“Because rain spoils hay after it has been cut and is lying in the field ready to be brought in,” answered Mr. Todd, who heard Vi’s question. “Once hay is dried, it should be brought in and stored away in the barn as soon as possible.
“After it is raked up and made into cocks, or Eskimo houses, as Laddie calls them, if it should rain we’d have to scatter the hay all over again to dry it out. For if it were to be put away in the haymow when wet the hay would get mouldy and sour, and the horses would not eat it.”
“Also if the hay gets rained on after it is cut and dried, and while it is still scattered about the field, it must be turned over so the wet part will dry in the hot sun before it can be hauled in. We have had several days of hot weather and my hay is fine and dry now. That’s why I am anxious to get it into the barn in a hurry.”
“Yes, I think we had better hurry,” said Adam North who, with a couple of other hired men, was to help get in Farmer Joel’s hay. “We’re likely to have thunder showers this afternoon.”
“Then we must all move fast!” exclaimed Daddy Bunker, who liked to work on the farm almost as much as did Adam and Mr. Todd.
The day before the hay had been raked into long rows by Adam, who rode a large two-wheeled rake drawn by a horse. The rake had long curved prongs, or teeth, which dragged on the ground pulling the hay with them. When a large enough pile of hay had been gathered, Adam would press on a spring with one foot and the teeth of the rake would lift up over the long row of dried grass. This was kept up until the field was filled with many rows of hay, like the waves on the seashore.
Then men went about piling the hay into cocks, or cone-shaped piles, which, as Laddie said, looked like the igloos of the Eskimos. Now all that remained to be done was to load the hay on a big, broad wagon and cart it to the barn.
Laddie was a bit disappointed because all the hay was raked up, for he wanted to ride on the big machine which did this work. But Farmer Joel said:
“We always have a second raking after we draw in the hay, for a lot of fodder falls off and is scattered about. You shall ride on the rake when we go over the field for the second time.”
So Laddie felt better, and he was as jolly as any of the six little Bunkers when they rode out to the field on the empty wagon. Once the field was reached there was a busy time. There was little the children could do, for loading hay is hard work, fit only for big, strong men.