The stalks of the grain can be cut as low or as high as one
pleases, but it is usually thought best to take only the heads.
Afterward the standing straw is burned, or fed off, upright.
The impelling power which causes the great fabric to advance also
sets in motion the machinery within it As soon as the heads of the
grain are severed from the stalks, they pass into a receptacle,
where, by a very quick and simple process, the kernels are separated
from the husks. Thence all goes into a fanning machine, where the
chaff is blown away. The clean grain falls into a small bin, whence
it is raised by a screw elevator to a height that enables it to pass
out at an opening to which a bag is attached. Wagons follow the slow
march of the machine, and the proper number of men are in
attendance. Bag after bag is renewed, until a wagon is loaded, when
it at once proceeds to the mill, where the grain is soon converted
into flour. Generally the husbandman sells to the miller, but
occasionally he pays for making the flour, and sends the latter off,
by railroad, to Detroit, whence it finds its way to Europe,
possibly, to help feed the millions of the old world.
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