The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-08-25
agricultural department.,
CONDUCTED BY ALBERT CHI ApMAN


to ii, 'o,mers, on scientific principles, any
:os,,nlc benefit by drying hay in the cock
or ,hadc2 My experience is quite to the
contrary. and | think much nutrition is
lost by sweating or heating, and the pro-
ress takes much more labor to cure the
hay in that way. A cock of hay of one
hundred pounds, put up as there described,
Just wited, contains about fifty pounds of
hay properly cured, and fifty pounds Of
water A.; and the question is how to expel
this water and make the hay as dry as
the surrounding atmosphere, 1t will
never keep well until it becomes as dry
as the atmosphere in which it is to be
kept. This water must be expelled or
evaporated by heat; and drying in the
sun is using the suns rays, or hot air,
to, cvaporatc this water The other
process piles it up in the cock or
NOW in damp state and let's it sweat,
heat, mow.burn or ire-fang, which is all
the same thing only differing in degree
of burning. In other words, it is burning
up the sugar extracts and gluten in the
in the stocks and leaves, in order to dry
the water from the woody fiber. The
suns heat he's evaporated large amount
of water from the grass daily from the
time the grass began to grow until it was
cut. and its growth has been just in pro.
portion to the rapidity of the evaporation,
leaving the lime potash, soda and other
substances taken up with the water to
form the stalk, while the sun evaporates
nothing but pure water. Is it possible
that alter the grass is cut much. nutri.
ton can be taken from it by the suns
heat while drying it fit to keep in the
NOW think not Again, think hay
should be cut before it comes into bios.
som, or soon after beading. at the time
that it has the greatest amount of slush
or Juice in it, and before the stalks begin
to harden or turn to woody fiber 1t is
so much labor to dry hay cut at this time
by this cooking process, that farmers here
do not begin hayipg till it is in blossom
or in second blossom" as they call it.
When they have much to cut, before they
get done it is nearly ripe, and nearly
worthless ] have practiced for many
years cutting my hay as soon as possible
after it is headed out, and clover before
it falls down, whether headed out or
not. In good weather let it lie Just as
it falls from the mower. iorty-cight hours,
or till the second day then if dry, rake
and draw at once to the barn. In show
cry weather, if the hay is nearly dry, |
sometimes cock it, but never in good
weather. My rule is never to put it in
the barn until it is so dry that it neither
sweats nor heats in the NOW | have
put in my hay at much less expense on an
average, and have had great deal better
hay, and my cows come out in the spring
in much better order, than when | follow
the old grandfather rule of cooking and
sweating A.c Ifoga Co., r. Y. July %.
1t is difficult to to explain even some
Of the most common processes Of nature,
or Of farm work, on scientific principles.
That herbs dried in the shade are Of
more worth than if dried in the open
Sunshine, is patent to every one who has
ever had anything to do with extracting
their valuable properties. A well known
German scientist, now a resident of this
country, explained the fact in this way.
The suns rays are Of several kinds, one
of which is chemical, acts chemically,
changing organic matters permanently.
While plants are in natural state, hav.
ing that which We call "life" no chemical
change is effected in the parts exposed to
the sunlight, except such changes as are
required for growth. As soon as the
main source Of food supply-thc roots
is prevented, by the cutting off of the
stems, from supplying the necessary min.
eral and organic matters to the leaves or
lungs, the chemical rays Of the sun still
continue to act on the plant as if it had
never been cut, thus in some way chang.
ing the quality of the juices left in the
plant. This may not be the true reason
Tor the fact, but is given as u possible
one.
In one hundred pounds OF freshly cut
meadow hay there are sevcnty-two pounds
Of water, twenty-onc per cent of which
remains in the hay after it is "as dry as
the atmosphere in which it is to be kept"
II the hay is cut, as A. G. very properly
says it should be, as soon as fully headed
out, this water will be, when the grass is
well wilted, somewhat like thin syrup
containing sugar and also nearly all the
mineral ingredients of the plant. Then
if the hay is put up into smaH cocks, as
specified in the article referred to, nc
heating or burning is ever seen, and very
seldom any sweating" as it is called
In putting up fruits some sugar is requir.
ed for their preservation, but it is never
thought necessary TO dry out all the wa.
ter. So the hali.dried sap, being full OIL
sugar and mineral substances, is in con.
dition to preserve the hay instead of pro.
ducing decay 10y the slow consumption Of
the carbon in the plant
The question of time IS a matter OF ox
pericnce, as before stated, is that abou
twenty per cent. is gained in time, by
curing the hay in the cock, A neighbol
whose practice had always been like tina
pursued by A. C., last season cooked al
his hay for the first time and said h,
should always do it IN future. He wa
satisfied that he could not get his hayin(
done so rapidly in the old way,
A. z seems to labor under mistake
as to the growth Of plants, in attri5utinl
rapidity of growth to rapidity of evapora
tion. Botanists agree that plants "enhale
only when the air is dry that if the al
is saturated with molsture,no water is en-
hailed from the leaves or bark. Three
tourths Of the known plants grow mos
rapidly in humid state IF the atmospher
or when there is the least evaporation
going on from the leaves. Therefore i
is safe 10 cay that most plants grow i
inverse proportion to evaporation fror
the leaves.
1t is probable that if A. G. would us
II hay tedder SO that he could cure hi
hay in little more than half the time
he would find his hay of still better uualit