Haymaking 



7 



a gangway through from one field to another, and thus bring 

 the produce of several fields to one centre. The only draw- 

 back to this modern system is that the hay must 

 be stacked in the field where it is grown, as the sweeploads 

 cannot be taken along a road to a stack-yard or a hay-shed. 

 In the latter case some of the " loaders " used on carts with 

 frames would be the best arrangement. 



The invention of the horse-rake was one of the greatest 

 advances made in haymaking, as those will know who 

 can remember the time when the stuff was windrowed by 

 hand-rakes and forks. But now the horse-rake itself is 

 undergoing a great development — has indeed undergone it 



already. The first machines were toys — comparatively 

 speaking — alongside of those now made, but within the last 

 few years they have been gradually growing in size, until now 

 rakes of 12, 14, and 16 ft. are common. It is obvious that it 

 is a great convenience to have the rake of a size to suit the 

 widths of the swathes, and for this reason the standard size 

 in the past has been about 8 ft. wide ; but now that they are 

 made to run so easily it has been found that a much greater 

 width is quite within the power of one horse and one man to 

 handle, and a new adjustment has had to be introduced in 

 this respect A still newer improvement is the introduction 

 of the 2-horse rake of 18 to 20 feet in width, to which 

 the horses are yoked with a pole between. One man can 

 work this with a pair of horses and do as much work 



Fig. II. 



