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GRAIN HARVESTING One afternoon in the early 19505 Mr. George Rogers, who was about 85 years of age, came in to the Campbell’s on the way home from his upper farm. His son Austin had hired a combine, and was harvesting grain on the back field. This was the first time the Rogers’ had ever used a combine, and prompted Mr. Rogers to recall earlier days of grain harvesting.

He told how he and his brothers: Stephen, Tom, Bill and Henry would bind the sheaves with bands oftwisted grain stalks, after his father, William, had cut the grain with a scythe. Later, they acquired a horse drawn reaper, but they still had to bind the sheaves by hand. After binding the sheaves, they were hauled to the barn and threshed with a flail. The grain, was placed on a blanket and held up to the wind to remove the chaff and dirt. A great labour saver came with the invention of “Farmers” operated by a hand crank. The next invention was the “Drum”, which was powered by horse flesh. The drum was a cylinder, studded with steel spikes or teeth, which turned over a studded concave. Horsepower was in the form of a raised, revolving platform which was higher at the front than in the rear. Horses were placed on the platform, and walked continuously uphill thus turning the floor. The floor in turn drove a shaft or axle. On the end of the shaft was a series of sprockets or cogs, and a large wooden pulley from which a belt ran to another pulley on the end of the drum shaft. Later a cleaner, which took over the work of the Farmers, was attached to the “Drum” and thus the threshing was completed in one operation. Some years later a straw carrier, then a blower, was used to take the straw to storage in the loft or bin.

Mr. Rogers, also recalled a harvest day in the late 1880s when at noon the family was returning from the same field in a truck wagon. As they emerged from the lane, and were able to see the countryside, his father exlaimed, “Look lads! What is Albert Campbell doing? He has three horses in the reaper and is driving

the wrong way around the field?’

Mr. Campbell, as they soon found out, had purchased a binder. This machine cut and bound the sheaves in one operation and was, at that time considered to be a marvellous invention. It was like a tea party at Campbell’s that afternoon as many people came to see the binder at work.

“You know”, he said then, “I’ve seen it all. Cutting and threshing in one operation. I don’t know what they ll think up next. Submitted by Lee Campbell

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