Amanda's Photo
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efb
Well-known member
Has anyone raked through a bunch of bees on one of those dump rakes ?
My dad told of a time when he did. The team ran for the barn. The door was just wide enough for the team. :shock: :shock: You can imagine the wreck .
My dad told of a time when he did. The team ran for the barn. The door was just wide enough for the team. :shock: :shock: You can imagine the wreck .
Soapweed
Well-known member
Good poem, Been There. I never minded straight raking, but raking scatterings wasn't much fun. You'd just get some windrows looking good, and then the sweeper would come along and mess everything up again so you'd have to start over.
It was always said that a raker should sweep awhile first, so he'd know how to rake to make life easier for the sweeper. Mowing was the best job, because the grass was green when it was cut. Raking and sweeping are dusty jobs. Another advantage of mowing was that you could see where you'd been and see where you still had to go.
Summertime is coming, and we can start the process all over again. :wink:
It was always said that a raker should sweep awhile first, so he'd know how to rake to make life easier for the sweeper. Mowing was the best job, because the grass was green when it was cut. Raking and sweeping are dusty jobs. Another advantage of mowing was that you could see where you'd been and see where you still had to go.
Summertime is coming, and we can start the process all over again. :wink:
WB
Well-known member
That is a great picture for sure. I am not old enough to have raked with horses but am well aquainted with dump rakes. We use to pull dump rakes behind a 9 ft. mower and when we were old enough we got to ride the rake. I think I was about 6 when I started. Not big for my age I could barely reach the manual holdown. My youngest brother was riding and went over a bumblebee hive and got stung a couple of times for sure. He really got sick later that night. The flying ants were always a big pain too.
Faster Horses: If you ever need some branding irons let me know as all our old dump rakes are still here not being used.
Faster Horses: If you ever need some branding irons let me know as all our old dump rakes are still here not being used.
the_jersey_lilly_2000
Well-known member
Been There, that's a really nice poem. Thanks for takin the time to write and post it.
A lil history on the place we are on, Mr Lilly's Great great grandfather settled here after comin from South Carolina via Alabama before the Civil war, in 1850. They raised cattle, for their own use, and also cotton. Hunted and trapped, bear, big cats, and wild turkeys, pelts were tanned and hauled in wagons to the Port of Houston where they were put on ships bound for England. Mr Lilly's great grandfather done the same, just not as much hunting and trapping, his grandfather, raised a lil cotton before the depression, at which time he went to Houston and found work with Cameron Iron works, Granny stayed here, with the three boys, worked the cotton fields as long as they could, but eventually went to just raising cattle. Pa would come home on the weekends, and do as much as he could. They put in 33 acres of hay, and used that old rake. It's the only rake they ever had, used up until 1988 when Pa finally sold all his cattle at the age of 86.
A lil history on the place we are on, Mr Lilly's Great great grandfather settled here after comin from South Carolina via Alabama before the Civil war, in 1850. They raised cattle, for their own use, and also cotton. Hunted and trapped, bear, big cats, and wild turkeys, pelts were tanned and hauled in wagons to the Port of Houston where they were put on ships bound for England. Mr Lilly's great grandfather done the same, just not as much hunting and trapping, his grandfather, raised a lil cotton before the depression, at which time he went to Houston and found work with Cameron Iron works, Granny stayed here, with the three boys, worked the cotton fields as long as they could, but eventually went to just raising cattle. Pa would come home on the weekends, and do as much as he could. They put in 33 acres of hay, and used that old rake. It's the only rake they ever had, used up until 1988 when Pa finally sold all his cattle at the age of 86.
Soapweed said:
Been There and Soapweed- or anyone- how far back in time did they pull a rake - a wooden version of that one I guess it must have been?
Would they have done that only by hand in the 1850s or did their equipment include a horse pulled rake of some type?
the_jersey_lilly_2000
Well-known member
nr here's some haying equipment history, your question got me wonderin, cuz Idont know how long that old rake was used, all I've been told was Mr Lilly's grandpa used it. But after lookin at this website, it could have been further back too.
http://ag.missouristate.edu/cweq01.htm
http://ag.missouristate.edu/cweq01.htm
the_jersey_lilly_2000 said:
Thanks Lily. Your post made me google finally "wooden Hay rake" which found this site with picture and history.http://www.ruralheritage.com/equip_shed/hayrake.htm
Don't you wonder what your great grandparents would have said if they new a century later folks would be snapping photos of the rake in moonlight as a sculptural form of art?! Bet they never thought of it back when they sweated buckets on that seat.
the_jersey_lilly_2000
Well-known member
Oh I'm sure they'd think we's plumb off our rockers.......photos back then were such a rarity, or treat ya might say, n here we are, "wastin our time" takin pictures of a rake.....LOL is kinda funny if ya thank about it from their prospective. But it's taught me a lesson, Mr Lilly's grandmother had a push plow, used it for many many years in her garden, it always sat leanin up against the house. The next day or so after Hurricane Rita, we were down there and I said somethin to Mr Lilly that, her plow needed put up. I had my camera, took a few shots of it.....and thought nothin else of it........a week or so later, it was gone. Someone stole it. At least I have pictures of it... :roll:
katrina
Well-known member
Very nice picture Lilly.
And good poem.
I too have done the twelve foot rake with an old 50 john deere tractor. Had a hand clutch that I used to hold up with my foot and no power steering. Strait raking was my favorite, but enjoyed scatter raking too as to my Dad used to bunch the hay to put on the head of the stacker and he would make faces and clown for us to break the manotiny (sp) of the day.
