Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1864-07-15
Haying.

Even good farmers may get some goodI
hints from the American Agriculturist.
Various kinds of grass mature sufficient
" to cut at successive periods on land OF
the same quality. The crop may be d.
mnished by too early cutting, and its
quality hunt by cutting late. Grass
ought to be cut when the greater part OF
il has attained its full size, and is we'll IN
blossom. Where many kinds grow to-
gether it requires no little experience to-
Judge we'll, exactly when to put in the
scythe. Grass cut ripe, is not only more
tough and woody, and in danger OF dry
ing so as to be brittle, and waste when
handled, but the hay is not so sweet or
nutritious. When cut with the scythe
the grass is left in swaths, which hold
most of the dew so that very little sun
dries the ground. Guided by the dry
ness of the ground, the swaths are gen
orally spread very soon after cutting
when this is done after seven or eight
o'clock in the morning. 1t is much bet
ter in our experience, to wait not only
till the ground is dry but warm, before
spreading. II is as important to know
when to stop "curing" hay, or rather
when to stop summing it, as to know when
to begin to cut. Hay cures better in the
cock than it does in the sun. The juices
of the grass if dried slowly become in
spissated, that is, thick or gummy, with
out undergoing any perceptible change
except loss Of water. If after the dry
ing has commenced the grass becomes
wet, a change takes place very soon, and
this is seen in its bleaching if exposed, or
heating if covered. This condition Of
inspissation, or gumminess of the juices,
is attained much more easily in grass cut
before it is ripe than afterwards, and the
liability to such hay of heating or DANA
ging by either rain or lying III close heaps
is less. While the grass is still fresh, il
will bear the hot sun and wilt rapidly
but after it has parted with most of its
water it ough. to be dried more slowly
This is effected in cocks which lie up
loose, SO as to permit free circulation
of air, and if hay caps be used, the Gu.
ring process goes on during the night or
even during rainy days. 1t may be that
the heaps do not really dry much after
the heat of the sun is out of them, nights
and rainy days, but the moisture in the
greenest locks distributes itself through
the rest of the hay and the whole mass
becomes evenly cured. Hay caps ought
not to cover more than the upper third Of
the cock-otherwise the ventilation is in
terfered with. If made of unbleached
cotton, yard aud quarter square, they
will afford sufficient protection.
In bright weather hay ought never tt
be spread thin or stirred much on the sec
ond day, but after getting heated through
both by the sun and the action of tn,
warmed ground upon which the cocks ar
opened, it should be thrown together il
loose heaps to finish, and as soon as a loci
wrung in the hands exhibits no moisture
and it has a good sweet, hay smell, it ma,
be considered cured enough to put u
in cocks as large as can conveniently b,
made, capped and left thus one or severa
days to "sweat" before getting into tn
barn. This we think is the surest way
to get sweet green hay. Yet hay ma
often be cut and made in a single day
and housed before night, which if we
sailed in the NOW will be good and swee
1t is more important to cure clover i
cocks, than any other kind
The moving machine makes gres
changes in the labor, but not in the prir
= ciples of hay making.
1st.-The grass is not cut till the de-
is off.
2d.-It lies spread as thin as it stoo,
and needs little, if any, stirring--if an,
turning with fork, following the track
q the machine back ward, is most CONVEX
q lent. After three or four hours sunnin
!. the horse rake will gather it into vii
rows, so that all that is cut before noe
may be in cocks by five o'clock-befo
the dew begins to fall. II capped, it W
;. endure long siege of rainy weather.
It few hours exposure to the sun and air f
II it for cooking up to sweat as before st
D ted. This system dispenses with the cha
e tedder" or hay stirring machine. Ha
G leaders, though sweat before the publ
d have not been sufficiently tested. Unloa
n ing horse forks of sundry patterns all say