The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-09-04
HAVING.
The ancient and Modern Systems of Cut
ting Grass Contrastad.


ting Grass Contrasted.
There is scarcely any occupation that
has undergone so great changes during
the period of generation as that of
haying. Many speak of the revolution
that has occurred in almost every kind
OF manufacturing establishment by the
introduction of the various machines
that are propelled by water or steam
power. But greater change has oc-
CURED in the field where grass is cut
and cured for the support OF animals
during the winter. In almost all manu.
featuring establishments some of the
hand tools that we're in use forty years
ago are still needed to do the work. In
the having field, however. the work is
now performed by machines drawn or
operated by animals. On many large
farms, where several hundred acres of
grass are harvested. not hand-scythe
or rake can be found. Grass that can
not be cut with a moving machine is
left untouched. After the grass is cut
the tedder scatters it about or places it
where it will be in the best condition to
dry. When it is sufficiently cured the
horse-rake collects it into windows.
On many farms all, or nearly all, the
pitching is done by machinery. The
labor is placed on animals to perform.
The machine has driven out of the hay
ing field all kinds of hand tools.
Not many years ago hayiug was the
most laborlouS occupation on farms.
Now it is one of the lightest. Then it
employed not only all the men and
boys on the places. but all that could
be procured in the neighboring villages.
Often many kinds of business were sus-
pended to give the men an opportunity
to work in the haying field. They were
sure of receiving higher wages than
could be obtained in most other en-
Payments, and sof having a chance to
work while there was little going on in
towns. Not unfrequently women,
girls and children worked in the haying
fields. They spread out the green grass
from the swaths, turned it when dry, and
followed the cart" that the men were
loading. 1t was generally necessary to
employ all the available help in the
neighborhood in order to secure the hay
crop in proper season. Haymakers
were obliged to work very long hours.
The mowers were expected to be up by
daylight and to be in the field before
sunrise. Time was often too precious
TO admit of going to the farmhouse to
obtain meals. Lunches and often din
ners were brought out for the men in
the fields, and supper was not eaten
until it was too dark to admit of work
ing. With the many laborers, the hard
work and the long hours, the haying
season was extended through fully two
months.
Haying has now become an easy oc-
cupation, employing only the number
of men who ordinarily work on the
farm. Old mon, women, girls and lit
tie boys are no longer seen in the hay
ing field. There is nothing for them to
do. The hours for haying are no long
er1 than those for planting or cult
waiting. 1t is not necessary to cut grass
while the dew is on it because the work
is done easier. The machine and the
being fatigued. Men engaged in haying
do not go to the field in the morning
twilight or remain till dusk. The cost
of hay machines has been greatly re-
duced in places where improved ma
chinery can be employed to advantage
In many parts of the West grass is cut,
cured and put in stack for seventy-five
cents per ton, although laborers receive
much higher wages than they did thirty
years ago. There is no longer trouble
in securing all the hay needed to keep
any amount of farm stock. Hay is so
easily put up in many places that farm
ers pay little attention 10 taking care of
straw or to saving corn fodder. They
raise no roots for stock food and SOW
no rye for affording winter pasturage.
Scientific discovery and skill in the con-
struction of labor saving machinery
have accomplished more in the haying
fed than in the workshop.
In no respect has the condition of the
laborer been in ured by the introduction
of machinery into the haying field. The
poets, novelists and painters find little
to admire in the haying field at the
present time. 81 know nothing"
writes an English novelist, $50 cheer
full, so genial and yet so peace-bestow-
ing, as the sound, in the first hours of
the morning, of the whetting of scythes.
1t is the happy mean between utter
rural silence and the roar of the
crowded city; so exhilarating, so socia-
BILE and yet so undisturbing is its unaf-
fected music. What quiet. happy
laugh there is in it, What half-Sub-
dued humor, what friendly good nature!
The sound never ceased Field after
field took up the magic morning music.
Sometimes it was played on a perfect
orchestra of instruments. All the
pastoral poets from Virgil to Words
worth have sung of the merry haymak-
ers The painters of every land
have transferred the picturesque
scenes of the haying field
to canvas. They have shown the
mowers bending to their work, the boys
spreading out the grass to dry, the
women and girls, clad in scarlet frocks,
with gypsy bonnets on their heads, rak-
ing the hay, and the strong men pitch
ing it on to carts. The building of the
stack has been the subject that has in
spired many painters. There is little
poetry or romance about the modern
haying field. Everything pertaining to
the picturesque has departed, never to
return. Every machine designed to do
a large amount of labor in short time
is, in the nature of things, prosaic. 1t
is only suggestive of gain, and any
money-getting employment is unpoet-
ical. The losses that have been sus-
tanned by the introduction of machinery
into the haying field have, however,
been very small compared with the
gains. Cheap and abundant hay amply
compensatcs for the loss of a few pict-
uresque scenes and a little poetic senti-
ment. Chicago Times.