The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-08-01
AGRICULTURAL.

How TO MAKE HAY.--An agricultural
gentleman, of more than ordinary intel
ligence, and whose theory and practice
are worthy of respect, says that for 80
years he tried gathering grass while in
blossom, and at evarious subsequent
stages of growth, and he invariably
found that he got as much in bulk by
the early as by the latter cuttings, while
the quality of the former was greatly
superior, as shown by its effects on stock.
1t made more bone, more butter, cheese,
beef, and veal.
But to the end that haymaking may
be finished before the grass is badly in
jured by standing too long, he would
start the mower day or two before the
period of full bloom.
But why hurry the workP Because,
if you do not, the last will be half
spoiled by too late cutting. The sugar,
starch, and gum, abounding in early-cut
hay, will be changed into woody fiber
the seeds will fall out and be lost much
of the foliage will be wasted in the same
way, and the stems and whatever else
may remain will become less nutritious
little better than rye straw.
Again, grass should be dried and
housed as soon as possible after being
cut. The danger of damage by rain is
thus diminished, labor is economical,
your haymaking goes on faster; if You
cut the grass in the morning and put
the hay in the barn the same day, the
injurious change of sugar, starch, and
gum into woody fiber ceases as soon as
the hay is in NOV, and it better retains
its nutritious qualities. These consider
ations favor the making of hay in the
shortest possible time.
Hay should not be made so dry as
many have supposed. Too much drying
causes it to shed its leaves and its seeds
in the meadow. 1t hastens the trans
formation ct sugar, starch, and gum, all
nutritious, into woody fiber, not nutri-
tious. From these causes considerable
loss in food value follows; and then
there is no use in making hay dry as
tinder; it will keep as well, better even,
without.
The more hay can be dried by air and
the less by sun the better will be its
quality. The food value of the grass
will be more fully retained in the hay,
and less chemical changes, unfavorable
to its nutritiveness, will take place. 1t
is frequently said hay should not be made
very dry. This is both false and true
false, should we speak thus of hay wet
with rain or dew; for water on hay
causes it to mold in autumn and to
smoke ever afterward if handled for re-
moval or feeding. 1t is quite otherwise
with hay that is moist with the natural
juice Of the grasses. This, instead of
molding the hay, sweats it slightly, diff
fusing through it a gentle heat, cooking
it, one might almost say, certainly MAX
ing it tenderer more easily chewed, and
more nutritious to cattle, and better
loved by them, than if it had been
scorched two or three days in a hot sun.
Such is the difference; and to conform
our practice to natural law, we should
exclude water from the haymow with
care and patient labor, but need not fear
to admit portion of the natural juices,
as they improve rather than deteriorate
the quality of hay.
The end OF haymaking for the season
may be reached in a few daps after the
beginning, and haymaking for day
may generally-not always, of course
end within IA hours of sunrise. But
how can the process be SO hastened
Thanks to inventors and manufacturers,
brute muscle now does the work once
done by human muscle.
With good mower, you can cut the
grass between sunrise and 10 o'clock,
which would have required eight men
for the same time-say five to six acres.
An old man of 60 or 10, or a smart boy
of 10 or l6, may drive. What a saving
of labor No wonder farmers say they
cannot afford to cut grass with the old
scS the.
At II o'clock, dew off, and hay pretty
we'll wilted, you can, with good hay
tedder, one horse, and an old man or q
youngster to drive, throw what hay has
been moved into the air so many times,
to fall back light and loose as feathers
on the turf, the wind and air all the
time so passing through it, SO perme-
ating it, and so absorbing its moisture
that it dries almost as fast without suI
as with, and becomes fit for the barn by
3 o'clock, or sooner, if the sun be shining
and the air be not uncommonly moist
This work would have required si2
strong, active men the same time, anC
they could not have done it as we'll NJ
, | WOlueT unuu luTIleIS VIM uuNS lIleu tll'
hay-tedder say it helps them quite al
much as the mower.
From 8 o'clock, or little earlier, to 6
an active boy with p lively horse and {
, good horse-rake will put the whole int
windrows, and three more, or four a
most, with a horse hay-lifter, can put al
, into the barn or on the stack. Damag
7. to hay by cutting out of time, and los
,, of health by overworking men in hay
time, may now cease.
SALT FOR FowLs.-A lady thus write
3 in Hearth and Home: