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.
GLADSTONE REAPER.