And good poem.
I too have done the twelve foot rake with an old 50 john deere tractor. Had a hand clutch that I used to hold up with my foot and no power steering. Strait raking was my favorite, but enjoyed scatter raking too as to my Dad used to bunch the hay to put on the head of the stacker and he would make faces and clown for us to break the manotiny (sp) of the day.
Been There
Well-known member
Don't know how far back those rakes go but they were used way up into the twentieth century.
Those rakes were hard on horses shoulders though, because of the tongue jerking against the collars because of the swaying action caused by the wheels being so far apart.
We pulled ours hooked to a small cart, to which the horses were hitched.
as I think a lot of people did.
The first outfit we had, that could rake a wide swath, was one of those rakes on each side of a tractor's wheels, pulled by a long beam mounted on front of the tractor, and one rake in back. You dumped the two side rakes with a lever mounted by the tractor seat and pulled a rope to dump the others.
The reason the kick rods made good branding irons was because the thick cnter held heat good, while the thinner edge made neat brands.
Those rakes were hard on horses shoulders though, because of the tongue jerking against the collars because of the swaying action caused by the wheels being so far apart.
We pulled ours hooked to a small cart, to which the horses were hitched.
as I think a lot of people did.
The first outfit we had, that could rake a wide swath, was one of those rakes on each side of a tractor's wheels, pulled by a long beam mounted on front of the tractor, and one rake in back. You dumped the two side rakes with a lever mounted by the tractor seat and pulled a rope to dump the others.
The reason the kick rods made good branding irons was because the thick cnter held heat good, while the thinner edge made neat brands.
Been There
Well-known member
Hate to do this again so soon, but, while we are on the subject of rakes, this poem I wrote long ago fits right in, The thing is it likely could have happened and probably did. I'll try not to bobble this one up.
Rake Wreck
In the old days,
it was done a different way.
You hitched up horses,
when you needed to put up hay.
This little story that
I'm about to relate to you,
was told to me by dad,
so I guess it must be true.
It seems Herman had some hay down,
and the hired man had left for good.
His wife, being a good wife,
said she'd do whatever she could.
So he put her on a dump rake,
to rake up some hay.
And this is the sad story,
of what happened that terrible day.
Now horses with broncy inclinations
were usually used on the rake.
Where an attitude adjustment,
didn't take long to make.
Herman was fiddlin' with the harness,
he was standing up ahead.
When the wind plucked the bonnet,
plumb off Mary's head.
It sailed through the air,
lit on one broad back.
That ol' pony thought for sure,
he was under a fearsome attack.
He took of running,
joined by his teammate.
knocking Herman down,
under the rake.
They headed out across the meadow,
they were both running well.
Like they were being pursued,
by demons from hell.
He was rolling with the sandburs and hay,
she gripping the iron seat,
'cause she was scared to jump.
Old Herman was hollerin' for all he was worth,
"DUMP mary, DUMP".
Rake Wreck
In the old days,
it was done a different way.
You hitched up horses,
when you needed to put up hay.
This little story that
I'm about to relate to you,
was told to me by dad,
so I guess it must be true.
It seems Herman had some hay down,
and the hired man had left for good.
His wife, being a good wife,
said she'd do whatever she could.
So he put her on a dump rake,
to rake up some hay.
And this is the sad story,
of what happened that terrible day.
Now horses with broncy inclinations
were usually used on the rake.
Where an attitude adjustment,
didn't take long to make.
Herman was fiddlin' with the harness,
he was standing up ahead.
When the wind plucked the bonnet,
plumb off Mary's head.
It sailed through the air,
lit on one broad back.
That ol' pony thought for sure,
he was under a fearsome attack.
He took of running,
joined by his teammate.
knocking Herman down,
under the rake.
They headed out across the meadow,
they were both running well.
Like they were being pursued,
by demons from hell.
He was rolling with the sandburs and hay,
she gripping the iron seat,
'cause she was scared to jump.
Old Herman was hollerin' for all he was worth,
"DUMP mary, DUMP".
the_jersey_lilly_2000
Well-known member
Hahahahah Dump Mary, Dump! Too funny
Wonder if that's why they never called it a Dump rake around here, its always been called a Buck rake.
Wonder if that's why they never called it a Dump rake around here, its always been called a Buck rake.
katrina
Well-known member
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: Bravo
Clarence
Well-known member
I have did a little research on farm and ranch machinery. I don't know where my notes are now, but I believe that mowers were built about the same time as the reaper. I think they were in use in the 1840's. I am not sure, but I believe there was the Ketchem mower first, it only had one wheel, then the Kirby, I think it had the hinged bar. About 1859 there was the Buckeye. From references I found that a dealer in Peru, Nebraska sold sixteen of them in 1861. It sold for $135, a wooden rake went wth them that sold for $10. This had wheels and wooden teeth pointed on each end, when enough hay was gathered on one side of this, it was turned over dumping the hay and again gatherinf hay on the other side of this sort of wooden platform. Deering was not really an inventor, but a merchant, he bought the Marsh Harvester Company. Deering sold reapers and mowers. During the 1870's Deering Co came out with the steel rake, pretty much the same as the one in the picture. When they started making the bigger rakes 12 and 14 foot, they were hard on horses. Some people put tongue trucks on them. Ranchers built the three rake hitch in the 1940's. Usually used a tractor to pull them but some did use horses. One of my cousins, she was just out of high school, raked with one of them one summer with a six horse team.
