The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-23
SALT MARSH HAY
VALUABLE PRODUCT
Crop Worth $4,000 a Year to
People of Town of STRAIT
ford.
(special to the Farmers

OlIdI1OEO, OCT 2S-AarSh nay Is u6O-
ally regarded as rather poor article
of little value and hardly worth the
time and trouble entailed in procur-
ing it but as a matter of fact it has
cut considerable of a figure in the his
tory of the towns along the shore from
the time of their settlement. The
work on the salt meadows which comes
after the other farm work is about
over is always dreaded by the average
farm hand. Before the invention of
the moving machine the hay was cut
with scythes and it made work for a
large number of men who welcomed
the income but not the hard work
Marsh hay was as necessary in the
operation of the old time farm as
upland hay. The river meadows on
the upper stretch of the Housaton1c
produces a species of wild hay which
is regarded as about as good fodder
for cattle as can be produced any
where. These meadows are higher
than those farther down and get less
salt water when they are overhowed.
They produce red top and a species
of blue joint which is not only nutr1-
tious but is eagerly sought by all kinds
of cattle who prefer it to the best
timothy or upland hay. Further down
the character of both crops changes
and the grass is harder to cut, less nu-
tritiouS and more difficult to get OH.
Every faFlner in the town of Stratforo
formerly aimed to either own or rent
a piece of salt marsh to furnish bed
ding and fodder for his stock. Some
times the hay was cut by hand, cured
on the ground and stacked there on
piles to be hauled off when the mead
ows was frozen up in winter. It was
| Impossible ito take a, team of oxen on
| some of these marshes. Every year
| furnished instances where teams OF
! horses or oxen were driven on UNSAFE
ground and were extricated with diff
| fculty after they had mired- Some
times the animals were smothered,
sinking slowly under the ooze and de-
tying the efforts of their OWNERS to
get them out. clouds of mosquitoes
made it almost impossible for man or
beast to remain for any length OF
| time in the vicinity. Although there
| are vet mosquitoes on the salt marshes
the improved methods which have been
adopted have decreased their number
| so that it is possible to work teams
on these marshes where conditions are
| favorable.
MANY devices have been invented
to make it possible to use horses in
the work Heavy wooden shoes with
| broad soIes, some a foot wide, have
been used. These are fastened to
the hoofs of the horses with iron bands
and they so increase the area of the
| supporting surface that with these
| contrfvances horses may be driven over
marshes in which they would nire
and possibly be lost otherwise. An
other ssboot" is made of heavy 1eath-
err with a broad sole which is strapped
about the horses hoof. These and
other products of local inventive ge-
MUS have reduced the manual labor
of harvesting this crop. Broad tired
wagons have taken. in a measure, the
place of the scoWs which were tied
up as close to the marshes as possible
| and loaded by iren who carried the
| hay aboard on poles These soows
are still a part of the farming outfit OF
| some of the older residents.
The meadows up the river produced
| a crop which brought from So to 81
| per ton in former years but IS now
] worth about double that amount. Salt
hay used to bring about S. per ton
and it has also felt the increase in
] prices all along the line. 1t is now
worth SO or $12 It is used for pack
i ing by manufacturing firms and a
large part of that harvested on near
Il tv meadows is used for this purpose
The Stratford Land and Improve
ment company usually harvests about
Lordship Manor and Johnson creek
This is only small part of the crop
1t is believed in the absence of any
statistics that the marshes and river
lands furnish a crop of hay of about
5000 tons annually worth in the neigh
borhood Of SIS, 600. The presence OF
this resource makes it possible tc
raise cattle to an extent which would
not be possible if the farmers were
entirely dependent upon upland hay