How Oats Are Threshed

Seven Hundred and Five Bushels in 2:25 hours

RECORD AT H. DEPUE's

His Oats Were Quickly Threshed Friday at his Fine Farm in Pittsfield

The Daily Argus some time ago published an interview with Dr. P. B. Rose, who told how threshing was done in Ohio many years ago. The account interested Henry DePue, of the gravel road, one of the prosperous farmers of Pittsfield. At his request the Daily Argus representative visited Mr. DePue's farm Friday. Here he saw a modern threshing outfit in charge of Clinton Allmendinger, one of the veteran threshers of the county. Mr. Allmendinger has been engaged in the business for 30 years. His care of his machinery and the way his work is done is proverbial. His outfit consists of an engine, threshing machine, tank, wagon, etc. The machine was placed in Mr. DePue's barn and the engine 100 feet away. The oats on which the work was done were exceptionally heavy.

In two hours and 25 minutes 705 bushels of oats were threshed.

The work was very interesting and the way the men worked hardly gave them breathing room. One of the modern improvements of the machine was the way the oats were delivered into bags. After being threshed, it was carried up and poured into a hopper, which emptied into a conductor as soon as it held 34 pounds. The conductor led into a bag which, as soon as filled, was taken away. This kept one man busy, as the machine was working at the rate of 300 bushels an hour, 26 bundles being fed in in 30 seconds. Another great convenience about the machine is that there is a blower that takes up nearly all the dust. This is a revolution in itself, compared with 20 years ago, when men were almost suffocated and threshing was considered one of the most unhealthy occupations. The stacking apparatus is an innovation in that it is so arranged that it can turn an angle, giving an opportunity to place the stack where the farmer most desires it. What would farmers of years ago have thought of threshing 700 bushels of oats in less than two hours and a half. To do all this work three men are needed at the table of the machine, three to fork bundles, one to fill and remove bags and three on the stack. In addition to these, Mr. Allmendinger himself does the general supervision necessary. His engineer is E. Guenther, with Frederick Schlee and William Heller as feeders on me machine. An old farmer, as has been mentioned, would be most struck with the absence of the great clouds of dust formerly always enveloping work of this kind. Mr. Depue's oats were very long and heavy.

Mr. Depue has a comfortable home, on a high spot in Pittsfield. From the porches around the house, five townships - Pittsfield, Ann Arbor, Superior, Scio and Lodi - can be seen. His home gives evidence of good taste on the part of Mrs. Depue and himself, the walls being adorned with fine engravings and pictures. The life of an independent farmer enjoyed in the country, must be seen to be fully appreciated.