THE METHODS OP RAKING. 341 



to the frequent changes of the weather. It is hardly 

 necessary to say that, if it is proposed to cure in this 

 way, it should be hung up thinly, and the air should be 

 allowed to circulate through it. After being well dried, 

 it is taken down and stowed away in the barn for use. 

 This method avoids the trouble of stocking, and the 

 liability to injury from rains and dews, which blacken 

 the stalks, though it requires considerable room, and is, 

 of course, attended with some additional labor. 



Fig. 161. 



Hay, when sufficiently cured, is gathered either with 

 the common hand-rake, Fig. 164, or most frequently with 

 the horse-rake, Pigs. 165 and 166. 



This implement has come into almost universal use, 

 and no farmer of any extent would be without one. It 

 met with great opposition and encountered great ridi- 

 cule on its first introduction ; but has survived it all, and 

 become indispensable in all thrifty and economical farm- 

 ing. I shall do no more than give the authority of 

 practical farmers in ansM^er to the thirteenth question 

 of the circular, "Have you used a horse-rake; if so, what 

 patent, and with what advantage ?^^ 



To this an experienced farmer of Massachusetts thus 

 replies : " I have used various horse-rakes for fifteen 

 years. Much labor is saved by the use of any kind of 

 horse-rake that has been introduced within that time. , 



"Horse-rakes are on a footing different from mowing 



machines. Grass may be cut in the morning, in the 



evening, or in a cloudy day. But hay must be raked 



at the very right time, or it may be entirely spoiled. 



29* 



