The Portland daily press., 1892-06-18
WHEN TO CUT HAY.
Subject of Discussion at Farmers Insti-
tute.
Correspondence of the Press.l

correspondence of the Press.
VAssALBoRo, Me. June 16.-A Farm
ers' Institute was held today with Cush-
| noe Grange, at Riverside, the subject for
the day being ''The Hay Crop" The
paper for the forenoon was presented by
Prof. W. H. Jordan, of Orono, who dis
| cpssed ''Early VS.. Late Cut Hay" He
| said that it is probable that the question
of the relative value of early and late cut
hay is one of less moment that it has
heretofore been regarded. This is so,
| not because there are not essential diff
ferences in the two kinds of hay, but be-
cause it is ordinarily difficult or even i'm
possible for farmer to cut all his grass
while in bloom and no Intelligent farmer
| is SO foolish as to let grass all stand un-
til ripe. The possibilities of the average
farmer equipment allow farmers to be-
gin cutting grass in early bloom and
finish before too ripe to be unpalatable.
Would it pay to make extrodinary effort
or expense to secure all the hay from
early cut grass, that is, before it goes
out of bloom? What are the facts? Early
and late cut hay differ in two ways:-In
kind and quality.
! Grass cut in bloom contains higher
| percentage of mineral matter, protein or
nitrogenous material, and fat than when
the grass is cut considerably later, while
the latter cut contains relatively more
fiber starch and allied compounds. Re-
peated analysis have shown this.
Again the early cut hay is more di-
gestible, that is, more is dissolved by the
digestive juices of the stomach and in
testines. The only American tests of the
relative digestibility Of early and late-cut
hay and timothy have been made at the
Maine Experiment Station. The average
of these trials with sheep shows that 92
per cent of the organic matter of early
cut and 81 per cent. of the organic matter
of late-cut hay was digested.
On the other hand more hay is obtained
when the grass is cut from ten to fourteen
days past bloom than when cut in bloom.
Ten trials to test this matter, four of
which were made in New Hampshire by
Prof. Sanborn and six in Maine and
Pennsylvania by myself all with Timothy
show an average yield Of 1854 pounds
when cut in full bloom, and 350S pounds
when cut about two weeks later, diff
ference in favor of the late-cut of 654
pounds of dry hay per acre. There is
no question but that more weight of hay
is secured by letting ,the grass stand
until towards the period of ripeness. If
however we consider the change in di-
gestibility, we find that this increase in
weight does not mean a corresponding
increase in nutritive value though ac-
cording to the figures given there would
still be balance of something over one
hundred pounds of digestible material
in favor of the late-cut hay. 1t seems
the factor of growth is at least in part
compensated by greater indigestibility.
In nine of the trials referred to above,
which were made for the purpose of test
ing the relative yield of early and late.
cut hay, the hay was weighed wher
stored and then again after lying in the
NOW for several months. The average
shrinkage of the early-cut hay was %
per cent. and of the late-cut, 20 per cent.
the general average being 81 per cent.
j From this it appears that hay loses about
one-ifth in weight after storage, or in
other words, $8 is as good price for hay
sold directly from the field, as $40 in the
winter.
In the afternoon, Prof. I. o. Winslow
of st. Albans, read paper on the
profitable Disposal of the Crop after
which Secretary McKeen opened the dis
| cuSSion