The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-07-02

then that the clover will not wilt so
as to be injured by the dew that
night. The next day, when it gets
just dry enough, which is usually
about 3 o'clock, l rake it into large
windrows. After my machine l can
rake it in such a way as to turn nearly
all the heads in and the butts out to
take the dew. About 9 o'clock the
next morning when the windows are
dry and warm on top, we turn them
over with forks, just roll them over
about as fast as we a walk. In an
hour or SO they will be quite dry and
warm clear through, and then we
rush the hay into the barn with all
the haste possible. While my men
are drawing in in the afternoon l
NOW some more, if the weather pros
poets are still good, but not so much
this time, as there is now more danger
of a storm coming. The time to let
out is at the beginning of a fair spell.
You will notice that the simple
turning we of the windrows is all the
hand labor l put on the crop until it
is ready to go into the barn. Instead
of days of hard labor in cooking up,
putting on or taking off caps, ETC., my
man is at work in the potato field, or
among the berries, where he can earn
me very much more money. Of
course, if at any time during the days
the hay is out, the weather becomes
threatening, all hands are called to
cock up or save it the best we can,
under the circumstances, but we put
hand labor on the crop only when
necessary. Nothing new a be told
to old growers of clover, but some
suggestions may aid beginners. Cut
your clover when in full bloom if you
want the choicest hay. This is vastly
more important than the saving of
every Individual leaf when you are
handling it. If cut when half the
blossoms are turned it will cure much
easier, but the value will be decidedly
injured. l do not say this from
analysis, but from long experience in
feeding. Those who leave their clover
until nearly all the heads are brown
simply ruin it.
Some friends have written me:
"but you are a little farmer; what are
we to do with our SO or 100 acres of
clover? We cannot possibly get it all
in so soon" Is there law compelling
n to raise more of a crop than he
can save properly. l would not. I
should have a field of timothy to cut
later, Or make up the shortage in fod-
der with Hungarian grass or ensilage
corn; or possibly a silo for the clover
would be the best way out.
Always draw in clover hay in the
hottest part of the day. When it
grows cooler toward night your hay
grows damper, taking the water from
the air which can no longer hold SO
much in suspension. Under ordinary
circumstances do not draw in after 6
P. m. Have your barn tight, also,
and as soon as the last load is in shut
all doors and windows, so as to keep
the cooler night air out. The warm
air rising from your hay mows, if it
strikes cooler air, will deposit it's
moisture on the surface Of your hay.
l trample clover hay as little as posi-
BILE when putting it in the bays. The
next morning, before drawing in
more, we trample solidly. You have
doubtless noticed that if there is any
poor hay in the bay it is where the
man stood who did the pitching back.
Avoid standing there as much as you
can. Where a horse fork is used put
strong planks across the beams, over
the centre of the NOW, and let the
fork discharge the hay on these
planks; then two men can toss it
loosely to either end of the bay, and
will not find the hay ruined in the
centre of the bay where the heavy
forkfuls have fallen.
1t is on just the anne principle that
l avoid as far as possible ~trampling
the hay when it is thrown in.
Some good farmers in southern
Ohio and elsewhere cut heavy clover
in full bloom and draw it in the same
day. I cannot do this in our climate,
but in some seasons we can cut one
afternoon and draw in the next. In a
dry year there is much less sap in the
clover. In a dry time it will cure
much quicker. Mems ideas of a heavy
crop differ. With n of my heavy
crops I v want to see it so dry
that the under side of the clover ever
dries out in the middle of the day,
when it is standing. To cure a crop
of two loads to the acre and another
of four are very different matters. A
ton-to-the-acre man, or n who cuts
late, may laugh at the idea that clover
cannot be cut and put into the barn
the same day safely. Many are using
tedders to hasten the curing of heavy
clover. With a side-cut machine they
are usually needed. With my ma