Arizona state miner., 1919-09-19
FARNER CAN MATERIALLY IMPROVE HIS
HAY REVENUE BY CAREFUL PREPARATION

as are made by the regulation two
horse presses. They are designed for
the farmer who has a small average
of hay, and they can be especially rec
commended for the small hay grower
| if he is in a section where little hay
is grown and where hay presses are
scarce and hard to hire The only OBJ
lection to this type Of press is it's
small production a day. If the pros
pective purchaser is in doubt as to
which size to buy, 1t would probably
be better in many instances for him
to buy the two-horse press. The one
horse press can be used to advantage
if hay is baled from the stack or barn
at time when there is no urgent
need to do other farm work.
The two-horse, full-circle, or continu-
ous-travel, perpetual press is the type
of horse press most extensively used.
In operating this machine the horses
travel in a circle. In buying a press
of this type the purchaser should pay
especial attention to the power mech
anism, the material used for impor-
tant parts of the press, size of the
feed opening, plunger return device.
self-feedfng attachment, and conve-
nience in tying the bales and in set
ting and moving the press.
The reversible lever type Of press
Is sometimes called the half-circle
press, since the team travels half a
circle, turns around, and pulls the
lever to the other side, charge of hay
being pressed for each half circle. This
type is easily portable and is always
ready for work, since it is not neces-
! sary to take off the wheels or lower
them from the ground to the axle or
to stake the front end of the press.
1t has smaller hour capacity than
the continuous-travel press and re-
quires well-trained team to operate
| 1t to capacity.
Large Growers Use Power.
Large hay growers and shippers who
buy and bale large quantities of hay
generally use power presses. These
are in common use in sections where
the usual practice is to bale hay from
the windrOW or the cock, such as the
alfalfa and Johnson grass and prairie
hay sections Of the South They are
sometimes used in preference to the
two-horse type on alfalfa and Johnson
grass hay FARMS even where the hay
acreage is comparatively small, say
from 80 to rs acres, for the reason that
they will bale hay about twice as fest
as it could be done with a two-horse
press, thereby greatly lessening the
danger of injury to hay due to bad
weather
AS power to drive hay presses, the
steam engine, portable or self-pro-
pelling, has been almost entirely su-
perseded by the gasoline or kerosene
engine. With a gas engine there is no
need for an engine and a water haul
er. A few owners employ an engineer
when doing custom baling with a fast
working crew, because he keeps the en-
gine going and saves expensive loss of
time on the part of the press crew.
When the crew is hired by the ton the
men are not paid for time lost on ac-
count of a breakdown, and in such
cases engineers are not often en-
ployed. Usually one of the press
crew looks after the engine when 1t re-
quires attention. On farms where
tractors are used, if the tractor is not
needed for other essential work when it
is time to bale hay, the belt power
press should ordinarily be used, since
it costs less than the motor press, and
since it would not be good business to
use a motor press while a tractor
stands idle.
Thorough discussion is also given in
this government publication to the i'm
portant features of power presses, the
difference between the light-duty and
heavy-duty presses, the longevity Of
the press, as we'll as facts about the
economic operation of these presses.
The capacity of the press depends, to
a large extent, upon the skill of the
crew operating it. The average power
press should bale from 20 to 80 tons
in 1O-hour day.