in England and America, the birds have made a speed of seventy miles
an hour for short distances. From thirty to forty miles an hour, is,
however, the average speed of the average bird. Though not by nature
strong of wing or equipped for long flight, the birds have been known
to cover great distances. Probably the longest journey of which there
is any record was made some ten years ago. A family of birds had been
taken from Belgium to New York, where they were to be bred and trained.
They were released from the cote before they had been thoroughly
domesticated, and straightway disappeared. Two weeks later three of the
pigeons, bedraggled, weary and nearly dead, arrived at their native
cote in Belgium. How they had made the long ocean voyage nobody ever
knew, but they had evidently accomplished it in some manner, and,
out of respect for their wonderful achievement, they were allowed to
remain in the home to regain which they had suffered so much.
[Illustration: HOMING PIGEON.
FROM COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES.
COPYRIGHT 1900, BY
A. W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO.]
The _San Francisco Examiner_ records that "Sadie Jones, C. 21,392,"
is the champion long-distance homing pigeon of America, and the
world, so far as is known. She flew from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to
Philadelphia, a distance of 1,202 12-100 miles in 16 days and 3 hours.
Sadie Jones is the property of M. S. Sullivan, of West Philadelphia,
and was five years of age at the time of making the record. She was
named after the daughter of the National Race Secretary, Charles H.
Jones, and was personally countermarked and shipped by that young lady,
together with five others. She was the only one to return. So far as
known no other pigeon has ever flown this distance.
When the writer was many years younger, to please the rising
generation he made a dove cote and procured a few tame pigeons. In
the course of time the birds had increased by not only rearing young,
but by inducing strange birds to accept the quarters offered. The
pigeons were regularly fed, the meal hour being announced by a peculiar
whistle. The dinner call was soon known to all the birds in the place,
and the yard would immediately fill with birds from every direction
when the whistle was blown. On one occasion a lame bird in the flock,
which had evidently been caught in a snare and escaped with a slip
noose on one leg that had cut into the flesh, making the poor bird very
lame, came with the rest.
After considerable pains the bird was caught, the string cut, and the
bird placed on the ground. It stood a moment as if amazed, and then
flew up to its liberator's knee and fed out of his hand.
THE TWO-STORIED NEST.
ETHEL MORTON.
Looking from my study window, one day, last June, I noticed a little
yellow and brown bird, who was hopping from bush to bush. She was
busily chattering to another bird, who sat on a neighboring tree,
evidently much enjoying a worm he was eating. I knew the pair,
directly, as my friends of the season before,--the Yellow Warblers.
Mrs. Warbler was looking for a good place to build her nest. After some
consideration, she decided on a bush in front of my window. Off she
flew to a field of dandelions, and soon returned with several pieces of
dandelion fluff. It took quite a while to complete the house, for Mrs.
W. was very neat and precise in her work, but after it was finished,
Mr. Warbler came over to look at it (he had left the building to his
wife!), and as he seemed perfectly satisfied with it, Mrs. Warbler was
happy.
Not many days after this, some pretty little blue eggs lay snugly in
the nest, and Mrs. Warbler was a mother! Alas! On the day the young
Warblers left their shells, their mother came home from a call on
Mrs. Robin, to find her children crying most bitterly. An ugly Cowbird
had dropped its great, brown, spotted egg right in their beautiful
parlor! (It seems to be a custom with these birds, to leave their eggs
in the nests of their unfortunate neighbors, rather than hatch them
themselves.)
Poor, little Mrs. Warbler! She tried with all her strength to push the
egg out of her home, but without success. So, what do you suppose she
did? Why, she just built another nest on top of the old one! It was
a great deal of trouble, and the young Warblers tried her patience
sorely, by persisting in pulling at the threads and straws, as she wove
the frame-work of her new dwelling. "Labor is its own reward," however,
for there was not a happier couple in all bird land than Mr. and Mrs.
Yellow Warbler, when they brought their admiring friends and relations,
to see the young Warblers, in the two-storied nest.
INDUSTRY
WHEAT HARVESTING.
J. F. STEWARD.
CHAPTER I.
We have been told, "Ye cannot live by bread alone," which is no doubt
true, but aside from the use of animal flesh as food, bread in some
form has played the greatest part in sustaining mankind.
There have been found, on every continent and every island of the
globe, rude stone implements that tell, by form only, of their possible
use. We read the story of pre-historic relics largely by comparison
with modern things, and hence judge that the crescent-shaped flint
implements, serrated upon their inner edge, to be seen in the British
Museum and elsewhere, may have been used by the savages as reaping
hooks.
