Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-06-24
HaV Making.

From an article on nay making IN Cne
Rural New Yorker the following advice
is condensed: when the clover is i'll
full blossom, and here and there one
may see brown head, it is the time to
cut. If timothy has been sown with
clover that is hardly yet in blossom,
then one has 'Hobson's choice'-either
to spoil the clover by delay or lose some
thing by cutting the timothy too early.
But the latter is preferable; the loss is
one of the disadvantages of mixing this
grass with clover. l prefer orchard
grass to timothy, because that and the
clover are in prime order for cutting to-
gether The mower is started as soon as
the dew is off, and if there is not help
to turn the cut grass in three hours af-
ter it has been cut, the cutting should
cease and all hands 60 to turning. If
one has hay tedder so much time will
be saved in the hay making as will go
great ways toward paying for the i'm
plement in one season. As soon as the
grass which has been cut-and which
will have been about one acre per hour
with fast walking team and in good
grass-has been turned the time will
depend somewhat on the weather., the
horse-rake should be put to work, and as
the hay is gathered into windrows it is
put in cocks of about 200 pounds, which
will be four to five feet in diameter and
five or six feet high. These should be
put up carefully and the sides raked
down to shed rain if a shower should
come on. When clover alone is grown
the cocks should be somewhat smaller
about four feet wide and high, and they
should be opened after two days, turned
and put up again, or left longer in the
windrows. Clover being more Succulent
than grass, needs more careful drying
but it may be more easily spoiled by
over-drying. Hay caps are very conve-
nient to have, and cost about eighteen
cents each. They are squares of brown
cotton sheeting, 4S to 81 inches wide,
with short twine loops at the corners
and hickory peg foot long, tied to
the loop with piece of twine also a
foot long. These will be completely wa
terproof if STEPPED in sugar Of lead solu
ton and dried. Ten Of these will cover
a ton of hay and make it safe against
weeks rainy weather, if need be. The
caps are thrown over the tops of the
cocks, and held down by thrusting the
pegs through the loops into the hay. To
be safe against sudden thunder storm
is to be happy in haying time, and one
may rest easy when the thunder rolls at
night if the hay is cooked and capped.
"AS soon as the hay is raked, or soon
er if there is spare horse, the mower
is started again aand cuts until night.
This process is repeated until all the
hay is made. The cocks will heat and
sweat, and it is this fermentation which
improves the hay, and by which the Gel
lular fiber is, in part, changed to starch,
or at least is made more digestible the
starch is changed in part to gum, and
possibly in the ripening process which
goes on some sugar may be formed. This
may be if it is so OF not no one knows that
1 have been able to learn of, whatever
may be thought or believed; and this is
point whibh should be Investigated
and set at rest by some competent per-
son. The fact is that this curing and
ripening in the cock is a very important
part of bay making; some farmers have
it donein fashion in the barn by put
ting away the hay somewhat damp, but
there it cannot be controlled as it can be
in the cock. 1t will be wise to watch
the cocks and perceive, by pushing in
the hand, if all is safe within them.
"Wnen the hay is all made it should
be Put under cover at once. A roof of
some kind over it is Indispensable. A
hay shed can beput up for very small
sum, and if there is not room in the
barn or over the stables it will be an
economy to provide long hay shed 20
feet wide, made of posts 16 feet long, set
s feet apart along the sides, joined at the
top by plates, and braced A single
roof of half-inch dry boards, set close to-
gether, will be sufficient to carry off the
water; the little which may enter at the
cracks will do no harm. Every feet
in length of such shed will hold ton
OF hay. When the hay is drawn one
man or boy should go about half an
hour ahead of the wagons and throw
over the cocks and open them to give
the hay final airing and evaporate any
excess of moisture. In feeding hay thus
made one secures every good quality of
the grass without loss, and adds some
WI ha in N rN1.onocC nf