Page:EB1911 - Volume 13.djvu/120

Rh behind by the machine, the stalks are, in a manner, thatched over one another, so that it is in the best position for drying in the sun, or, per contra, for shedding off the rain if the weather is wet. This is a great point in favour of the use of the machine, because the swathe left by the scythe required to be “tedded” out, i.e. the grass had to be shaken out or spread to allow it to be more easily dried.

After the grass has lain in the swathe a day or two till it is partly dried, it is necessary to turn it over to dry the other side. This used to be done with the hand rake, and a band of men or women would advance in échelon across a field, each turning the swathe of hay by regular strokes of the rake at each step: “driving the dusky wave along the mead” as described in Thomson’s Seasons. This part of the work was the act of “haymaking” proper, and the subject of much sentiment in both prose and poetry. The swathes as laid by the mowing machine lent themselves to this treatment in the old days when the swathe was only some 3 to 4 ft. wide, but with the wide cut of the present day it becomes impracticable. If the hay is turned and “made” at all, the operation is now generally performed by a machine made for the purpose. There is a wide selection of “tedders” or “kickers,” and “swathe-turners” on the market. The one illustrated in fig. 3 is the first prize winner at the Royal Agricultural Society’s trials (1907). It takes two swathes at a time, and it will be seen that the working part consists of a wheel or circle of prongs or tines, which revolves across the line of the swathe. Each prong in turn catches the edge of the swathe of grass and kicks it up and over, thus turning it and leaving it loose for the wind to blow through.

The “kicker” is mounted on two wheels, and carries in bearings at the rear of the frame a multiple-cranked shaft, provided with a series of forks sleeved on the cranks and having their upper ends connected by links to the frame. As the crankshaft is driven from the wheels by proper gearing the forks move upward and forward, then downward and rearward, in an elliptical path, and kick the hay sharply to the rear, thus scattering and turning it.

It is a moot point, however, whether grass should be turned at all, or left to “make” as it falls from the mowing machine. In a dry sunny season and with a moderate crop it is only a waste of time and labour to turn it, for it will be cured quite well as it lies, especially if raked up into loose “windrows” a little before carrying to the stack. On the other hand, where the crop is heavy (say over 2 tons per acre) or the climate is wet, turning will be necessary.

With heavy crops of clover, lucerne and similar forage crops, turning may be an absolute necessity, because a thick swathe of a succulent crop will be difficult to dry or “make” excepting in hot sunny weather, but with ordinary meadow grass or with a mixture of “artificial” grasses it may often be dispensed with. It must be remembered, however, that the process of turning breaks the stalks (thus letting out the albuminoid and saccharine juices), and should be avoided as far as possible in order to save both labour and the quality of the hay.

One of the earlier mechanical inventions in connexion with haymaking was that of the horse rake (fig. 4). Before its introduction the hay, after making, had to be gathered up by the hand rake—a tedious and laborious process—but the introduction of this implement, whereby one horse and one man can do work before requiring six or eight men, marked a great advance. The horse rake is a framework on two wheels carrying hinged steel teeth placed 3 in. apart, so that their points slide along the ground below the hay. In work it gathers up the loose hay, and when full a tipping mechanism permits the emptying of the load.

The tipping is effected by pulling down a handle which sets a leverage device in motion, whereby the teeth are lifted up and the load of hay dropped below and left behind. On some rakes a clutch is worked by the driver’s foot, and this put in action causes the ordinary forward revolving motion of the driving wheels to do the tipping.

The loads are tipped end to end as the rake passes and repasses at the work, and thus the hay is left loose in long parallel rows on the field. Each row is termed a “windrow,” the passage of the wind through the hay greatly aiding the drying and “making” thereof. When hay is in this form it may either be carried direct to the stack if sufficiently “made,” or else put into cocks to season a little longer. The original width of horse rakes was about 8 ft., but nowadays they range up to 16 and 18 ft. The width should be suited to that of the swathes as left by the mower, and as the latter is now made to cut 5 and 6 ft. wide, it is necessary to have a rake to cover two widths. The very wide rakes are only suitable for even, level land; those of less width must be used where the land has been laid down in ridge and furrow. As the swathes lie in long parallel rows, it is a great convenience in working for two to be taken in width at a time, so that the horse can walk in the space between.

The side-delivery rake, a development of the ordinary horse rake, is a useful implement, adapted for gathering and laying a quantity of hay in one continuous windrow. It is customary with this to go up the field throwing two swathes to one side, and then back down on the adjacent swathes, so that thus four are thrown into one central windrow. The implement consists of a frame carried on two wheels with shafts for a horse; across the frame are fixed travelling or revolving prongs of different varieties which pick up the hay off the ground and pass it along sideways across the line of travel, leaving it in one continuous line. Some makes of swathe-turners are designed to do this work as well as the turning of the hay.

Perhaps the greatest improvement of modern times is the method