The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-07-01

1T has been changed to starch TO form the
seed. The stalk is soft and suculent in
stead Of matured woody fibre.
Hay parts with its nutriment as readily
as tea with its aroma, as a slight sleeping
in tepid water will prove any time. Wei
may then have some idea of the injury
done by a warm rain or even heavy dew.
When grass was cut by hand it is found
that when little wet, as with heavy
dew or light shower, that it was cut with
less labor. This led to the practice OF
cutting when in that condition. In case
of the dew, if spread out to the sun, little
harm has been done, but where the wealth
er continues wet or cloudy, it would sour,
and thus seriously iniure it. Now that
we cut our grass in nearly every case with
horse power we need not follow the old
practice. Grass shouldnever be cut when
wet; if the weather is not suitable t.
cure it at once, better let it stand until
an improvement in the weather. Begin
to cut as soon as the dew is off, when the
grass will wilt and cure in a few hours.
By o'clock it will be ready to take up,
and unless very heavy and the sky little
cloudy will be ready for the NOW or stack.
1t may be drawn directly from the mead
ow. A man will load it on wagon near
ly as fast as he can put it into cocks. I
have often put it into the barn when it
was simply wilted, and when done in linn
tied quantities no harm is done, but the
hay comes out sweet and cured in winter.
If salt is added the tendency is to gather
more moisture and after years of the
practice of sailing hay, have discontin'
ed it. Some people use dry lime in such
case, but of it's value have no personal
experience and have too little confidence
in it to give it a trial. would prefer to
put my hay in just wilted rather than to
expose it to shower OF a heavy dew.
have spoild large amount of hay in my
day by the common practice, but now |
propose to make some valuable use of the
dear bought experienc.
With poor hay, we must feed more grain
but as this excess of grain is but poor
compensation for good hay, we should be
more careful to see that our grass is cut
at the right time and properly cured. To
winter neat stock and colts in the best
possible condition all we need is good, rich
hay and if we have work teams, milch
cows or stalled cattle, we shall need but
a small quantity of grain as compared to
poor hay.
1t is we'll settled fact that eastern hors-
es do poorly when brought west; and l
have no doubt that is due TO the feeding
of poor hay and an excessive amount Of
corn. The change in diet is too much for
them, and they give way under it.
We often see farmers cutting hay after
the seed has fallen out, and find it mix
ture of aftermath, dead leaves and stone.
If we expect to more than keep life in
stock with such feed, we shall be disap-
pointed. Then again, when we get into
the newly settled parts of the west, we
will find men cutting prairie grass after
the first frost and, even in this county,
we do not reco.lect an autumn during the
past fifteen years that large quantities of
frosted grass has not been cut. 1t is not
strange to hear this class of farmers say
that stock cannot winter without corn.
have wintered stock without corn, with
hay and corn, and altogether with shock
corn-that is, with corn cut up IN Septem-
Der, before FROST and fed with all corn.
This one is the most wastetul mode OF
feeding cattle, both in material and Ia
Dor, that is practiced, and on the whole
the stock will come through in less good
condition than if fed with hay; at least
this is nv experience. In both cases the
stock had the advantage of good sheds
and stables.
It costs no more labor to cut and prop
erly put up an acre of hay in good con-
dition than in a poor one, though it is
probable that the yield per hundred
pounds may be less in the former than in
the latter case, as the woody stems will
be more solid and weigh more; but as
the stock will not eat these hard stems
there is no gain in that case. The whole
subject then resolves itself into this, that
the grass should be cut when in a grow
ing succulent state and before the ripen-
ing process has begun. Our coarsest
slough grass if cut when half grown
makes very good hay, much better than
the richest prairie grass when cut at ma
turity
When a boy, two farmers, both in the
dairy business, had farms side by side.
One of them always put his hay IN the
barn the day it was cut; always late IN
the morning in the meadow and late at
night, for the last load must be IN the
barn. Grass was then cut with scythe and
spread out by hand by the use OF wood |
en- fork; if heavy it was turned over at II
o'clock, and 8 ! the raking up commenc-
ed and the hauling followed.
On the other farm the mowers were out
in the wet grass and had long noon-spell.
AT or 4 raking and cooking commenced,
and the hay put up to thoroughly cure
In this condition it often stood week.
'Let us get through with cutting and then
make job of hauling" was the usual re
mark. Then again, the former cut when
in bloom, while the other wanted the ben
eft of the seed he wanted his grass fully
grown so as to have its full value, "none