Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-07-30
IFrsm the New YORK Ledgcf.l
H AY N G.
ny HENRY WARD nKEcnnR.

Alas for the poetry Of farming All the
songs Of milk maids must be now listened
for in the old English poets. The whetting
OF the mowers scythe is amost oyer-qultc
oYer-on my farm Instead Of that, one
hears the sharp rattle Of the mower, and
sees the driving man quite at his case riding
round and round the meadow, for all the
world as if he were out airing! Whereas,
heretofore, two acres would be counted
large days work now, ten and twelve are
easily accomplished
Nor is the contrast less remarkable in all
the after work. When was a boy, was
placed in line, with all the men that could
be mustered, to shake out the hay with
forks and after few hours, all hands were
called to so over the ground and turn it.
To do this rapidly, and yet so that the bot
tom side shall really come to the top, was
no small knack Now, tedier with one
man riding, will literally do the work of ten
men, and do it far better than the most ex-
pert can. Have you ever seen htitier 2
! have now "a perfect one The grass
rolls up behind it and foams, | was going to
say, like water behind the wheels of steam
err The grass leaps up and whirls as lift
were amazingly tickled with such dealings.
The result is, that unless grass is very
heavy, and the weather very bad you may
cut your hay in the morning and get it in
your harm before night, in far better cond-
tion.than it used to be when it required never
less than two, and generally part Of three
days to cure it.
But, ! have forgotten the Horse Rake
Instead Of the old-fashioned, long handled
rake, and the five or six men, pulling and
hauling to get the grass into windows, that
same fellow, with that same horse, rides his
luxurious rake, and in fifth part Of tn,
time formerly required, puts it into equally
good shape. Indeed haying, if il has lost
its poetry, has also lost its drudgery A man
can now manage one hundred acres of grass
easier than he formerly could twenty Tie
only thing that remains to be made easy il
pitching on and of the load 1t is true that
horse forks have been invented, but have
never seen any that did their work well and
IN my barn, al any rate the old work o
pitching and moving remains and III yot
wish to know what fun is, get on to the NOV
under the slate roof OF my barn. on n hot
't"yf anu ivy tiNth WI nay. us llt VIII II
Ngye him the wink. You will have to stet
Tely, and even then you will often be sect
emerging from heaps Of hay thrown owe
you, like a rat from bunch of oakum. An,
then ii is so pleasant, when man is all a
sweat, to have his shirt filled with hay seed
each particular particle of which makes be
licye 1t is flea, and wiggles and tickles upo
every square inch Of your skin, until yo
are half desperate
1t is the second Of July, and my grass i
all cut, and the last load is rolling into I'll,
barn while write How sweet il smells =
low Jolly the children are that have bee
mounted on the top Of the load and thei
little scarlet jackets peep out from their mes
while Tim stands guard and nurse. A chill
that has not ridden up from the meadow i
the barn on u load Of hay has yet to lear
one of the luxuries of exultant childhoud
What care they for jolts, when the Who'll
load is vast and mulliplex spring? Tn
more the wagon jOunces the better the
like it! Then come the bars, leading in,
the lane with maple trees on each side. I'll
limbs reach over, and the green leaves XII.
the children over and over again. So woul
], if were green leaf, and not considt