Q13 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
Halsted’s Hay Fork Attachment. 
A. M. Halsted, G7 Pearl-st., Ncw-York City, 
communicates, for the benefit of farmers, an 
unpatented improvement to be used in connee- 
tion with a horse liay fork, for carrying the hay 
to the fartlier side of a wide mow, or dropping 
it at an intermediate point. He describes and 
Fig. 1.—UAY FORK ATTACHMENT IN PLACE. 
explains it thus, by a referenee to the following 
illustrations and letters. Fig. 1 represents the 
attachment put up in a barn ready for operation, 
X, X, is an iron rod I inch diameter, and of the 
necessary length for the barn in which it is to 
be placed. On one end is a loop (</, fig. 2,) and 
the other end is threaded and a nut with a Jian- 
dle put on so as to avoid using a wrench— a and 
I>, are two pulleys hung together, the upper of 
which, a, runs on the iron rod, x; the, hoisting 
or draft rope passes over the lowe?' pulley (5); 
f, fig. 2 , is one of two hooks of a bar hooked 
at each end, fastened to a cross-piace, securely 
bolted or spiked to the two rafters near the cen¬ 
ter of the barn ; and about 2 to 2h feet below 
the ridge pole. The loop end of the rod x, passes 
over one of the hooks, and the other end 
through a cross-piece (7t), fastened on the fur¬ 
ther side of two rafters a little back of the cen¬ 
ter of the mow. This cross-piece should be 
placed as near the peak, or ridge pole as the 
traveler pully will allow. The rod x, should be 
screwed up tigld by the hand nut. C, is a hook 
hinged or fastened to the axis of the pulley a, and 
dropping into the loop g. D, is a trip rod fiist- 
ened to the hook and passing over it, and em¬ 
bracing the rod x, as shown in fig. 2 , thus keep¬ 
ing the hook in proper position. This termi¬ 
nates in a loop, e, at the lower end, through 
which passes the draft rope. 1 , fig. 1 , is the first 
pulley fastened in the peak, or to the ridge pole 
or rafters, anywhere beyond the termination of 
the iron rod. 2 , is the second pulley fastened 
to the plate over the door, and 3 the third pul¬ 
ley or ^'snatch Uock.” 
Fig. 2.—halsted’s hay fork attachment. 
"When the fork is loaded it rises perpendicu¬ 
larly until the knob, k, (fig. 1 ,) meets and pushes 
up the trip rod, d, e, fig. 2 , thus releasing the hook 
which keeps the traveler pulleys (a, b,) in place. 
The fork then is dratra along and up the rod, 
until relieved of the load. When the horse 
backs, the double pulley runs back down the rod 
by its gravity, and the hook (c) falls into the loop 
{g). The fork continues to descend to the load. 
A forkful of hay can thus be taken over any 
upper girt, not nearer than C or 7 fqet to the 
ridge pole; and by using a long way rod x, can 
be carried to the third bay from the floor. This 
arrangement is being used in connection with 
the fork advertised in this paper by the same 
inventor, and will be furnished by him. 
The Best Wagon Hay Figging. 
The accompanying illustration represents a 
convenient, light and strong hay rigging, which 
is considered by many good farmers superior 
to any now in use, and we have never met 
with its equal. It can be made of light or heavy 
timber. The following are the dimensions of 
the various parts of one made for our own use: 
The sills (B,) are of basswood,^ 16 feet long, 2^ 
inches thick and 8 inches deep. Pine, whitewood, 
or other light timber will make good ones. 
