1911. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
889 
A MANURE LOADER THAT COST $7.80. 
I have always disliked the work of 
pitching manure, and rigged up the fol¬ 
lowing described implement to take that 
work off my hands. The whole outfit 
cost me $7.80, as follows: Grapple fork, 
$X95; one-inch rope, 40 cents; black- 
LIFTING A FORKFUL OF MANURE. 
Fig. 352. 
smith work, $3; pulley, 25 cents; bolts, 
20 cents; total, $7.80. I do not include 
mv own time, the cost of the post, or 
some other articles that I had on the 
place. I took a sapling, six inches at 
the top and 18 feet long, for the up¬ 
right post. At the butt I bored a hole 
DUMPING FORK ON WAGON. Fig. 353. 
about 10 inches deep for the stake that 
the post revolves upon. This stake is 
made of half of an old steel axle, the 
spindle sticking up into the post. I 
drive this stake into the ground and 
place a block on it first, then a flat iron 
plate well greased. The spindle should 
EMPTY FORK SWINGING BACK. Fig. a 54 . 
project above the plate about the depth 
of the hole in the butt of the post. At 
the butt of the post is a ring to keep it 
from splitting, and the pulley at the top 
is set in the post in such a manner that 
the bolt that holds the pulley also keeps 
that end of the post together. At the 
top of the post is a bolt driven to- 
HOW HORSE IS HITCHED. Fig. 355. 
wards the butt, that the guys are at¬ 
tached to. The boom is made from an 
old piece of l^-inch pipe that I took off 
an old pump. It has an eye welded on 
each end and is nearly 13 feet long. It 
works in the band at the post on an 
inch bolt. The rope passes through a 
pulley at the base of the post, fastened 
there by a short piece of chain, then up 
the post and through the top pulley, 
then to the end of the boom and 
through a pulley there, then back to the 
top of the pole where it is tied to an 
eye bolt. When the horse is hitched to 
the end of the rope it raises the boom, 
the horse traveling twice the distance 
that the boom raises. The fork is fas¬ 
tened to the eye in the end of the boom 
with a short piece of chain, so as to 
allow some play in order to take a 
swath about seven or eight feet wide 
in the radius covered by the boom. 
At first I used ordinary fence wire 
for guys, but found this too weak, and 
I am now using some old steel cable, 
about five-eighths inch in diameter, that 
was used on an old hay-stacking outfit. 
I use three guys. The fork was pur¬ 
chased from a Chicago mail order 
house, and as it came with some other 
goods, I did not figure in the freight. 
There is also a four-tine style that 
should do the work as well and costs 
less. I have the six-tine style. In op¬ 
eration, I hitch one horse to the rope 
and have two wagons hauling; this 
keeps the horse at the rope busy. The 
horse requires no driver after the first 
few times, and the wagon driver and 
one man load the wagon. With a steady 
horse, one man can do the loading. 
The fork is stuck in the manure, and 
as the horse raises it the boom swings 
around over the wagon, where it Is 
tripped by the man on the pile. I have 
the pole leaned toward the wagon about 
six inches when set up and this allows 
the fork when loaded to swing over the 
wagon of its own volition. The empty 
fork is pulled back to the pile by the 
trip rope. I find it better to take a 
small forkful each time, as the fork 
will take half a wagonload at a time if 
it is set in full length. This is too 
great a strain on the rope and guys, and 
also it spills some beside the wagon 
when tripped. I have a manure pile 
about 16 feet long, and I set up the 
post twice to reach all parts. Two men 
can set it up or take it down, and one 
can on a pinch. It handles all kinds 
of manure, wet or dry, short or long 
straw and corn fodder. I have loaded 
wet chaff mixed with some horse ma¬ 
nure with it. If the manure is wet, 
there will be very little cleaning up to 
do after the fork has reached bottom. 
The band or clamp that holds the boom 
to the post is made of a piece of four- 
inch wagon tire. f. b. taylor. 
R. N.-Y.—In the pictures, Fig. 352 
shows how a forkful of manure is lifted 
from the pile; Fig. 353 shows a forkful 
of manure being clumped on the wagon; 
Fig. 354 shows an empty fork swing¬ 
ing back to pile, and Fig. 355 shows 
how the horse is hitched to the rope. 
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• • • with • • • 
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If a short rotation of crops is not convenient before land is seeded to grass, old 
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Bradley’s Fertilizers 
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THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL CO. 
BRADLEY FERTILIZER WORKS. 
92 STATE STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 
