Wooden rake with twelve teeth

A rake is an agricultural tool that was initially used primarily for making hay. Meadow mowing usually took place twice a year, in June on St. John's Day (24.06) and August on St. Bartholomew's Day (24.06). The gathering of hay supplies was essential to ensure that livestock such as cows, horses, and sheep could survive the winter. Yield was not always sufficient, and it was only after the expansion of the fodder pool to include crops such as fodder beet, vetch, alfalfa, lupins and the possibility of making silage from them in the second half of the 19th century, and in some areas of Poland at the turn of the 20th century, that it was possible to ensure the animals' peaceful survival until the following spring. The other, more recent use of rakes is in harvest work, where they were used to rake the ears left in the field after the chopped grain had been stacked into bundles, as in haying. This situation was typical of the scythe harvesting of cereals because when the sickle was used, the cut handful was immediately put away and tied into sheaves, so there were no so-called "leftovers" left in the fields. Care was taken to use light rakes for the work, which meant that the shape and weight helped, rather than hindered, the hard work. Despite its rather large size, the specimen on display is indeed ergonomic and "fits" well in a person's hands. This is primarily due to its all-wood construction, which is still typical of country rakes. In fact, metal-toothed rakes are most commonly used in horticulture. Iwona Karwowska