HARVESTING-MACHINES, GRAIN. The construction of binding-harvesters has been changed to some extent as regards the harvester part, and radically in the binder part, since the year 1380, and the use of this compound implement has been largely increased by the very preferable employment of twines instead of wire to bind the sheaves of grain. Manila twine was early chosen by Holmes. Gorham, Appleby, and other early workers in the invention of the grain-binder, and manila hemp still holds favor for• this purpose. Sisal hemp comes very near it as a suitable fiber. Without a proper twine the machine would have been far from the remarkable success it has become. Grain-binders now consume in the United States more than 60.000 tons of twine annually. There is no consequential objection to the twine; but the wire, from which small fragments broke away in the operation of thrashing by machinery, injured the expensive bolting-cloths of the flouring-mills to an appreciable extent, owing to the sharp cutting edges of the fragments becoming flattened by the mill machinery. It was claimed, also, that farm animals were sometimes choked or injured internally by bits of the wire, as these were found in the stomach and bowels after death. A grave prejudice was aroused against grain-binders, employing wire as the binding material, which the substi tution of twine has quite allayed.
The introduction of the binding-harvester has been a tremendous stimulus to grain-grow ing not only in this, its native country, but throughout South America, Europe, Australasia, and parts of Africa. Some 3 ft. of twine will bind a convenient sheaf. It must be strong enough to bear about 70 lbs. tensile strain when made with a loose enough twist to avoid kinking, and must be spun free from swells and bunches unfit to pass through the mechanical knotter. The finer it can be spun, without sacrifice of necessary tensile strength, the more economical its use. In practice, it runs from about 400 to 600 ft. per lb., making it cost per acre, at current prices, from 28 down to about 18 ets. Other fibers besides those named are used to a moderate extent, also mixtures of the above with jute, ramie, and even American hemp. The Lowry twine is the latest improvement in grain-binding material—an improve ment in the direction of economy. It is made of the tough slough-grass which grows abun dantly on low-lying wet land throughout the United States in the great prairie basins, and is deemed useless for any other purpose. It is twisted or spun. without preliminary preparation other than combing it straight, into a uniform. strong twine. by special machinery devised by George A. Lowry. of Iowa, which also at the same time wraps it with light cotton thread, at the instant before spooling. in it long, open spiral turned opposite to the direc
tion of the twist given the twine in spinning. The thread wrapping serves to hold the grass-twine twist firm, and also prevents protrusion of short ends that would possibly inter fere with the work of a mechanical knotter. By enlarging and otherwise slightly modifying the lines of the knotting mechanism of grain-binders, this grass-twine and the or dinary hempen twines can be used interchangeably on the same machine—an obvious practical convenience. At pres ent prices, the cost of it per acre of grain is considerably less than of the ordinary twines: and the ease of manufac ture is also in its favor. At first, reduction in the cost of harvesting was the only consideration in introducing the mechanical binding, but it has proved to be scarcely the most important. So precarious is the state of grain crops when just fit for the sickle that either premature or dilato ry harvesting forfeits large value. Ilowever, with the bin der the crop is quickly taken off at the time deemed best. In the United States, the birthplace of the binder, the year ly yield of wheat, oats. rye, and barley has been enormously augmented since the advent of the use of the twine. Present crops of over 1,300,000.00U bushels of small grains in a year could not have been approached without it. The quality of crop has also visibly improved. The binding-harvester has therefore become the most important among the farmer's machines, though the rapid improvements of ten years have not yet had time enough to ripen all its possibilities. Not taking up the improvements from their crudity from the beginning of the decade step by step, we merely instance some advanced examples in common use at the end of the decade, which enable the farmer or his boy to sit the machine, drive unaided round and round his fields, and reap, bind, and de liver the grain-sheaves in groups of a sufficient number to form a stook, at the rate of from I to 1 acres an hour, ac cording to capacity of team. It is used with horses, oxen, or, as in the broad California valleys, with the same steam-engine which has previously plowed, harrowed, and seeded the ground for it, and which will also thrash, clean, and bag the grain for market. The principles of the Marsh harvester, really designed to carry men to do the binding, has generally been relied on as the foundation for the machine ; but there is now a breaking away from these limitations, to reduce weight, draft, and cost, by special construction, treating the reaping, gaveling, and sheafing as one continuous operation.