The natural habitat of wheat must necessarily remain a matter of
dispute, for history cannot tell us of the time when the wild grain
began to be cultivated by the savages, whose traditions are silent, nor
when it was introduced into the various countries.
The first harvest scenes depicted are found upon the stones of ancient
Egypt, representing slaves with reaping hooks, at their tasks, scenes
cut there before the time of Moses--long before the exodus. In the
ruins of Egypt bronze reaping hooks have been found, differing little
from those now used for trimming lawn hooks. In the sediment of Lake
Neuchatel, in Switzerland, where have been discovered the remains of an
ancient and forgotten people, whom we name merely "the Lake Dwellers,"
wheat and other grains have been found, and also reaping hooks of
bronze; and from the bogs of the Scandinavian countries, where, in
conformity with religious rites, were thrown prized articles, upon the
death of their owners, sickles have been taken.
From the time of bronze in Egypt, to the centuries following the dark
ages, the reaping hook was probably the only implement used in the
harvest.
When comes the beginning of the end of barbarism in a nation, then
industrial progress germinates, and in proportion as barbarism has
decreased, the efforts for improvements in methods adapted to reduce
human labor have been successful. The cloud that cast its shadow
over Europe during the so-called dark ages, practically suppressed
all efforts, and it is only since then that the energies directed to
mechanical progress have had a fair field.
Following the reaping hook, not many centuries ago, came the scythe for
mowing hay. It was but an enlarged reaping hook, so planned as to call
into action the entire physical system, however, instead of the mere
right arm, and with it a man was able to lay in swath many times more
grass than had been accomplished by any previous implement. In America
at the beginning of this century, the scythe had been modified so as
to adapt it to the cutting of grain, and with it the straw was laid in
a neat swath by the man who swung it, ready to be raked and bound by
another. This, however, was nothing more than an implement.
We read that machines were attempted before the beginning of the
present century and are told by Pliny and others of a box-like cart
pushed by an ox between rearwardly extending thills, and having a comb
at front, adapted to pull the heads from the standing grain. A man
walking beside with a hoe-like instrument scraped the heads into the
box. It is no marvel that this implement, made by the Gauls as early as
A. D. 1, did not come into general use.
We also read that a machine was attempted in Hungary during the latter
part of the eighteenth century, and that prizes were offered in England
for a reaping machine. It is safe for us to consider, however, the
efforts of Mr. Gladstone, of England, who, in 1806, produced a machine
adapted to cut grain and deliver it in a swath beside the machine. With
what success, we are mainly left to judge by the construction of the
machine itself, which embodied many of the valuable elements of the
reaping machine that held sway during the second third of the present
century, only to be forced into the background by better harvesting
methods.
[Illustration: GLADSTONE REAPER.]
In order to give Mr. Gladstone the credit due him, it is proper to say
that his reaper, like nine-tenths of the modern harvesting machines,
was adapted to be drawn, and not pushed, as the implement of the
Gauls was. Its cutting apparatus was extended well to the right, so
that the horse drawing it might walk beside the grain to be cut. It
was supported upon wheels, one at the outer extremity of the cutting
apparatus, and the other substantially in the position now placed in
harvesting machines, and his cutting devices were operated by it. His
machine was not only adapted to cut the grain, but deliver it at one
side in order to make a clear path of travel in cutting the next round.
His machine did not come into use, but was patented and thus made
public. Whether practical in detail or not matters little, for he left
to the world as a legacy the foundation principles of the reaping
machine. Those who followed enriched the art only by additions and
modifications.
A second patent was granted to him covering improvements. His machine
might leave the grain in almost a continuous swath or in gavels, which
depended only upon the number of raking devices applied to his rotary
cutting apparatus.
In the patent granted to Salmon, who followed him in 1808, is found
a grain receiving platform, differing in no respect from that of the
early practical reaper, a cutting apparatus placed at its forward edge,
a divider to separate the grain being cut from that left standing, and
an orbitally moving rake adapted to remove the grain in gavels to the
ground.
[Illustration: SALMON REAPER.]
While it is of actual achievements that we shall mainly write, it is
well to say that the actual achievement of the reaping machine was
accomplished largely from knowledge given us by those early inventors,
and it is proper that we point out precisely what they have taught us,
for more than thirty machines have been patented in England and America
before the machine of Bell, the Scotch preacher, of 1828, was placed
upon the market in England.
[Illustration: OGLE REAPER.]
Kerr, Smith and others added their mite of knowledge, and in 1822 Henry
Ogle, an English schoolmaster, invented a reaping machine that was
made by a Mr. Brown, and which cut one acre per hour. The trial was so
successful that the laborers in the field, fearing the competition of
the innovation, mobbed the inventor and maker and broke up the machine.
