Abstract: A row of transversely spaced guide fingers projects forwardly from the header of a harvesting machine to permit flow of the crop between the fingers into the sickle, wherein adjacent pairs of the fingers are staggered in length and present a space therebetween having a transverse width of at least approximately forty percent of the center-to-center width of adjacent pairs of fingers to thereby enhance free crop flow and minimize loss of severed, grain-bearing heads.