338 IRRIGATION FARMING. 



easily put thirty tons of hay a day into stack, at a cost 

 of about thirty-five cents a ton. The great drawback 

 to these rakes is that they can be used to advantage 

 only on short and level hauls. The process of this 

 method may be seen in Fig. 70. 



Colonel Ivockhart, a leading alfalfa grower of 

 Fowler, Colorado, has simplified the gathering of cut 

 alfalfa in the field by throwing away wagons, * ' go- 

 devils," and all contrivances except a drag arrange- 

 ment of his own invention. This is composed of nine 

 boards of Texas pine an inch thick, six inches wide 

 and sixteen feet long. These are placed parallel, leav- 

 ing six inches of space between each, and all are fas- 

 tened across the ends with a 2 x 4 laid flat and loosely 

 bolted to the boards. To this is hitched a team of 

 horses, and on it nearly a ton of hay can very easily be 

 hauled to the stack. The drag is hauled alongside a 

 cock of hay. Two men with pitchforks turn over the 

 hay onto the drag, which when loaded is hauled to the 

 stack and dumped onto the sweep which carries it to 

 the top of the stack. The drag will run over all ditches 

 and obstacles, and is the best thing of its kind yet 

 devised. 



To facilitate the work of harvesting alfalfa, it is 

 well to have parallel roads thirty rods apart running 

 through the fields. These roads may be protec5led from 

 irrigating waters by ditches on either side, so that the 

 roadway at no time is flooded. This arrangement 

 allows the alfalfa to be stacked at close proximity, and 

 the plan will be found very convenient. In stacked 

 alfalfa more or less combustion takes place, and it is 

 best to provide ventilators, which may be of headless 



