HARVESTING THE CROP 85 



puller, together, where the vines remain to dry. Es- 

 timating that five men can pull and pile one acre 

 of beans in a day, the boy and girl pictured, in pul- 

 ling with the machine and raking out of the dirt 

 with the side delivery rake, equaled the combined 

 efforts of .10 men. This, since they handle 8 acres 

 in a day which is the average work for one of these 

 machines. 



Farmers who use side delivery rakes for gathering 

 the bean crop, almost invariably go a step further 

 and use a hay loader in getting the beans on to the 

 wagon at hauling time. The frontispiece of this 

 book gives an idea of the manner in which this work 

 is done. As in drawing hay, the loader is attached 

 to the rear of the wagon and the team driven astride 

 the rows of vines left by side delivery rake. The 

 load can be taken on as rapidly as a team of horses 

 will walk. One man on the road can place the vines 

 with little tramping around, and if the team does not 

 follow the row, a boy for teamster comes in good 

 play. While the rank and file of bean growers in 

 large growing districts have not adopted the side de- 

 livery rake and the hay loader, it is being seriously 

 considered by increasing numbers. They recognize 

 the importance of labor saving devices in this day of 

 high priced labor and the unsolved problem of sat- 

 isfactory farm help. I have seen an ordinary horse 

 rake used for getting the beans, as left by the puller, 

 out of the dirt, but I must say it has always ap- 

 peared to me a very unsatisfactory and expensive 

 manner of performing this operation. Farmers who 

 have tried the standard horse rake and the side 

 delivery rake, speak decidedly in favor of them. 