These sills are held two feet apart by four cross¬ 
sills of hard wood 2 inches thick and 6 wide, 
having a tenon on each end inches thick, 
and pinned firmly in the mortices. The object 
of placing the sills so near together is, to give 
the forward wheels more play when turning 
around. When the sills are placed against the 
stakes in the bolsters of the wagon, it is impos¬ 
sible to turn short around. Two saddle pieces, 
(E. E.) of hard wood, 2 inches thick and 3 wide, 
with gains in the ends to receive the wagon 
stakes, are bolted to the under side of the long 
sills (B). These rest on the bolsters of the wag¬ 
on, and hold the rigging in place as well as if 
the sills were against the stakes. The arms, 
(A. A.) are made of hard wood, 4 inches wide 
by li thick at the lower end, where they go 
through the cross sills. The upper ends are li 
inches square. In order to set these arms at 
the right inclination, place the sills on the wag¬ 
on, and lay out the mortises through the 
cross-sills so slanting, that the arms will not 
rest on the hind wheels. This will bring the 
top of the rigging quite low. If it is desirable 
to have a wide rigging, let the arms be made 
long. Six or seven feet is sufficiently broad for 
a large one. The arms should fit the mortises 
in the cross-sills closely, but not so tightly that 
they cannot be removed without driving them 
out. Three or four slats, (H. H.) are secured 
to the arms (A. A.) with slim carriage bolts, 
which may be obtained at hardware stores, 
much cheaper than they can be made by hand. 
A tight bottom is made of inch boards; and 
when hauling grain, we had pieces of half-inch 
stuff fitted nicely betw’een all the slats to catch 
the loose grain. A cross piece C, of hard tough 
wood, 3 inches wide by li inch thick, is bolted 
[JULT, 
to the end pair of arms at bolh ends of the rig¬ 
ging. The sides of the ladder, D, are made 
of small, light pieces and hard wood rounds, 
and the lower ends of the sides enter holes in 
the bottom of the rigging. It is usually most 
convenient to lay the ladder dowm, except when 
putting on a load. It is better to make tlic 
ladder wdde at the bottom, and not more than 
a foot w'ide at the top. The most convenient 
W'ay to remove such a rigging from the wagon 
is, to have two small pulle 3 ^s at each end of the 
rigging attached to a beam in the barn, and 
raise it bodily from the wagon, and let it be 
suspended. In such a place-it will always be 
out of the wuiy, and under shelter. If painted 
and kept housed, such a rigging will last years. 
■ ^ - 
MAKNEU OP DRAWING UAY WITH A ROPE. 
Drawing Hay with a Rope- 
It is very desirable always to devise the best 
and most economical means to facilitate hard 
labor in making and securing hay, as well as 
in doing other kinds of work. For this purpose, 
many farmers make use of a rope and horse to 
haul hay cocks, either to the barn, or slack^ 
where the distance is short. The illustration 
represents a horse in the act of 
drawing a cock of hay. One 
end of a I inch rope, about 
twenty feet long, is fastened to 
the left trace, and placed around 
the bottom of the cock, then 
through a ring in the hames of 
the harness, and held 113 ' the 
rider. The end ol the rope 
should be sew'ed through and 
through, with a strong leather 
string, in eveiy direction, for 
two or three inches, to keep it 
from unraveling. A knot in 
the end of the rope is objection¬ 
able as it will hinder its being drawn out of 
the hay readily. In order to prevent the cock 
from being drawn over tow'ards the horse, lift 
up the hay all around the bottom, and thrust 
the rope under it with one foot. It will then 
be moved off so cleanly, that it will seldom be 
necessary to rake the scattering spears, where 
the cock stood. By hitching two horses to the 
rope, one at each end, and starting at the end 
of a windrow, letting the horses travel close to 
the windrow, four or six hundred pounds of ha 3 ' 
may be collected in a bunch, as fast as a horse 
can walk, and hauled, with the team on a trot, 
to the barn. When the horses first start, how¬ 
ever, a man or boy should thrust a fork into the 
hay, and press downwards on it, until the rope 
is well loaded. As soon as the cock is drawn to 
the desired place, one rider lets go the end of 
the rope and the horse draws it out of the hay. 
The principal advantages of drawing ha 3 ' in 
this manner are: It save much hard labor of 
pitching it on a wagon; two small boys who 
