ARTIFICIAL DRYING OF FORAGE CROPS 1 7 



blown or conveyed into a bin or haymow. The problem of bagging the 

 chopped forage is aggravated by the fact that comparatively small 

 quantities of it can be packed in a bag. Chopped forage can be baled 

 by using especially rugged balers. Baling of artificially dried forage 

 is, however, not recommended for either chopped or whole hay with 

 present available equipment. The leafy and fine stem portions of the 

 whole hay shatter badly if baled as it emerges from the drier. Chopped 

 hay from a drier, due to its short length, is more difficult to bale than 

 chopped field-cured hay. 



The unloading of trucks and wagons can be accomplished in several 

 ways by means of a power hoist or horse-drawn unloading fork. The 

 green forage can be placed convenient for those who feed the chopper 

 or drier. Oftentimes trucks or wagons are provided with dump bodies. 

 By means of the hay-carrier fork and track system, bunches of hay 

 can be picked up after they are dumped and placed conveniently 

 near the cutter. However, there are a great variety of schemes by 

 which the material can be brought close to the point where it is re- 

 quired. In anchoring the chopper, for instance, it can be so placed 

 that the feeding conveyor is practically at the ground level, thereby 

 saving a great amount of lifting of wet forage. The use of machines 

 in process of development by commercial firms for harvesting, chop- 

 ping, and loading into a wagon or truck in the field will doubtless 

 reduce labor requirements at the drier. 



The following points should be kept in mind regarding drier opera- 

 tion: 



1. For a drum drier the forage should be reduced to a uniform size, 

 the size of the particles not being greater than about three-eighths 

 of an inch in any one dimension. 



2. The inlet temperature should be kept as high as possible, pref- 

 erably around 1,400° to 1,500° F. Temperatures in excess of these 

 can be used although corrosion of the brick and steel work may occur 

 more readily at temperatures in excess of 1,500°. 



3. The temperature of the exhaust gases should range between 

 200° and 250° F. for a drum drier, depending upon the initial moisture 

 content of the forage. 



4. The furnace, drum, fan, and dust collector should be close- 

 coupled to eliminate piping resistance. 



5. Conveying chopped forage pneumatically may be accomplished 

 at the expenditure of slightly greater amounts of power than by drag 

 conveyors. Pneumatic conveying of the dried product allows for 

 greater flexibility than do drag methods. However, from the stand- 

 point of fire prevention, any smoldering sparks of forage will be more 

 readily detected in the open conveyor than in other systems of con- 

 veying. For horizontal runs of pneumatic systems the air velocity 

 should be in the neighborhood of 4,000 feet per minute. 



6. The matter of fire prevention is important at the forage-drying 

 plant. Unforeseen stoppages and break-downs may result in fire 

 outbreak. Convenient garden-hose connections with short pieces of 

 hose will repay themselves many times over in extinguishing fires in 

 their incipiency. Forage driers should not be placed in barns or 

 buildings where quantities of inflammable farm products are stored. 

 An inexpensive fire-resistant shelter for the drying plant can be 

 made from second-hand steel pipe and corrugated sheet-metal roofing. 



