The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1895-06-14
LIVE ISSUES.
When to Cut and How to Make Hay.

When to Cut and How to Make Hay.
We begin with medium clover as
soon as the field is in full bloom.
We do not wait for a single brown
head even, and if the clover is of
such rank growth as to fall down,
even if but half headed, we wait no
longer, for when clover lodges it is
at it's best-every day after that it
will lose in value.
We aim to start the mowers about
IN, m, and run them until night,
and again in the morning till noon.
If cut with machine that runs
over the mown grass, and it is
heavy, it is a good plan to start the
tedder at IL a. M, commencing
with that which was mOwn the
previous afternoon. If it is ideal
hay weather, and the mows are
tight, by 2 p. m. the rake or loader
may be started on the first cut, and
same may go directly into barns
with a certainty that it will come
out in spring with most delicious
fragrance. and the stock will eat
every particle.
If it is not hot and dry enough to
make hay fit to draw, or it be liked
best cured after the English style,
in cock, it may be raked and cooked
Immediately after dinner, all that
was cut up to noon, of course raking
that first that was cut the previous
afternoon. At once put into good
sized cocks, and leave for one OF
two days, according to the weather.
What is wanted, is to get it into
cocks before the leaves are so dried
as to no longer take moisture from
the stems. When the weather
comes good by 10 a. M, the cocks
may be opened, and in an hour the
hay will be in fine condition to &c
into the barns.
BY far more clover hay is injured
by too much curing than by being
put into mows too green. 1t is not
the natural juices of the plant, but
external moisture from dew or rain
that causes hay to spoil in mows.
If timothy hay is raised to sell,
it must be such as is demanded by
the markets into which it is put.
Most people leave timothy until
one half the head is brown before
cutting, and this means that nearly
all the seed is ripe and instead of
hay, the stuff put upou the market
is simply timothy straw.
To have timothy hay ofthe high
est feeding value the grass must be
cnt when it contains most nutri-
ment in such a state as to be most
perfectly digested, and then to be
cured so as to lose as little of this
as possible.
I well remember an old fashioned
farmer neighbor of ours, when l
was a boy, who would not cut his
timothy until nearly ripe, but who
commended it was better hay than
ours, because his stock ate so much
larger quantity, but he would not
be convinced that ours was best,
even though he saw our stock keep
ing in much the best condition,
even on much less food.
I prefer to commence cutting tim
othy just as in full bloom, and by
cutting in the afternoon, after 4
O'Clock. Unless very heavy, it can
be sufficiently cured to go safely
into the barns the following day, or
it may be cooked and cured the
same as clover, only it will not cure
as quickly.
know some people object to this
early cut timothy, that the pollen
makes it dusty, but l much prefer
to risk my animals with this kind
of dust than to turn them into mills
for grinding the woody fiber of ripe
hay.
Thousands of acres have, in the
winter of 1S93-94, had all the
clover and timothy killed out, and
last summer gave heavy crops of
blue grass (Poa compressa), and
this was cut and cured for hay, and
although short it made heavy
yield, and where cut early all kinds