The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-02
First Class Hay! why Not'


To what extent the present high
price of cotton and its possibilities an
other year Will influence farmers in
the South 10 neglect this most valua-
Bile crop of any farm cannot be known
until results show for themselves this
fall. 1t will be safe to say that the
majority of farmers will not give the
hay crop the attention that it deserves.
In the past few years we have made
considerable progress in our regard for
the crop, but we have hardly made
good beginning of what we ought to
do about it,
Grass as pasturage and as hay"
is, when properly understood, the most
valuable crop that can be grown in
any country. For a part of the year
varying according to latitude and eli
mate, the green grass supports vast
array of animal life, wild and domes-
tic. Its total value is not easily esti-
mated, but it is immense.
That part of the green grass that is
converted into hay holds its place in
this country as the second crop III
value and Importance of our staple
crops. If the South contributed her
just proportion TO the aggregate pro-
Guction the value of the latter would
fall very little, if any, below that our
great first crop-coTn.
The world could get along very well
without cotton and tobacco, as it did
for many thousand years, but 1t could
not get along at all without grass and
..,,I, anf 40
without hay
First class hay-grass cut at the
proper time and properly cured-is al
ways in demand. 1t has its fixed
value as much as any other product,
according TO supply. Now and then
first class hay sells as high as $2b per
ton-yea, $50. There are times when
the owner Of valuable stock could af-
ford to pay even more than this than
to go without it. When grass is not
to be had, hay is a necessity to nearly
all animals as much so as bread is to
man.
There is an art in making first class
hay Mere dried grass is not hay.
Good hay must be bright, free from
dust and as fragrant as Lubin's
New Mown Hay" 1t must not be
sun-burned or bleached. The green
color should still pervade it.
To make good hay one must be pre-
Pared TO cut the grass or clover or
peas the moment il is ready and. that
is when the plant is just beyond the
stage of full bloom, before any seed
has matured.
1t is easier to make hay of grass
than it is Of clover or peas. Neither
however. must lie spread out to the
sun or be exposed to the dew of one
night. Whether made from grass or
peas or other leguminous plant the
cutting should begin as soon as the
dew is evapoTated in the morning. No
more should be cut in a day than can
be cooked up before night. Before the
evening dew falls all that was cut
before or o'clock should be thrown
up into small cocks, the size of an
ordinary potato bank. The wilted or
green clover or grass should be al
lowed to remain in these small cocks
until the heat of fermentation has
been developed fully. Then, begin
ming with the first cock, turn 1t over
with the fork and put three or four
others to it, turning the grassor clover
we'll in doing it. Let these larger
shocks stay until heat has again been
developed, when the hay can be hauled
up and stored away.
Pea vines or clover thus cured will
retain leaves fully the green color and
fragrance preserved to it, and there
will be no danger of any further fer
mentation. 1t will not heat up a third
time.
Is it not worth the little additional
trouble-thus to make first class hay
that will be a complete food and be
worth the very highest market price,
than to merely put up sun-burned,
dew-drenched stuff, liablesto ferment
in the NOV or stack, and that stock
will not eat unless forced to it by
starvation?
Much of the hay made in the South
is from Bermuda grass, and there is
no question that first class Bermuda
hay is the finest the world will ever
know.
II surcharged with dust, as when
overfiowed and the grass spread out
IN the sun and dew until all color
and fragrance are lost it will be far
from being first class. 1t is not worth
half price then. Very dusty hay should
be well threshed before being fed to
stock. Otherwise it should not be fed
TO any valuable horse, If to any other
valuable animal. Dusty hay causes
many incurable cases of heaves.