Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1857-07-31
agricultural.
TRY THE HAY CAPS.

For several years we have recommended
these and many of our long time readers
have Acted upon the suggestion. We doubt
very much whether ono of them can be found
who would part with his hay caps for three
or five times their cost if they could not be
replaced by others. But many have been
wary of adopting the "now invention. and
rs we have over %. 600 pec readers this year,
we are constrained to have another talk upon
thc topic. First then.
"Boig are they madcP' Get piece Of
coarse cheap cotton CLOTH the more closely
woven the better. Let it be l2 yard in
width, If you can get that width convenient
ly. or if it be only Ia yard in width it will
answer, though not quite so well. Cut it
into square pieces, and with strong Irvine tie
wooden pin upon each corner. The pin
may be about foot long and a inch in diam
oter at one end. and sharpenod to a point at
the other. 1t may be a little better to hem
The torn or cut edges, but this is not noces-
AIRY, they viii unrayci very little The pins
arc most readily made by saving straight
grained inch hoard into foot lengths. and
plttng it into square pieces These can be
Whitfield to pointwi knife or draw-shavo
and with a knife or saw. cut a notch or
groove around the blunt end TO tie the Irvine
INTO. You can cut the cloth, whittlc out the
pins, tie them on, and "hnsh' eight or ten
caps in an hour. A former correspondent as
Gured us that in an emergency, he had made
fifteen in an hour adding Il did not stop to
amoothe the pins much, as that was not nee
cssary.' All painting or vanishing prepare
lions upon the cloth are worse than useless.
The cloth will shed rain well a cotton
umbrella, while any substance to make it
water tight viii prevent the escape of the
moisture from the damp grass
TO use them. Cut down your hay, let it
wilt little, pitch it into cocks, and throw
cap over each, fastening down the four cor
ners with the wooden pins attached to them
Your hay may then stand until it is cured,
and afterwards until you are ready to take it
in. Two persons can take hold of the four
corners Of the lower one of twenty to forty of
these caps, spread out one upon the other,
carry them along, and dropping the pile by
the side Of hay cock seize tho four pins Of
the upper one, spread it over the hay and pin
it down, and take up the remaining caps and
20 on TO the next cock. If at all active, they
can cover half doven tons or more in a
single hour, and uncover it in less time.
advantages. Every one is familiar with the
fact that hay ''cured in the cock is greatly
superior to that dried in the sun. BY curing
and 'scattcrings,' than when gathered into
winrows after being dried. This is especially
the case with clover. The Average annual
loss in haying from damage by rains and dews,
is much greater than is generally supposed.
II is low estimate to say that this loss is
equal to one dollar per ton on all the hay cut
in the country. Who can estimate the num-
Der of animals which are rendered unhealthy
and often lost from eating musty. damaged
hay Who that has carried hay to market
does not know that bright, green colored,
well cured hay will bring two to five dollars
ton more than the same hay in dark col
ored. "banged, poorly cured condition The
feeding value of hay depends much upon the
amount of sugar, starch and gum it contains,
but in sun-drying much of these materials. is
changed to woody fiber. All of this is OBJ
waited by having supply of cloth hay caps
Umbrellas that you can not only dry il
in cocks despite of rains and dows but also
take your time for doing it, Let us estimate
The cost and proh Of Hay Gaps. At II
cents yard for the cloth a cap ID yard
square will cost 2 cents. The making can
be done at odd spells, or rainy days, and
this trting cost need not be reckoned A
dozen of them, 81 80, will cover a ton of hay
They may be used, on an average, at least
three times each season. If carefully housed
they will last ten years. This will be 81 So
for covers for 30 tons or about cents pei
ton. Allowing so per cent. for interest anC
storage, we have cost of 2 10 cents pei
ton, or a dollar for tons. But we mus
double, OF quadeuple this estimate and tn,
cost would then be but half a dollar a ton
Other uses Of the Gaps. The caps provided
for hay may always be used for covering wheat
and other grains standing in shocks in the
field. 1t will pay to provide them for thi,
purpose alone. We have heard of their being
used over corn. When used for this purpose
they, are of course, subjected to longer ex
posure and weather, and will not last SO man,
years, but even then they will pay we think
Large caps for Wagons. Several persons
have used and recommended providing one OF
more large sheets TO throw over loads of ha,
and grain IN an emergency, and also owe
stacks necessarily left behind at night or in
terruptod by showers. The plan is doubtless
good one.
We have thus spoken strongly in favor o
hay caps, but we do not do so unadvsodly
From what we already know of their use, W
have little doubt, that in less than a dozel
years, they will be considered as essential T.
haying and harvesting as any other implimen
now in use. We have lettors-too numerou
70 pubilsh-irom those who have used then
for years past and they all concur in sayin.
that they have more than paid their cost IN
single gear, and some have said during
single long rain We close by repeating tn
advice heretofore given; viz, try few O
them this year, and If your experience is 81
different from that of others, that YOU do no
think they will pay, why the cloth will not b
lost. Your wife will tell you that "cotto
cloth never comes amiss, no matter wha
shape it is in
~ Hay is quoted at $40 per tun, at Roc
Island, iowa. aud 500 at St. Paul Minnesota