STANDARD DAY S WORK IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 
25 
RAKING. 
The sulky rake is in much more common use than is the side- 
delivery rake, over 200 men reporting 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 Jwrses), 
Sulky. 
Side-delivery. 
Width. 
Number 
of 
reports. 
Average 
acres per 
day. 
Number 
of 
reports. 
Average 
acres per 
day. 
10 foot : 
141 
22 
58 
20.8 
220 
23.4 
22 
20.4 
11 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 sull^y 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 J 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. 
