47o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 9, 
Let the man who brings the empty wagon from the 
barn place it where the one who loads can attach the 
loader, and oil and get ready while the horses are being 
changed. Putting on a load of one and a half to two 
tons in good hay need occupy but about 14 to 18 min¬ 
utes, and the changing of wagons about one minute. 
The load is rushed to the barn, where two men in the 
mow, one handling the fork, and a boy to drive (if a 
horse has not been trained to do this work without a 
driver), are just emptying a wagon. By this method 
it is necessary if one works full time drawing to have 
at least three good men on mow and loading. The 
other help can be cheap. Three wagons, three mowers 
and three teams are necessary, but it is possible to put 
up an average of 24 loads, or from 35 to 50 tons of hay 
a day. This will mean work, and will require bravery, 
for it takes courage to start mowers into a field when 
the weather is uncertain, but with the tedder the rain¬ 
storm has lost much of its terror, and the hay is hurt 
but little if wet after being cut. Ted the hay twice if 
necessary; it is work well spent, for hay tedded is worth 
a dollar a ton more to feed than hay that is simply sun- 
cured in the swath. Where farms are too small to war¬ 
rant the investment, or it is impossible to hire, a few 
neighbors can join in the purchase and use of tools, and 
unite in the use of their teams, wagons and mowers. 
My first experience in this way in 1904 was during 
a period when heavy rains were often coming, and we 
were unusually embarrassed in that way, but while we 
were not able to run steady as I have described, we 
were able when not doing so to keep all hands busy, 
mowing, tedding, gleaning, etc. I personally operated the 
loader, the hardest place, but also the key to the situa¬ 
tion, for as I hurried the hay to the barns the others 
caught the spirit, and hustled to have the floors cleared 
on the arrival of each succeeding load. The sight of a 
constant stream of well-cured hay moving from meadow 
to mow, no human strength required save in a minor 
way in loading and in placing about in the mow, inspired 
the men to do their best, and it was a most pleasant 
experience for us all. o. o. wiard. 
Crawford Co., Pa. 
Wife and Girl to Help. 
Last year I cut 10 tons of hay, first crop, from a field 
of 3(4 acres without a hired man. For help I had the 
aid of my wife and a girl of 13 years and a pair of 
horses. For implements I used a two-horse mowing 
machine, hay tedder, horse rake, hay wagon and a horse 
power hay fork in the barn. I had previously heavily 
seeded and fertilized this field. When I set out with 
my mowing machine to mow a few swaths I found the 
grass so heavy that I knew with good weather and two 
strong men it would be hard work to cure it and get it 
in the barn without incurring considerable risk of spoil¬ 
ing through showers. So I telephoned for a hay tedder. 
I would not try to hay without one. There is nothing 
equal to a good hay tedder to cure hay and put it in 
a good marketable condition in the least possible time. 
With seven good strong forks working twice as fast 
as the same number of men could do, hay cut in the 
morning can be cured and made ready to get in by 
afternoon if the weather is favorable. This is the way 
I managed my haying and found it very satisfactory: 
Early in the morning I mowed enough to make four 
good loads. Then while trimming out around the edges 
my wife kept the hay tedder running back and forth 
across the fields, with an occasional half hour rest, until 
noon. After dinner the girl began raking the hay in 
windrows with the horse rake, while my wife loaded the 
hay as I pitched it on. I do not stop to bunch the hay, 
for after raking in windrows the horse rake has time 
to run around and gather the scatterings together as I 
pitch it up from the short windrows. Then as the load 
is going to the barn I take the horse from the rake and 
hitch it to the hay fork, which, by the way, is another 
time and labor saver. While my wife is running the 
fork on the load I climb to the loft and level the hay 
as it drops off the fork. My girl of 13 drives the horse 
back and forth as she pulls up each forkful of hay. 
