STANDARD DAY S WORK IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 



25 



RAKING. 



The sulky rake is in much more common use than is the side- 

 delivery rako, over 200 men reportino; the use of sulky rakes, while 

 less than 40 reported side-delivery machines. Nearly everyone uses 

 two horses on these implements. (See Table XXVI.) 



Table XXVI. — Hay rakes (2 horses). 





Sulky. 



Side-delivery. 



Width. 



Number 

 • Of 



reports. 



Average 



acres per 



day. 



Number 



of 

 reports. 



Average 



acres i)er 



day. 



10 feet 



Ml 

 22 



58 



20.8 

 22. 

 23.4 



22 



20.4 



1 1 feet 





12 feet 













Most of the rakes are 10 feet in width, this size being best for 

 use with the 5-foot mowers. About 20 acres is an average day's 

 work for both the sulkj^ and side-delivery rakes of this width, and 

 just half of the men using rakes of this size estimated an average 

 day's work on their farms to be 20 acres. Twenty acres is also re- 

 ported most often for the 11 and 12 foot rakes, but on an average 

 the 12- foot rakes are shown to cover about 2^ acres per day more 

 than the 10-foot ones. 



LOADING HAY. 



Most of the hay is taken directly from the field to the mow. Very 

 few sweep rakes or stackers are in use, and no attempt was made 

 to secure data on them. The farmers were questioned only in regard 

 to their experience in loading hay by hand and with the hay loader. 

 Less than half the farmers reported the use of hay loaders. (See 

 figs. 10 and 11.) 



LOADING BY HAND. 



The most common crew for loading by hand consists of two men 

 to pitch and one man on the load. The only other crew reported by 

 more than a small percentage of farmers consisted of but two men, 

 one to pitch and one on the load. (See Table XXVII.) The aver- 

 age size of load is the same in both cases, 1.2 tons. The addition of 

 the second man to pitch reduces the time required to put on a load 

 by about 25 per cent. While the figures indicate that the two-man 

 crew is slightly more efficient than are three men, the fact that a 

 large majority of the crews consist of three men tends to show that 

 this has been found to be a better arrangement when the entire 

 haying operation is considered. 



