Ken Tronboll, age 14, of Tacome, Wash., for his question:

WHO INVENTED THE REAPING MACHINE?

A reaping machine i s used to harvest grain. Before the invention of the reaping machine, a good reaper could cut about one acre of wheat a day using a hand sickle. Large wheat crops were then impossible since part of the grain would rot before it could be harvested.

Today large wheat crops in the United States and Canada have been made possible to a large extent by the development of the reaping machine that was patented in 1834 by a man named Cyrus McCormick.

Probably no other invention has contributed so much toward increasing in man's food supply as the reaping machine.

Today farmers enjoy the harvesting thrasher, or combine as it is commonly called. This machine cuts and thrashes the grain all i n one operation. The first combine was used i n Michigan i n 1837 but the machines didn't come into general use until about 1917.