In my barn it has always taken three men to unload 
and store away the hay. Since putting in a hay fork 
I have unloaded several loads alone. When I do this 
I send up two forkfuls and drop them and leave the 
third all ready to drop; then I go up and level the first 
two, drop the third, level that, and then go back on the 
load and send up the last forkful. Four forkfuls are 
an ordinary sized load, and a load can be easily un¬ 
loaded in five minutes. The horse soon learned to obey 
my commands as I shouted from the barn. 
Every day the weather was not as favorable as the 
first two days, so the hay sometimes had to be left in the 
windrows until the next day. In the early morning 
after mowing four loads I shook out the old hay while 
my wife was running the tedder on the freshly-cut grass. 
Just before noon we could usually get in the old hay, 
and get in the morning hay in the afternoon. My wife 
said the work is light, as it is all done by horse power, 
and she would rather ride the hay tedder or load hay on 
a bright Summer day than stay in the house and work 
in a hot kitchen cooking dinners for hired men, as a 
simple dinner for a hungry family of three is easy to 
prepare in the early morning and the good appetites 
gained in the open air all that is needed to make plain 
food appetizing. In regard to the coming season, she Is 
anticipating great things in the way of hot dinners pre¬ 
pared in her “hay box.” W. D. E. 
New Hampshire. 
With Two Small Boys. 
About three years ago, while living in Illinois, we 
found ourselves with 50 tons of hay to put in the barn, 
and hands very scarce. I concluded to make a beginning 
THE GOOD OLD WAY. Fig. 189. 
with only the help of my two boys, seven and nine years 
old. The barn was large and free from cross beams, so 
we could pile in load after load with the horse fork, and 
the moving away was done at odd times by rolling down 
to the sides from the top of the pile. The double-trees 
for the rope team were carried on a pair of wheels, so 
that the boy who drove did not have to hold them off 
the horses’ heels. Having two mowers, the oldest boy 
and I went to mowing first thing in the morning, and 
soon had enough cut for a day’s hauling. We kept 
enough ahead so that we could begin hauling as soon 
as the dew was well dried off, and by using a hay loader 
were able to get into the barn about seven loads per 
day, not working very hard. We could have done bet¬ 
ter by pushing, but did not think best to. The loads 
averaged about three-fourths of a ton each. The hay 
loader was a swath loader, requiring only one man to 
load after it. We could have made a somewhat better 
quality of hay by using a tedder, or better, a side-deliv- 
TI-IE MAN WITH THE SCYTHE. Fig. 190. 
ery hay rake. If I were getting a new outfit for putting 
up hay with the least help I would want a swath and 
windrow loader, a side-delivery rake, a sulky rake (for 
raking after) and a well-arranged barn to unload into. 
We have several years put 40 to 60 tons of hay in stack 
with two men and two boys, using a derrick and a large 
two-horse gatherer to bring in the hay. We have al¬ 
ways found two mowers a great advantage, as the cut¬ 
ting then occupied but little time and could be done 
when the hay was too damp to handle. 
Virginia. geo. w. bliss. 
Man and Boy—Fifty Tons. 
The farm is compact, so that no time is lost covering 
long drives between loads; free from stone and all of 
it practically available for team work. Labor is high, 
hard to secure, and incompetent, both in skill and 
strength, For men boarding themselves, for a 10-hour 
day, with one hour nooning, we pay $2 per day during 
haying; general farm work for same length of time 
$1.75 per day. Man with two-horse team, nine hours, 
$4.50 per day; man with two-horse mowing machine, $1 
per hour. The entire crop here, estimated at 50 tons, 
divided into English, Meadow and millet, was taken care 
of by the man and his 14-year-old son. A two-horse 
mowing machine begins to mow at 3 P. M., cutting suffi¬ 
cient to cover the next day’s work. This is left flat 
over night, and until the dew has time to dry in the 
morning. The tedder then goes over it thoroughly; 
then it is raked up and cocked by the horse rake. This 
rake also rakes up the gleanings of the field after the 
cocks are all loaded. A two-horse 12-foot rigging re¬ 
ceives the loads, the man loading while the boy pitches. 
