Forks were used for turning the hay to help it dry or for loading hay onto carts for storage in the barn or for forming haystacks. Rain disrupted the drying process and leached nutrients away from curing hay. In the 1830s hay making was a time consuming chore, and it was hard to predict when a long dry stretch would occur. Hay production in Pennsylvania rose dramatically in the nineteenth century due to the improvement of the state's roads. Better roads meant more horses, and more horses ate more hay.
Modern farmers use machines to gather their hay into tightly packed bales.
Nineteenth-century Hopewell farmers probably put most of their hay up loose in the barn's mow where it could be pitched to the animals below. Company records show that some of the hay was gathered into stacks in the fields. Timothy and clover were two popular varieties of hay. They remain two of the area's popular hays today. In 1826 the furnace harvested enough hay to sell a surplus.