Page 2

A full stook would be twelve sheaves placed on end with butts down and heads up. These were left in the field a few days for the grain to harden, then they were loaded into wagons and put in barns, stacks, or barracks. A barrack was built with

four long posts connected at the top by cross—pieces of timber and a roof. As the barrack filled the roof would be raised and

held in place by iron pins. A floor, made of old rails or tim- ber was placed under the sheaves.

About this time, gang plows drawn by three horses came into use; also the disc harrow, spring tooth harrow, broadcast seeder, and in some cases a drill seeder which covered the grain

as it sowed it. Soon tractors took the place of horses and to— day we may travel for miles without seeing a horse.

The first threshing was done by means of the flail. This was made by hand and the grain was beaten with it, then shaken out or fanned by the wind. Later, a machine called a fanners was used to clean the grain. One person turned a crank on this, while another looked after the grain coming through the sieves from the hopper and out a trough. This was followed by a custom machine powered by a tractor, to clean the grain. It is still

used.

The first machine to give power for threshing was the treadmill. It consisted of a wide frame and a belt—like revolving floor on which the horses trod. The mill, when set up, was higher at the front end than at the back. The weight of the horses kept the floor running back. The horses were tied in and had to keep walking. This movement by the horses on the floor drove a large wheel called the flywheel. This wheel was connected to a drum. The drum looked somewhat like a barrel and had rows of iron teeth in it which separated the grain from the straw as it revolved over the teeth of another part called the concave. The sheaves were pushed in headfirst by the miller. Quite often some of the young boys or girls in the family passed these sheaves from a stack or barn loft to the miller, but care was needed so that the sheaves were always turned the correct way to enter the drum.

The next step in advancement was the use of the gas engine for driving the threshing mill and for sawing fire wood, and in late years the introduction of the combine which does all the harvest in one chore. Some of these are pulled by tractors but most of them are the self—propelled type.

Many new and heavy machines are now in use for all stages of farming.