The Mowing Machine
The mower was a two horse drawn machine, it had a cutting blade much like the electric head trimmer of today only much bigger. The mower laid the tall grass flat to the ground making it easy to rake in rows later when it cured.

The Hay Rake
The hay rake was horse drawn like the mower, raking the hay was much faster than mowing because it covered a much larger area when raking. When the hay was raked it was dumped in rows as to make it easy to load on wagons when finished raking. The wagon had a flat bed or side boards, of which the hay was loaded to haul to the location of the hay stacks. Riding on top of the hay when hauled was a challenge due to the loose hay sliding when a rough place was hit in the field or road.

The Hay Stacks
To build a stack of hay, first we would place some flat rocks on the ground then lay some small logs on the rocks to make a dry foundation to stack the hay on. A tall post was placed in the center of the foundation to stack the hay around. The hay would be stacked in a circular stack tapering it to a point at the top, as to shad water when it rained. I usually got to be the one working on the hay stack and when finished it would be a challenge to get down from the 12 - 15 foot high stack. Sometimes there would be a ladder and others times a rope was used to get off the stack.

_Carlis