Figure 146.—Hay Skid. This hay skid is 8 feet wide and 16 feet long. It is made of 7⁄8″ lumber put together with 2″ carriage bolts—plenty of them. The round boltheads are countersunk into the bottom of the skid and the nuts are drawn down tight on the cleats. It makes a low-down, easy-pitching, hay-hauling device.
Figure 147.—Hay Sling. It takes no longer to hoist 500 pounds of hay than 100 pounds if the rig is large and strong enough. Four feet wide by ten feet in length is about right for handling hay quickly. But the toggle must reach to the ends of the rack if used on a wagon.
Figure 148.—(1) Four-Tined Derrick Fork. (2) Pea Guard. An extension guard to lift pea-vines high enough for the sickle is the cleanest way to harvest Canada peas. The old-fashioned way of pulling peas with a dull scythe has gone into oblivion. But the heavy bearing varieties still persist in crawling on the ground. If the vines are lifted and cut clean they can be raked into windrows with a spring tooth hayrake. (3) Haystack Knife. This style of hay-cutting knife is used almost universally on stacks and in hay-mows. There is less use for hay-knives since farmers adopted power hayforks to lift hay out of a mow as well as to put it in.
Hay slips, or hay skids, are used on the old smooth fields in the eastern states. They are usually made of seven-eighths-inch boards dressed preferably on one side only. They are used smooth side to the ground to slip along easily. Rough side is up to better hold the hay from slipping. The long runner boards are held together by cross pieces made of inch boards twelve inches wide and well nailed at each intersection with nails well clinched. Small carriage bolts are better than nails but the heads should be countersunk into the bottom with the points up. They should be used without washers and the ends of the bolts cut close to the sunken nuts. The front end of the skid is rounded up slightly, sled runner fashion, as much as the boards will bear, to avoid digging into the sod to destroy either the grass roots or crowns of the plants. Hay usually is forked by hand from the windrows on to the skids. Sometimes hay slings are placed on the skids and the hay is forked on to the slings carefully in layers lapped over each other in such a way as to hoist on to the stack without spilling out at the sides. Four hundred to eight hundred pounds makes a good load for one of these skids, according to horse power and unevenness of the ground. They save labor, as compared to wagons, because there is no pitching up. All hoisting is supposed to be done by horse power with the aid of a hay derrick.