360 FARM MANAGEMENT 



medium draft, and may be expected to cut about 8 acres 

 per day, or about 64 acres in the haying season. 



But if one wishes to do most of the mowing in the late 

 afternoon and early morning, so as to have all the teams 

 haul in hay during the dry part of the day, he will want 

 two machines. There is also a considerable advantage in 

 having two machines in order to have two teams mowing 

 at times when not otherwise busy. There is also a gain 

 in safety ; if one machine breaks down, the other can go 

 on with the work. Most farmers who have over fifty 

 acres to cut like to have two mowers. One of these may 

 be an old one. 



A 9-foot hay tedder or hay rake is fairly light draft 

 and may be made to cover 12 to 15 acres, or even more, 

 per day, so that in 8 days one of these will do the work on 

 about 100 acres if kept going, but the process of hay 

 curing does not allow steady use. The hay should be 

 tedded and raked at the proper time. Farmers usually 

 desire an additional tedder or rake if they have over 60 or 

 75 acres of timothy hay. 



In parts of the wheat country, the work that a binder 

 can do is of great importance. In regions where there is 

 danger of storms, the wheat should be cut in a period of 

 one or two weeks. An eight-foot binder, drawn by four 

 good horses, is a fairly rapidly moving machine. It may 

 be expected to cut 12 acres a day. Sometimes horses 

 and men are changed, and the machines kept going all 

 the day and most of the night, in order to get the grain 

 cut. If there are over 100 acres of wheat to cut, it is 

 usually considered desirable to have two machines. 



Similar estimates may be made for any machine, but 

 practical experience in the region is the final guide to 

 follow. 



