Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-07-04

be guarded against by every precaution. Hay
covers made Of cotton sheetng with loops,
or eyelet-holes at the corners for securing,
will pay for them every season in usefulness
and will last great many years, with proper
care. They should be two yards square to
iuily protect the upper surface of the heaps.
by exposure to rains for several days hay
looses largely Of its best elements of nutri-
ton. 1t will loose 20 per cent. of its nitrogen
and suffer loss of 80 to 40 per cent. in total
weight. Of its potash and soda it will yield
up 10 to so per cent; of its phosphorus so
per cent, and of lime 25 per cent. Magne-
sia and silica are also washed out; its sugar
and starch are also largely wasted. In fact
hay exposed even to one nights dew is more
or less injured as the dew may be heavy or
light, and the protecting caps should be night
y spread over all hay exposed out of doors.
Mechanical invention has done much to-
wards ghtcning the labors Of the hay harvest.
From being the most laborious and muscle
taxing operation Of farm life, il has become
among the lightest. The mower and rake op-
Grated by horse power gives us respite from
the hand scythe and rake, and enables one
man now to accomplish as much as FIVE could
formerly. They also enable us to cut at the
proper time and reduce the time of harvest
ing from weeks to days. The tedder is an in.
strument not much in use with US in Waldo
county, tor the very good reason that not
much OF our grass needs spreading. With
the machinery now at hand, there Is no ex.
cuse for having over-ripened hay; there 10 no
good reason why we may not be ''instant Ia
season and out of season." and cut our
grass in season. The horse fork is a useful
implement II we are not in hurry or
wish to elevate hay to high mows or
scatfolds but when the shower is rapidly ap-
DrO0PElnn 20 ~ IL
right hang" rnd reliable handle, an active
man to use it, and would dispense with any
horse pitch fork ever saw. While / am up
on the subject of hay tools, allow me to pre-
sent few suggestions regarding mowers and
rakes. Do not run the mower too closely;
but leave good stubble. This will, in a
measure, protect the springing aftermonth
and protect the roots in winter. Many
kinds of grass are killed by beng cut too
closely; herds grass is peculiarly sensitive TO
this. Use wooden toothed rakes, wheth-
er hand or horse; the roots are less liable to
be injured by them, and you get a cleaner.
better quality OF hay by its being freer from
dust | have yet to see an iron or steel
toothed rake that raises no dust upon dry
days, or collects clean, nice article of hay.
This may seem small aud simple point, but
it is one that calls for your thought and inves-
tigation as regards self interest
The tighter the barn the greener the hay
may be stored. This is illustrated in the
practice Of canning in air tight vessels anv
perishable substance that is wished to pre-
serve. The more perfect the exclusion of
air, the more perfect is the preservation,
This is just as true in saving hay as in saving
fruits, meats, and vegetables. The practice
OF keeping barn doors and windows open dur
ing and after haying is of very questionable
yyls lsp,- fEnl-a
II up in an air tight vessel and it will come
out the most perfect hay known, if no mois-
ture is upon it when so treated. have seen
the hay cart following the rake, ana this in
turn following the mower at a convenient dis
lance, in the middle Of a bright day, in Mary.
land. the hay, or rather grass, put in stack
and harm within an hours time from cutting.
This am told is a very common practice
there. If it were not successful presume it
would be abandoned. l would not convey the
impression that it will be best for us to follow
this fully, but think it ould be well for us
to experiment somewhat upon small quantities
of hay, and thus deduct correct conclu sions
that may be applied to larger quantities safely
5. l.. Goodale, Secretary of the Maine
Board of Agriculture, says on this point:
1--WE all know that there is a method of cur
ing hay which latterly has come into use
among some farmers of this State, which ha.
excited considerable interest and not little
controversy. We heard something about it
at our session in Pennington last winter.
The grass IS cut as soon as the dew is fairly
off, and after drying what it will during few
hours, is put into the barn in the afternoon of
the same day. When NOW is full they COW
er it with foo; in depth of straw and it is
claimed that hay thus treated Is equal in fla
vor and in nourishing power to any hay what
ltI. a t,r,~
worthy men, tell us that they have tried this
same method and that the hay was spoiled;
that it was dead loss, or fit osly for manure
''ln my feeble attempts to reconcile the con
flicting testimony and TO sift truth from error
have got as far as this that the probabili-
ties are that the grass which is successfully
cured by this method is never cut very early,
never cut when it contains the largest amount
of rUtri;ive constituents; in fact, when ques-
toned as to the stage of maturity in which il
is cut the answer usually is, ''in the second
blossom" and when that is you know as well
as /. 1t is probable after portion of the
sugar. gum, starch, ETC., have been converted
into woody fibre, and at the same time a good
deal of moisture contained in the grass during
its early bloom has eXhalea from it, In this
condition, or rather, dried little beyond this
point, il goes TO the barn, and if it came ou,
as it went in, cannot understand how il
could be truthtully said to possess so good
flavor and to be SO nutritious as is asserted
But if it is true that the heat TO which that
late cut hay is subjected in the NOW, and thar
heat is represented as being very eonsidera.
BILE and continued for good while, say, if
that heat slowly cooks it, if it reconverts
woody fibre into gum, sugar, starch and al.
bumen, or if it causes chemical changes in
its constitution equivalent to such a recon
version, then We may readily believe that
this method has sometimes been attended
with success, and we may understand some
what of the conditions upon which that sue.
cess depended. We can also see that. in all
probability, those whose hay was spoiled BY
the same method, cut their grass when it con-
tanned an amount of sugar, albumen, gum,
Sc, which needed only preservation, and
could not safely be subjected to so great heat,
and especially If accompanied with so much
moisture as grass contains at that stage, or
diminished by only few hours of drying ex-
posure.'
Open barns by admitting air induces too
rapid sweating and fermentation, and when
fogs or rains prevail, damp air is admitted
which saturates the edges and upon warm
days steams tho whole mass iniurin0 tho