Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1866-07-04
LINING AND Sailing HAY.

A correspondents OF the western hurai
comm unicates to that paper his experience
in reference to lhaing hay for the purpose
Of absorbing moisture. and preventing the
hay from becoming musty. He says;
"My hay was rather moist when | put it
in the NOW. | salted 1t, as i always do
and lined it with air-slacked lime, put.
ting on two or three quarts to the ton, at
intervals, as when sailing hay" The
hay when fed out in winter, he states had
no must about it, and was in quality,
equal to any that had been put up The
kind was, in part mixture of timothy
and red top, and one lot was made up of
timothy aud clover. .fl,. ...s. %
We have had no experience in lining
hay for the purpose above indicated and,
therefore cannot say that any bad result
would fow from feeding hay treated in
this way; but We should not care to use
any great quantity of such kind of hay
for stock even though the lime had all the
virtues claimed for it in preventing must,
sc. As to sailing hay in the mow,ywe
have become we'll satisfied from repeated
trials, that it isa very bad practice Sal
ted hay Injuries the stock, by, compelling
the animal, at times, to take more salt
in the system than is needed, thereby de-
ranging the health, and sometimes pro-
ducing serious losses We have seen
cows fed Oh hay sailed in the NOW, and
apparently of good quality, which pro-
ducd very bad results, running the stock
down thin and poor, and necesstating an
entire abandonment of its USE A very
small quantity of salt or of lime used oc-
oasionally on hay might not produce any
injurious effects on stock but the troub-
le is when the practice becomes establish
cd, il is apt to be used frequently, and in
such quantities as to prove injurious
10 make good hay, proper t,ntion as 70
cnring and drying must be observed,
and the application of no substance III the
NOV can be used as substitute for GER
tain operations in the field. A good hay
tedder ia the meadow is the best means
of getting rid of moisture, and in proyi-
ding against musty hay.
Recommendations for curing hay in the
NOV by the use of salt, lime, etc., are of
very doubtful consistency, and for the
most part do more hurt than good since
many persons will store their hay in a
half.cured condition, depending on the
salt or lime, to do what can only properly
be done by well directed labor in the field.
The making Of good hay is an art very
imperfectly placticed, as the condition of
stock in spring often bears witness,
There are many old farmers who seem to
have very poor notions in reference to cut.
ting, curing and storing hay, in order to
secure it iD the best manner, and SO that
1t will contain the most nutriment. In.
mense sums are annually lost to the cou.
try by carelessness and inattention in
properly securing the hay crop A good
deal Of hay stored, is little better than
straw, and not from any fault of weather
but because improperly cured or left stan.
ding until the stems had become too far
changed into woody fiber. There are sea.
sons aud times when it is very difficult
to cure grass properly, but even in bad
wheather the jddlcious management of the
spreader and hay cap is to be preferred to
curing in the NOW with salt And it is
a question whether lime might not also
prove-injurious 10 stock when used in
sufficient quantities to be serviceable 10
curing hay in the nov. If any of our
readers have had any experience in the
way suggested, we should be glad to hear
from them on the subject Utica Her.
aM