Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1903-10-05
QUICK CURING OF HAY.
With Modern Machines This Can be
Done in One Day.

Done IN One lay
Partially dried hay always cures to
considerable extent in the cock by the
slight heating of the mass. Much
heating, of course, Injuries the quality,
The second day the hay seemed to
cure much faster, but it generally re-
quired two days drying because of the
outside moisture TO be got rid of, says
the New York Tribune Farmer. Now
with the modern machines for handling
grass and hay find that hay can often
be made as well in one day as former
ly in two days. The moving machine
unlike the scythe, works best in grass
that is free from dew or other mois-
ture. therefore have made it prac-
tice to do my moving in the afternoon
between 4 o'clock and dark.
Cut grass is not injured by dew or
rain unless it has dried enough to a5-
sorb water in place of the sap that
has dried out. Water does no more
injury on grass just after being cut
than just before. At 4 o'clock the
drying part of the day is pretty much
over and soon the dew will begin to
show dampness. In hot weather the
teams can work with more comfort in
the early evening than in the middle OF
the day. Some seasons l have cut
nearly all my grass in the evening,
thus having the whole Of the following
day for drying the hay and carting II
in. The moving machine leaves the
grass spread out so that the nights
dew is readily dried off early in the
forenoon. The first operation after
the dew is off is to go over with the
tedder and tighten up the grass so the
air will come to all parts of 1T. One
accustomed only to the older methods
of haymaking would be surprised at
the short time required to dry ma
chine-cut grass in good drying weather.
| have hung a few spears of grass I'M
der the seat of my machine when be-
ginning to NOW and at the end of a
forenoon found them completely dried
out. The old rule for testing hay TO
see if dry enough to cart in was to
take a wisp of it and see if it would
break in two by violent rubbing and
! twisting. Modern farmers have learned
/ that hay can be overdried as we'll as
underlined. With grass cut in the
evening during good hay weather IL
will be ready to cart directly after
noon, provided the tedder has been
used faithfully during the forenoon.
l do not think the tedder is ap-
preciated as it should be by many
! farmers. / would about as soon think
| o. dispensing with the mower and
horse rake as with the tedder in grass
! that was heavy enough to need ted
ding, and unless it were as heavy as
to need it would pillow the land and
put in shape to bear grass of that
/ kind. II a farmer has no tedder, or
Ineglects to use one as much as he
should, it may be necessary to let the
hay stay out one night in heaps to
cure, but there is always a risk to run
on account of bad weather. To
avoid such risk I have always aimed
to cure my hay as rapidly as possible.
One should remember that hay is cur
| ing all the time it Is being pitched up
on the load and pitched off again in the
barn, and also for sometime after
: ward. It is not best to have it brittle
enough to break when beginning TO
cart to the barn.
With a large amount of haying to be
done l like to have three horses to do
| it, pair for the moving machine and
/ hay cart, and a single horse for the
tedder and rake. A boy can handle the
single horse and do as much work as a
man. Where the crop is heavy, so
there is little travel to get load, l
like to let the horse and rake gather
the scatterings after the team. l have
not forgotten how hard I had to work
when a boy at raking after the cart
with a small hand rake, especially
when the wind was blowing the scat
terings all about the field. The large
drag rakes are a great improvement
for that kind of work, but the boy and
horse will keep up to the carting still
easier. In cooking up hay to stand
over night I always want to rake up
the scatterings with the drag rake or
the horse rake. Some farmers never
mind the scatterings, but l think that
hay that is worth raising and cutting
ought to be worth saving. A now
ing field ought to look as neat after
the crop is removed as a village lawn,
and being on a larger scale it will
look even better to the eye of a neat
farmer.
Woodchuck Earnnind