The patent shows its construction.
The cutting apparatus of modern harvesting machines is a modified
form of shears; in the early machines, shears, pure and simple, were
arranged in series before the receiving platform. As cutting devices
they operated well, but were objectionable on account of the fact that
they did not clear themselves of shreds of straw and grass.
Bell's machine may be considered the first practical reaper, because
in it was found the essential combination of mechanical elements, not
only of the reaping machine, but largely of the modern self-binding
harvester. His machines were so successful that, as late as 1864,
they were busy in the harvest fields of England, and laid a swath
more perfect than any implement used before them; they were followed
by a troop of girls, the like of which is still seen in the fields of
those sections of England and Scotland where the modern self-binding
harvester has not yet found its way.
[Illustration: BELL REAPER.]
The erstwhile Scotch student, when working behind closed doors on
the little farm worked by his father, though inspired by high hopes,
little dreamed that he was in any measure laying the foundation for
greater results, and few, at the present day, know that one of the most
essential elements of the modern self-binding harvester was reduced to
practice by that youth who as the Rev. Patrick Bell administered to the
spiritual wants of the members of a little flock in Scotland for many
years.
Two machines, at least, were brought to America, but not until American
reapers had been perfected to such an extent as to meet all of the
requirements.
Bell's machine was pushed before the horses, as modern headers are. Its
reel was supported by forwardly reaching arms as now; it had dividers
and all essential elements, the only faulty one being the cutting
apparatus.
The story of his efforts, as told by himself, is interesting. The
facts pertaining to the construction of his machine may be found in
cyclopedias and in court proceedings. Although America is considered
the cradle of this art, we must bow to Bell and others and claim only
that which we have accomplished, founded upon the information and
machines they left.
In the fishing village of Nantucket, on the island of that name, of
Quaker parents, a boy first saw light who later became famous because
of his inventive talent. In that little village the whaling industry,
upon which success in life depended, was extensively carried on. Like
other boys the lad, Obed Hussey, took to the sea, but tiring, turned
his attention to a machine for reaping grain. He made a model of the
machine, and in 1832-1833 constructed a machine which he operated in
the harvest fields near Cincinnati, Ohio. He "builded better than he
knew," for his cutting apparatus sings his praise in the harvest fields
of every continent, and will probably do so until man ceases to exist.
It has been modified in various ways, but no material improvement has
been made since it left his hands.
[Illustration: HUSSEY REAPER.]
His machine was a combined reaper and mower. He placed his gearing
carriage upon two wheels,--not a mowing machine of the present
day is constructed otherwise. He jointed his cutting apparatus to
the supporting frame in order that the machine might conform to
irregularities of the surface of the ground. Again it may be said not
a mowing machine of to-day is constructed otherwise. In order to adapt
his machine to cutting grain, a detachable grain receiving platform was
applied, and a stand for a raker as well. As "manual delivery reapers"
thousands of such machines are made in America and sent to Europe,
where the self-binding harvester has not yet won its way.
These four things were new:
His cutting device;
His raker's stand;
The cutting apparatus jointed to the gearing carriage; and the
Detachable grain receiving platform. Limiting our inquiry to hand
raking reapers it is proper to say that this was the culmination.
No reaper has ever been made since that time that did not have these
elements arranged as he had combined them. In the face of historical
facts, court decisions and patent office records, printer's ink will
be wasted in vain in any attempts to win the laurels from the modest
Quaker.
[Illustration: WHEAT HARVESTING IN THE GREAT NORTH-WEST.
COPYRIGHT 1900, BY
A. W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO.]
The necessities that called for these machines were the result of the
high hopes of the pioneers of the West, who, finding natural garden
spots of dimensions greater than the scope of the eye, plowed and sowed
more than they could reap,--more than labor could there be found to
reap. Naturally, then, the first practical machines of America were
invented where the great Western fields, which, in their ripeness,
inspired inventors.
On a day, during the harvest of 1833, a group of farmers and idlers
were interested in the tests of a reaper about to be made. Mr.
Hussey's machine was started, but some disarrangement caused delay. An
incredulous young man, strong of arm, picked up the implement of one of
the cradlers, and swung it with a broad sweep into the grain, declaring
that that was a kind of a reaper to have. Mr. Hussey, though possessed
of a quiet manner characteristic of the Quaker, felt stung and asked
the bystanders to help him uphill with his machine. He then guided the
machine down it on the run, and every straw was laid upon the receiving
platform with the exactness in which it grew. The machine repaired
demonstrated its ability to such an extent that others were ordered for
the following harvest, and manufactured in a little shop on the farm of
Judge Algernon Foster, near Cincinnati, Ohio.
