¬ 
tute more and more wood and steel, 
horseflesh and gasoline for human 
energy. Thus the North Dakota Ex¬ 
periment Station issues a bulletin de¬ 
scribing some remarkable labor-saving 
devices now being used in North 
Dakota. 
A BUNDLE LOADER.—The Stewart 
bundle loader is shown at Fig. 365. 
with an attachment added at Fig. 366. 
The object of this machine is to gather 
or scratch up bundles of grain right 
from the shocks, and deliver them into 
a wagon so they can be hauled promptly 
to the thrasher. One of these machines 
drawn by four horses with one man to 
operate it will load on to wagons bun¬ 
dles enough to keep the separator busy. 
It is said to pick up grain cleaner than 
the hand pickers, and shells very little 
of it. With the outfit shown at Fig. 365 
the bundles are taken right from the 
shock and thrown into this cart. When 
full this is hauled alongside of the 
thrasher: the bundles are dumped on 
the ground and the machine goes back 
for another load. It is said that two 
of these machines with 12 horses and 
six men will keep the largest thrashing 
separator going, thus saving the labor 
of four teams a yd 14 men per day. 
This machine is also used in the hay- 
field. It will take up the hay from the 
swath, windrow or cock, and dump it 
in front of the stacker, which loads it 
to the top of the stack. 
THE SHOCK BUCKER,—Another 
new machine is the shock bucker in use 
in North Dakota. Four horses handle 
this machine. It will pick up a load of 
shocks very much like a sweep-rake. 
Then when loaded the sweeps are 
lifted away from the ground, and the 
machine runs on two wheels, dumping 
the bundles alongside the separator, 
where they are pitched by hand into 
the .self-feeding device, which carries 
them through the machine. 
MOTOR BUNDLE TRUCK.—Another 
device used in the Western grain fields 
is the motor bundle truck. A picture 
of this is shown at Fig. 36S. This 
machine is driven up to the shock, 
where it takes hold of the bundles and 
carries them up. as shown in the pic¬ 
ture. They are tossed over the top on 
to the truck, where they are promptly 
loaded by one or two men. The 
machine for running this loader is 
worked by the motor of the truck, and 
can be started or stopped independ¬ 
ently. When the truckload of grain 
comes up beside the separator the 
gates on one side of the machine open 
and the power of the truck unloads the 
bundles on the'ground beside the sepa¬ 
rator. It is said that seven men with 
two of these machines do exactly the 
same work as 20 men and 10 teams 
with the ordinary thrashing practice. 
This powerful machine is also used in 
hay-making. It will take up the hay 
either from the windrows or from the 
haycock. It is claimed that the device 
is so strong that it can be put up 
against a hay or straw stack and tear 
it in pieces loading the hay directly 
upon the truck. 
THE STACKER.—Perhaps the most 
remarkable device developed in the 
West is the stacker. A picture of this 
Front View Graliam-Roach Stacker. Fig. 369 
Frost Protection For Silos 
A bulletin from the South Dakota 
Experiment Station prints the picture 
at Fig. 371 to show how small silos are 
protected from frost. Poles are set one 
fotit out from the silo with woven wire 
stapled to the outside of the poles. The 
space between the silo and the wire is 
tilled with straw. This keeps the silage 
from freezing. Cattle will eat more on 
a cold day if the silage is not frozen. 
If it is frozen the cattle must thaw it 
out with their bodily heat, and it is 
much cheaper to prevent the freezing 
with this cheap straw method. It is 
also thought that this use of straw will 
prevent the the empty silo in Summer 
from shrinking and falling down. 
outfit is shown at Fig. 369. In work¬ 
ing it the binding device is removed 
from the ordinary harvester, while the 
grain elevator is run so as to deliver 
the grain into the stacker, which is 
shown at the left of the picture. Two 
horses are required for each machine. 
Tn the center of this stacker, running 
from end to end, is a metal mold about 
one foot wide and two feet high, and 
this leaves an air space running the 
full length of the stacker. This 
stacker will hold about 2,500 pounds 
of mature grain. It is driven alongside 
of the harvester, and the wheat is 
thrown from the elevator into the 
stacker. A man stands there with his 
fork and stacks this grain as best he 
can in even shape. When the stacker 
is filled it is unloaded by opening the 
rear gates. Then the power of the 
horse pushes the stack on rollers and 
dumps it on the ground. The iron 
mold is then pulled out. leaving the 
air space from end to end. The stack 
is then topped off and tied with binder 
twine by the use of a long needle which 
runs through the stack. One man 
operates the harvesting device and 
drives the team; another man builds 
the stack and drops it when ready. 
The picture at Fig. 370 shows the stack 
all ready to dump. At the time of 
thrashing a sweep-rake with two horses 
will bring these stacks right up to the 
separator, where the wheat’is fed into 
a self-feeder. Ninety pqr cent of the 
twine is saved where this machine is 
used. It saves grain, for the ordinary 
self-binder always scatters more or les* 
grain in tying the bundles. The stacks 
are left in rows SO to 160 rods apart 
straight across the field. It is said 
that the grain cures better in these 
stacks than in either the shock or large 
stacks. Prof. Porter, who writes this 
bulletin, thinks that this machine is 
likely to revolutionize the methods of 
handling small grain crops all over the 
country. He goes so far as to say that 
it will rank with the introduction of 
the self-binder and steam thrashing 
machine. The machine has also been 
used to stack green Alfalfa hay. The 
hay put up in this way was of excel¬ 
lent quality, and Prof Porter thinks 
that this plan will in the future be 
worked successfully in the humid parts 
of this country. The hay will be put 
up after it is wilted nicely, and cured 
in these small stacks after a short time 
in the windrows. Two or three of 
these stacks will be made on each acre 
instead of 20 or 30 ordinary haycocks 
made by hand. With valuable hay like 
clover and Alfalfa, in the humid i*e- 
gions. these small stacks could be cov¬ 
ered with canvas covers until the hay 
is fully cured, and then the stacks can 
be hauled with a sweep-rake wherever 
they are wanted. It seems to us that 
Prof. Porter is right about this, and 
we think his suggestion for the use of 
this machine in Eastern hayfields is 
sound. The world is moving, and farm 
practice goes along with it. 
Side 1 iew of Stewart Combination Loader. Fig. 366 
The Paulson Shock Bucker. Fig. 367 
Front View of Motor Bundle Truck. Fig. 368 
Rear View of Stewart Bundle Loader. Fig. 365 
Harvesting Machinery 
New Grain 
