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only. As the scythe evolved, the blade became lighter and the handle passed through many forms before it permanently assumed the crooked wooden pattern. When fingers were fastened to the snath to assist in collecting the grain into bunches or gavels, the scythe became a cradle. The latter implement was perfected in America during the last quarter of the eighteenth century.

The scythe seems to have appeared first among the ancient Romans. Before 1850, the scythe or cradle and the sickle were the implements almost universally used in harvesting grain. The perfected American cradle spread rapidly to other coun

AN EARLY CRADLE

A MODERN CRADLE

tries, but not without opposition. In England such violent opposition developed at Essex that the farmers were "deterred from the practice." The scythe and cradle are still frequently found in use in Russia and in various other parts of Europe. They are also found in America under conditions which render other implements impracticable. Within fifty miles of New York City are farms on which the grain is still reaped with the cradle. Brewer gives 12 acres a day as the amount of grain cradled in this country by one man. It required two others to rake, bind and "stook" it. Others say 4 acres a day could be cradled by a good worker while another raked and bound it.

HARVESTING MACHINERY

The Header. All reaping devices thus far considered have aimed at mechanical advantages alone. All of those subse

quently discussed endeavor, not only to extend and improve the mechanism of the machine so that it will perform perfectly each and every operation connected with harvesting, but also to apply a power that will operate the machine. Under headers are included all machines that are designed to gather only the heads of the wheat, leaving the straw in the field. Such machines are of two kinds; stripping and cutting headers. The former has the distinction of being the first grain gathering

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THE GALLIC HEADER, DESCRIBED BY PLINY A. D. 70

machine mentioned in history. It was used by the farmers of Gaul as early as the time of Christ. Pliny described it. A series of lance-shaped knives was fastened into one end of a large-bodied, two-wheeled cart. An animal yoked behind the cart pushed it through the grain. After the heads of the wheat were stripped from the stalks by the knives or teeth, they were raked into the box-like frame by an attendant. Palladius gives a similar account of the machine in the fourth century.

After being used during hundreds of years, the Gallic header disappeared, and it seems to have been completely forgotten for several centuries. Only through literature did it escape the fate of permanent oblivion and become a heritage for the modern world. The published descriptions of the machine by Pliny and Palladius furnished the impulse in which modern harvesting inventions originated. Its distinctive features are retained in several modern inventions of this class, machines

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which have a practical use and value under conditions similar to those which existed on the plains of Gaul. Toward the close of the eighteenth century, the social, economic and agricultural conditions in England, on account of increasing competition and the higher value of labor, were ripe for the movement of invention that was heralded by the printed account of the Gallic header. The first header was constructed by William Pitt in 1786. It was an attempted improvement on the ancient macline in that the stripping teeth were placed in a cylinder which was revolved by power transmitted from the wheels. This "rippling cylinder" carried the heads of wheat into the box of the machine, and gradually evolved into the present day reel.

Nearly all of the principles involved in the header seem to have been developed mainly in connection with other machines, such as the reaper and combined harvester, in connection with which they will be discussed. Before 1823 only four inventors of harvesting machinery placed the power in front of the machine. This involves either a side cut or driving the power through the grain. On account of the great width of cut in the header the side cut would give great side draft, and as there is nothing to counterbalance this, all headers are propelled in front of the power. Omitting minor details, the evolution of the header was completed in Haines' celebrated machine of 1849, which was widely known as the "Haines Illinois harvester." It was thoroughly successful, and was practically the same as the machine of today.

The modern header has a cutter with a reciprocating and advancing rectilinear motion; the reel brings the grain upon a traveling canvas apron which delivers it to an elevating apron on one side, and this in turn discharges it into the header-box placed upon a wagon driven along with the machine; it has a swiveled steering wheel, operated by a suitable tiller; and an evener, to which the four or six animals are hitched, is pivoted forward of the steering whcel. The header ordinarily clips the stalks a few inches below the heads of the grain, but it can be run very low for lodged or short grain. It saves binding and shocking, but it is essential for the wheat to be dry before it is cut, as it must immediately be either threshed or stacked. If slightly damp, green, or weedy, it cannot be threshed at once,

and may stack-burn if stacked. This confines the use of the header largely to the western part of the United States, where peculiar conditions exist which make it possible to let wheat ripen completely without much danger of loss, though the machine is used to some extent in the Mississippi valley. Some wheat growers cut with binders until the grain is ripe, and then use the header. It cuts from 12 to 20 feet in width, and from 15 to 50 acres a day. In Washington three headers and one threshing machine usually work together. From 50 to 75 acres a day are thus harvested. Three header-boxes, or barges, are usually used with one header. These are often unloaded at the stack or machine by horse power. A peculiarly arranged netting is laid in the box, and by means of ropes and a derrick the whole load is hoisted to the stack or feeder.

The header was used very extensively on the Pacific coast before the combined harvester came in use. Sixteen-foot headers drawn by six mules were used. The grain was usually threshed as fast as it was headed. The ordinary crew for a 44-inch cylinder thresher and 26-horse-power engine was as follows: Seven headers operated by 42 animals and 14 men; 21 header-boxes, requiring 42 animals and 21 men; and at the machine there were 11 animals and 32 men; this made a total of 95 animals and 67 men. In 1880 such an outfit averaged 3,800 bushels per day in California. Many headers are in use in South America, and a machine similar to an American header is also being used in Russia. The stripping header is still used in Australia. About 20 per cent of the headers manufactured in the United States are sold in foreign countries.

The Reaper.-Under the reaper are included all machines designed to cut the grain and gather it in bunches, gavels, or rows. While the header was the first harvesting machine that was invented, it was not the subject of so many improvements, nor did it have, in modern times, such wide and early practical utility as the reaper. The ingenuity of man is well shown by the numerous devices that were invented to accomplish the two objects of the reaper. Nearly all of these inventions were made in England. Two forms of motion were utilized in cutting the grain, circular and rectilinear. Both forms shared the continuous advancing motion of the machine to which they were fastened. The type now universally used, except in stripping

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