24 



BUU:,ETIN 814, V. S. DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTUKE. 



these factors into account in the tables below. The average yield 

 per cutting of all hay as given in these reports was 1-6 tons per acre. 



MOWING. 



Table XXIV gives the average acreage per clay cut by 5 and 6 

 foot mowers. Only about 1 farmer in 40 reported the use of a 7- 

 foot mower, and not one stated he was using an 8- foot machine. 

 It will be seen that there are more than three times as many 5-foot 

 mowersi in use as 6-foot machines. As compared with the 5-foot 

 mower, the 6-foot implement increases the efficiency of man and 

 horse labor by about 15 per cent, and the 7 and 8 foot sizes would 

 result in correspondingly greater increases. However, when mowing 

 hay is such a small task, many farmers saying they have never used 

 a mowing machine a full day, they evidently consider the invest- 

 ment in the larger and more expensive machines inadvisable. The 

 smaller sizes are also more satisfactory for mowing weeds at the 

 roadside and along fence rows. 



Table XXIV. — Mowing macMne. 



Width of 

 swath. 



Number 

 of reports. 



Acres per day. 



Average. 



Acreage most often 

 reported. 



Feet. 

 5 



6 



322 

 101 



10.4 

 11.9 



10(158 reports), 

 no (S5 reports) . 

 \15 (27 reports). 



TEDDING. 



About one-third of the farmers use hay tedders. Those reported 

 range from 5 to 12 feet in width, and two horses are used on nearly 

 all of them. An average day's work for the 8 and 10 foot widths 

 is shown in Table XXV. There were not enough reports on any of 

 the other sizes to give reliable averages. As both the 8- and 10-foot 

 machines cover on an average a little over 2 acres per day per foot 

 of width, the 10-foot tedder covers about 4 acres more per day than 

 the 8-foot machine. 



Table XXV. — Tedder {2 horses). 



Width. 



Number 

 of reports. 



Acres per day. 



Average. 



Acreage most ofcen 

 reported. 



Feet. 



8 



10 



77 

 58 



17.0 

 20.8 



/15 (20 reports). 

 \20 (^6 reports). 

 m (27 reports). 

 \25 (is reports). 