For the harvest of 1834 two machines were made and sold, and from that
time on have continued to be used up to the present day, where, as said
in the so-called manual delivery reapers extensively used in Europe,
they are found, substantially as constructed by him, having added
thereto only the finishing touches applied by modern mechanics.
As a mowing machine slight improvements have been made; the only
competitor for several years was one produced by Enoch Ambler, patented
in 1834.
A single supporting and driving wheel was used in Ambler's, and a
reciprocating cutting apparatus also, but the specific construction was
not like that of Mr. Hussey. It came into considerable use, and may
be considered the prototype of the single wheel reaping and mowing
machines that found their way upon the market subsequent to 1840.
With the practical features proposed by a third of a hundred inventors
carefully embodied in machines at the close of the first third of the
century, came the practical reaping and mowing machine. Nearly one-half
of the labor of the harvest field was dispensed with; the ring of the
cradle blade, when whetting after the cutting of every round, soon
ceased to be heard. The sound of the cutting device of the reaper and
mower was not so musical, but may be likened to the chuckle of one in
his ecstasy who has succeeded in his accomplishment. The burning sun
scorched but half as many laborers as before. The labor of weary ones
over the hot stove in the crude habitations on the farms was lessened.
The harvest time became less dreaded; the scarcity of help became
less felt, and the hours of labor were shortened. Homes became more
cheerful, for the farmers' wives and daughters, before called from
household duties into the burning sun, had now moments that could be
devoted to planting the rose and vines.
Reflecting upon those early days, experiences such as can soon only
be called by the artist, are brought to mind. In our imagination we
see the troop of harvest hands, arisen from an early breakfast, taken
after an hour's labor at chores, moving to the fields often before the
sun has kissed the dew from the lilies that beckon them on the way,
young women as well as young men; though with a hard day's labor before
them, they are chatting as merrily as when gathering at school in the
winter, when the labors on the farm are not so great. In those days
few children who could walk knew leisure. The babe was often taken
to the field and a still toddling youngster left in charge while the
mother bound after the cradlers. It seems as if the expression "hungry
as a hired man" must have originated on these western prairies, for
in these early days five meals a day was the rule. About mid-forenoon
two boys were spared from the field long enough to go for luncheon,
soon to return with a well-filled basket and water jugs. The cloth was
spread upon the stubble and a hasty but hearty meal spread. Perhaps
a solitary tree shaded them. So far the harvest scene resembled the
picnics we enjoy to-day. In the heat of the day an hour was taken for
rest. At mid-afternoon another lunch was served.
Then at sunset came the supper, only after which, from early morn, the
kitchen stove was permitted to lose its blush; and the milking time,
far into the starlight, while the night hawk boomed, and the rest for
the day came after bob white and the whip-poor-will had ceased their
calls.
What a change this century has wrought! One man now accomplishes as
much as sixteen did in the early days. The self-binding harvester of
to-day, through the reaping machine, was of a growth so slow that the
efforts of a third of a century were required before the reaper was
driven to the hillsides--but of this later.
A CHARMING HOME.
ANNA R. HENDERSON.
Wodie and I in the strawberry bed,
Searching for strawberries juicy and red;
Breathing the airs of a morning in spring,
Listening the notes that the meadow larks sing;
Heart beats and pulse beats keeping in tune
With all that is lovely in beautiful June.
Sharp little twitters near by us we heard;
Where was the haunt of the dear little bird?
Soon the wee nest and its nestlings we found,
Safe in a catnip bush, close to the ground;
Home of the sparrow, whose chirruping brood
Kept their four yellow mouths open for food;
By their fond mother unceasingly fed
With morsels of strawberry, fragrant and red.
"O, Mamma," said Wodie, "did ever you see
So tiny a nest in so tiny a tree?
And isn't it perfectly lovely to stay
In the spicy catnip leaves all day?
And whenever you wish for something to eat,
To dine on a slice of strawberry sweet?
To hear the father-bird singing, a tune
In the old peach tree all the afternoon,
And to be shut out from the dew at night
By the touch of mother-wings, soft and light?
I think when these dear little birdies stray
From their home in the catnip bush away,
Wherever their dear little forms may go,
In the summer's sun or the winter's snow,
They will say, as the old folks always do,
That their baby days were the best they knew."
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| Transcriber's Note: |
| |
| Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. |
| |
| Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant |
| form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. |
| |
| Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. |
| |
| Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, |
| _like this_. |
| |
| The Contents table was added by the transcriber. |
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