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Mowing was accomplished by i team of horses pulling a two-wheeled, five foot sickle-bar somewhat similar tt the larger, tractor-drawn sickle-bai mowers made today (but considerec obsolete for haymaking today). At tht base of the tongue, just forward of tht driver’s seat, was a small, built-in too; box, and right behind that was a neat little circular depression to hold the oil can. There were no ball- or roller-bearings in those old machines. All moving parts had to be oiled constantly.
The old mowers made a rather pleasant clattering sound as they circled the field. That, with the creaking harness and the muffled sound ol the horses’ hooves as they plodded over the newly-mown hay - through all of which might still be heard the song of a sparrow or lark, a breeze in the tree-tops or the cawing of a distant flock of crows-was but one of the many quiet little symphonies which have been overwhelmed long since by the deafening, stupefying roar of the diesel tractors, above which, of nature’s sounds, only a tornado could possibly be noticed. Mowing was peaceful work then, as were the tedding and raking which followed.
The tedder, also drawn by a team of horses, fluffed up the drying hay to let air circulate through it, and hopefully turned it over to expose what had been underneath to the sun. Should the farmer have guessed the weather wrong and his hay have been soaked by a late afternoon thundershower, the tedder would be used again to hasten the drying process.
To a small child, the tedder was a most fascinating machine to watch. It had a series of two-tined forks mounted
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