The Rural Voice, 2003-09, Page 45ER
who published his experiences in the
Country Gentlemen. Rapidly,
Goffart's infon cation made its way
to more North American farmers who
were mailed copies of the report in
1879 as a promotional advertisement
from its publisher, J.B. Brown,
President of the New York Plow
Company.
With the scientific era upon
us, which sought out and
rapidly spread "new
scientific information", both the
United States Department of
Agriculture and the Royal
Agricultural Society of Britain finally
took notice and undertook "surveys
of silage making". The U.S. report of
1882 gathered statements from over
90 farmers in the both the U.S. and
Canada who were already ensiling
crops. The scientists behind the
British report, which was
commissioned in 1883, not only
concluded ensiling was a "bacterial
process", but also they concluded
"maize was the best crop for silage,
that feeding of silage was similar to
that of hay, but the silage was not a
complete substitute for hay."
The 1883 British report also
recorded the use of blowers for
filling silos. While the above
indicates that agriculture certainly
had its share of innovators and early
adapters, it would of course be
decades before this "new scientific
process" would lead to the tower silo
becoming a common feature of the
rural landscape.
Over the decades, farmers worked
to improve storage and limit spoilage
by exploring different methods of
construction and having to
choreograph the whole process with
feed -out rates — which, not
surprisingly, dictated the "proper"
dimensions of the tower silo. This is
similar to the careful planning and
choreography that has for centuries
gone into haying systems.
Which leads me to the silo's
counterpart, the familiar gable -roofed
barn that also made its appearance
only in this last century. Its design
was to achieve increased mow space
for the storage of increasing volumes
of hay needed by more intensive
livestock production. Many of these
old barns still house the fascinating
systems for handling hay prior to the
era of mechanical balers. Of course,
haying was still a very labour
intensive aspect of farm life that
probably helped to drive many a
youngster to seek a new life in the
city.
Without mechanized baling, hay
was pitched from the wind -rows to
the wagon by hand — or dragged to
the barn, or to the still prevalent
haystacks, with horse-drawn hay -
sweeps. Inside the barn hung a
central beam on which a pulley
system trolley -ed back and forth.
Double -pronged hay -forks (or
multiple pronged forks which worked
well for both hay or short straw) or
single -pronged harpoon -forks (which
were faster if the hay held together
well) were hung and controlled with
ropes attached to the pulley system.
The fork or harpoon was simply
dropped into the loose hay that had
been brought to the side of the barn.
The fork or harpoon generally had a
lever that turned up the point -tips or
"spurs" of the fork to make a right
angle, capable of clasping a relatively
large quantity of loose hay. With
ropes hitched to a horse moving
away from the barn, the Toad of hay
was raised to the mow door or
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OUTLE
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rte
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5808 HWY. #9 NORTH, HARRISTON, ONTARIO NOG 1Z0
Phone: 519-338-3946 Fax #: 519-338-2756
SALES: Doug Harkness
Paul Hiemstra
HURON CTY.: Ralph DeWeerd - CeII - 519-524-0071
GREY -BRUCE: Jim Bolesworth - Cell - 519-389-7317
RADFORD FARM, AUTO & INDUSTRIAL PARTS
BLYTH - ONTARIO NOM 1H0
Phone: 519-523-4581 Fax #: 519-523-9142
SALES: Doug Scrimgeour - 519-523-4581
CeII: 519-525-8621
Bill Talbot - 519-523-9681
SERVICE: Robert Higgins - 519-523-9681
( FARM AND 1
INDUSTRIAL /
PARTS LTD
SEPTEMBER 2003 41