Large even loads are the rule. The load is driven to 
the barn, the whole upper story of which is hay bays, 
and fitted with a hay fork and track. The load is 
backed in, then the hay fork takes up and drops in 
the bay a couple of forkfuls, which the man then levels; 
then the remainder of the load is handled in the same 
manner. The boy attends to the horse carrying the 
rope, while the hay fork is unloading. A few minutes 
unloads and mows away the entire load of practically a 
ton. The boy prefers to pitch, but can load and mow 
away in good shape. Fodder crops are also grown, 
together with vegetables for retail trade, including sev¬ 
eral acres of potatoes, all of which are taken care of and 
retailed by the man and boy, whom it is needless to say, 
work more than eight hours per day. If you board the 
man you pay from $25 to $40 per month, including 
laundry work. Boys receive from $15 to $20 per month 
if competent. seegia wierne. 
Massachusetts. 
The Tools for Hay and Beans. 
I have the prize hay and bean tools, have used them 
myself and can write from experience. We had hay 
forks at home as far back as I can remember, and when 
slings came we tried them, but gave up using them sev¬ 
eral years ago, and use a double grapple fork, and like 
it better than slings. We use a six-foot cut mower, and 
as soon as hay wilts a little go over with a tedder, and 
if very heavy go over again with the tedder; then before 
the hay is entirely dry start the side delivery rake. The 
side delivery leaves the hay up light and loose, and if 
there are any green spots will help them cure. With a 
side-delivery rake one can always get the driest hay, as 
you can follow around the lot the same as with the 
mower. Our loader is the Deere, and for light draft 
and clean work on any kind of crop cannot be improved, 
but it elevates with a carrier, and will not discharge 
as high up on a load as will a loader that discharges 
with a push-kicker. The loader has a float drum with 
spring wire fingers, and will not break on any kind of 
stone or rough land, and will pick up hay cocks as well 
as loose hay. But of all the tools the hay rack is the 
pride of the farm, and is the best of the labor-saving 
outfit, for it is a new idea. The main rack is flat, and any 
length wanted; ours is 8x16 feet, and has no standard 
on front end, but has a loose rack on rollers half the 
length, and that has a standard and rolls back to the 
hind half, and is loaded first. When loaded it cranks 
ahead, and the hind half is ready for a load. In un¬ 
loading the fork does not pull the load to pieces, for 
each end is loaded by itself. The Dain side-delivery 
rake will more than keep up in bean harvesting with 
two teams cutting, and will do the work better than 
men, and not shell as many beans. Part of our beans 
last year were never touched by a man and fork until 
on the load, cut with cutter, shaken out with side-deliv¬ 
ery rake, and loaded with loader and unloaded with hay 
fork (and the money spent with a touring car). 
Orleans Co., N. Y. clark allis. 
CULTIVATING POTATOES AND CORN. 
Our custom for cultivating potatoes is, as soon as 
they begin to come through the ground or earlier, to 
run a cultivator through the middle of the rows, with 
two horses; run as deep as possible, then put on the 
Thomas harrow and level down. This is done more 
especially to destroy weed growth. Cultivate deeper the 
second time, then put on the weeder, which we are 
doing now. We cultivate deep until the potatoes are 
about 12 inches high; then we begin to throw up dirt 
toward potatoes, and later on throw up dirt to form a 
ridge. This enables us to use potato digger more suc¬ 
cessfully. 
Our treatment of corn is as follows: As soon as corn 
is up. so we can see it in the row, we use the cultivator, 
either one or two horses, running shallow. We never 
use a plow in this day. except the Riggs, which is prac¬ 
tically a cultivator, and can be regulated to any desired 
depth. We do not purposely hill up corn; at cultivation 
we aim to get through our cornfield four times, or even 
five, somewhat depending on weather conditions. We 
never work the soil if too wet if we can avoid it either 
for potatoes or corn. Our last plowing for corn is 
immediately after harvest. We do not plow potatoes 
any later than that, except to keep weeds destroyed be¬ 
tween the rows, P. C. LEWISi 
New Jersey, 
