Vol. LXVI. No. 2991. NEW YORK, MAY 25, 1907. weekly, «.oo per year. 
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THE HORSE HANDLES THE HAY. 
Tools for Handling the Crop. 
MACHINERY AND ITS CARE.—Each succeeding 
year, as the bay making season approaches, farmers are 
confronted with a greater scarcity of help. The situation 
has become so acute that instead of worrying about 
where the necessary help is to come from he has 
begun to study to determine what labor-saving devices 
are best adapted to his conditions. As no other crop 
needs such prompt and careful attention as the hay, it 
is necessary to secure it with as little delay as possible. 
Taking them somewhat in the order of their use, I 
shall mention the various modern hay-making tools, 
and their connection with securing the hay crop in 
the Middle West and East. The first and most essen¬ 
tial of these, the mower, should be put in good shape 
before the haying season arrives. The real heart of 
the mower is the cutter bar, and its appurtenances. 
See that the bar is approximately parallel with the 
main axle. After a few years’ use the bar will sag 
more or less, and this alone has sent many a mower 
none at all. Better use a new guard for a pattern. Last 
season a neighbor bought a whole new set of guards 
because, as he expressed it, the old ones were played 
out, while all the trouble was that he had lessened the 
width of the slot till the grass would draw in and choke 
the machine. A great labor-saving device is the sickle 
grinder. With it one can sharpen a set of knives in 
half the time it takes two on the old-fashioned grind¬ 
stone. Besides, the grinder does a better job, and 
adds to the life of the knives. The modern mower 
has a spring which assists in raising the cutter-bar. 
Many dealers anxious to show prospective customers 
how easily the cutter bar to their make of 1110 ‘wers may 
be handled, adjust this spring so tightly as to throw 
the weight of the bar upon the horses’ necks, and the 
owner begins to wonder why his horses’ necks get sore. 
Set the bar to ride as lightly as possible, thus to a 
certain extent doing away with side-draft if there be 
any, and if the machine draws from the cutter-bar in¬ 
stead of from the tongue, there will be no difficulty 
with either side-draft or neck-weight. I use a machine 
cutting six feet, but seven feet would be better, as the 
to buy the side-delivery, as it is seldom necessary to 
use the rake. About the only reason for using one at 
all is to avoid so much driving with the heavy loader. 
If the hay is thin enough to warrant raking it is best 
to mow in strips and rake crosswise. As intimated, 
the loader draws heavy, and unless one has a fair¬ 
sized team it is better to use three horses. For this 
puipose T have known some to attach the three-horse 
evener from a grain binder to the wagon tongue. The 
sketch on next page, by E. L. Vincent in the Farm 
Journal, shows a very efficient three-horse evener. 
However, in heavy hay or where the hay is raked, the 
team stops' frequently enough to give plenty of rest. 
In using the above evener it will be necessary to* 
shorten the traces, then put, if they have cock-eye ends, 
long wire links of sufficient strength in the cock-eyes to 
use when drawing hay into the mow. In this way it 
will not be necessary to carry heavy double trees. 
THE HAY RACK .—I prefer a hay rack not less 
than seven feet wide; eight is better, as it prevents 
the hay from dropping off the sides, as it will occas¬ 
ionally when starting a load if the wind is blowing and 
WHERE SIDE-DELIVERY RAKE AND LOADER MAKE PLAY OF HAY-MAKING. Fig. 198. 
to the scrap heap. Some mowers are provided with a 
very simple device for taking up this sag. If the knives 
are badly worn or nicked, replace them with new ones, 
which cost from three to five cents. A cold chisel, 
punch and hammer are all the tools necessary. In put¬ 
ting in the new knives be sure that the rivets fit snug¬ 
ly into the holes in the knife and bar, for if they do 
not they will soon become loose and cut off. If the 
rivets are a little too small, after placing them in posi¬ 
tion strike them a heavy blow squarely on the end. 
This will expand them and do away with the difficulty 
mentioned. Do not allow the knives to become dull 
as this causes the machine to run hard, and takes 
several years from its usefulness. Grind or file the 
<tdge of the ledger plate, if of the smooth edge style, 
so that the upper corners are square and sharp. This 
will very materially lessen the draft of an old mower. 
For this purpose I use a 16-inch mill file. These cost 
about four times as much as a common file, but for 
rough work, such as sharpening hoes, spades, disks to 
the plow and harrow are much more rapid and last 10 
times as long. An old mower is often improved by 
pounding down the upper part of the guard, thus les¬ 
sening the width of the slot in which the knives run. 
However, one must use great care in doing this, as 
just a little too much pounding will be worse than 
loader then would take up one swath and do clean 
work. It takes up two 4J /2 foot swaths fairly well. 
THE HAY LOADER.—In selecting a loader it is well 
for those not familiar with this tool to get the advice 
of those familiar with the advantages and disadvantages 
of the various makes. Some will not do good work 
in very heavy hay, or take from the windrows; some 
have an unhandy hitch; while others will not build so 
high a load. Some dealers put out a loader that does 
quite satisfactory work, bat which requires one to get 
off the load to cut the loader loose. This is a great in¬ 
convenience, as well as loss of time. The best hitch 
I am familiar with enables one, if he is careful, to back 
up and hook to the loader automatically, and when the 
load is on to cut loose from the top of the load. I 
mention these things, as they are of greater importance 
than the uninitiated would think. There are three dif¬ 
ferent makes in use in this section, all of which are 
very satisfactory. There are other makes, but these 
three seem to be in a class by themselves. 
RAKING.—Where the hay is very thin it is advisable 
to rake it into light windrows. For this purpose the 
side-delivery rake is the most satisfactory, as one 
may drive lengthwise of the field, thus saving a great 
amount of turning with both rake and loader. How 
ever, if one has the common dump rake it will not pay 
there is but one on the wagon. If the rack does not 
have boards covering the whole rack it will be best to 
put a small quantity of hay on the wagon before putting 
the first sling in place. This bit of hay will last the 
season through, and will cause the sling ropes to lie 
straight. The slings should, for hay and grain both, be 
five feet wide at least. Unless the ground is dry and 
hard a wagon with not less than three-inch tires will 
be necessary. Many use the low-down steel wheels, 
which enable one to build a higher load and do the* 
work easier. One or two men may work upon the 
wagon. However, it is not necessary to have the sec¬ 
ond man, as he would stand idle half the time at least. 
In loading some use a manure hook to draw the hay 
forward, claiming it makes the work easier. The load¬ 
er leaves the hay in a sort of wrinkled sheet which may 
be rolled forward, and a 14-foot rack will be much 
more easily loaded than the 16-foot rack, such as we 
use. The majority of those using the loader drive 
till nearly or quite a forth of a load is on the wagon, 
when the team is stopped and the hay leveled. The 
number of stops will vary according to the size of the 
rack, the condition of the hay, height of wagon, 
strength and willingness of man on the load and upon 
the make of loader used. 
THE HAY ELEVATOR.—In the matter of efficiency 
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