July, 1933] Roughage Production in New Hampshire 33 



the eaves. Such an arraii<i'('in('nt makes it possible to eliminate^ the 

 man on tlie seaft'old or hiyli beams as well as part of the labor in the 

 mow. 



Another arrangement permits making a saving in time iinh)a(ling, 

 even in the smaller barns. Where unloading with the horse fork is 

 possible in the eenter bent of the l)arn, it iv(iuired two-tenths hours less 

 time per ton than when unloading was done through the end of the 

 barn oi- in the first bent. In barns averaging approximately 100 feet 

 ill length savings of three-tentlis liours per ton were made witii ('ciitcr 

 as compared with entlbent unloading. 



The cross-floor type of barn furnishes the greatest amount of usable 

 storage capacity at the lowest cost and permits the best use of fork or 

 slings in unloading. The elimination of all cross beams makes it pos- 

 sible to use a type of car which will carry the fork or sling load at any 

 height, doing away with the necessity of raising each fork to the track 

 to trip the car. Such an arrangement also gives the man in the mow an 

 opportunity to place the load by swinging it, doing away with nnudi 

 of the hand pitching. Slings under these conditions produce the best 

 results. 



The principal reason for these savings in labor is in the matter of 

 equipment. Wider mowers and rakes are possible. The large farms 

 averaging 93.6 acres of hay quite generally had seven-foot tractor-oper- 

 ated mowers. As the area in hay decreases the size of mower and rake 

 decreases. An organization of the work to eliminate unnecessary handl- 

 ing, cutting a larger acreage, thus making it necessary to use more haste 

 to get the hay into the barn in good condition, wall shorten the time re- 

 quired to handle hay but unless the labor saving in field handling is also 

 carried into methods of unloading, the time saved in the field may be 

 more than lost in the barn. 



The latest development in hay-unloading methods is the cutter 

 and blower. This method was not observed on any farm included in 



Table 30. Labor per ton by operations as influenced by different methods 

 of handling and by amount of hay handled. 



Operation 



Raking and curing 

 Hauling and unloading 

 Unloading with 



Hand 



Harpoon 



Grapple 

 Unloading in 



End of barn 



Middle of barn 

 Raking with 



Dump rake 



Side-delivery rake 

 Time curing when raked with 



Dump rake 



Side-delivery rake 



