, 1869-07-09
MAKING HAY.

The Ohio Fdrnser says: Don't dry your
hay too much. Hay may be dried till It is
as worthless as straw. As a good coffee
maker would say, Don't burn your coffee,
but brown it, so we say, don't dry your
hay, but cure it. Our good old mothers who
relied upon herb tea instead Of 'potecary
medicine, gathered their herbs while in
blossom, and cured them in the shade. The
sugar of the plant when it is in bloom is in
the stalk, ready to form the seeds. 1t the
plant is cut earlier, the sugar is not there;
if later, the sugar has become converted to
woody matter.
Hay should be we'll wilted in the sun, but
cured in the cock. Better to be little too
green than too dry. If, on putting it into
the barn, there is danger Of heating in the
mow,' put on some salt. Cattle will like it
none the less.
Heat, light and dry winds, will soon take
The starch and sugar, which constitutes the
goodness of hay, out oft; and the addition
of showers render it almost worthless. Grass
cured with the least exposure to the drying
winds and searching sunshine, is more nu-
lritious than if longer exposed, however
good the weather may be. If over cured, it
contains more woody fibre and less nutritiVe
matter.
The true art of hay making, then, consists
in cutting grass when the sugar and starch
are most fully developed, and before they are
converted into seed and woody fibre; and
curing it to the barn without heating, and
no more.
The Valley Farmer says:
The whole science Of hay-making consists
in three things: First, cut the grass when
in blossom second, dry it not much third,
let it go through a sweating process before
it goes into the barn. On these three things
depend the quality of hay. Hay should be
grass preserved. The nearer to the fresh,
tender, succulent grass you get it, the better.
Could we have grass growing in winter, how
much better than hay. Well, hay is an at
tempt to do this as near as We may have
them in winter.........But we can't have
them absolutely fresh, so with grass; we
preserve it, and hay is the result. Grass,
when in blossom, has its full growth, except
ing the seed. 1t is yet tender, in a measure
and it has one advantage which no other
stage of the grass possesses-it develops Its
sugar then. Especially is this the case with
clover, whose head, when in blossom, is a
globe Of sweetness. The best farmers have
decided that the blOssoming time is the best
time to cut the grasses, especially the clover.
When .graSa is rina what is it. ,Pon9 for
CertaiOly not for pasture, and will it be bets
ter when it is still further dried and made
hard?
To this the N. Y. Farmer adds:
The object should be to save the grass as
nearly as possible in this condition. Expose
it to the sun and air until it is thoroughly
yilted. BY that time most of the moisture,
which is mere water, has escaped, and the
juices, holding in solution the natrltlve pro-
perties, are retained, and in themselves not
spelling, but keeping the hay soft and plant.
Continued heat will evaporate these, and
rains and dews will soon remove them and
leave dry, almost worthless stalk. The
sun is injurious. 1t bleaches aud evaporates
too. strongly. The best way is to cure in the
shade as much as possible, and that is best
done in the cock. Cured in this way it is
fragant, nutritious, and the greerest of
greens.