Two hundred years ago,
harvesting and threshing
grain was slow, backbreaking
handwork. But by 1850, a
series of inventions was
transforming the work of
harvesting, and the American
farm.
Here, in authentic recreations,
is the story of that transformation: the sickle and
grain cradle; building
wheat stacks; the reaper
and binder; early “ground-
hog” threshers; horse tread
and sweep powers; the “jump”
hay press; the great era of
“threshing rings”, with huge
threshing machines powered
by steam traction engines;
the tractor-pulled and
self-propelled combine.
Shot primarily in Lancaster
County PA, where the Amish
still use the machines and
methods of yesterday, with
the support of the Rough &
Tumble Engineers Historical
Association.