Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-05-14
Good and Poor Hay.


of agriculture in a bulletin just issued,
1870 marketing was simple matter,
and carried on in a some what haphaz-
ard manner. Little hay was shipped
more than twenty or thirty miles. In
many instances the producer sold his
product directly to the consumer, and
there was little need for standard
grades or bales or for other trade
rules. Since that time the demand for
hay has steadily increased, owing to
the growth and needs of the leading
industries in many parts of the coun-
try 1t is estimated that about % per
cent. of the 1908 hay crop. or over fif-
teen million tons, was removed from
the farms.
There is considerable difference in
the demands of the individual markets
in various sections of the country in
regard to the size and weight of tue
bale, and the kind and grade of hay
that brings the best price. Certain
practices in baling and marketing
cause a loss to the produced that could
be avoided if proper adherence to
the requirements of the markets to
NiiNh tiiC iioS SIiipBtu "tIc c'-
served, the federal agriculturists says
How to dispose of low grade hay is
a vital problem with every one who
handles this class of hay, and every
dealer has more or less of it, usually
more low grade than any other kind"
the bulletin states. The shippers, re-
ceivers and dealers can help very
much in solving this perplexing
problem. The country buyer and
shipper, especially can help very ma
terially, and should use every fair
means in his power to lessen the
trouble caused by low grade hay. The
first step in the right direction is for
the producer to learn the different
grades of hay. 1t is just as important
Tor him as it is for the city buyer to
know the grades.
IF hay sells by grade in the country
the man who has the poorest product
will receive less than he does now At
present the man who has choice hay
receives less than it is worth on the
market and part of the profit which
the shipper makes on good hay must
go To make up for the loss on the poor
hay. With the present system of
buying hay there is not enough differ
ence in the price paid for the better
grades in the country as compared
with the price paid for the lower
grades: therefore, if the man who has
No. hay receives within 80 or "a
cents of the price Of his neighbours
choice hay, he is satisfied and thinks
that 1t is not necessary to take the
precautions that his neighbor did in
order to get a slight advance"
The market hay producers may be
divided into three classes according to
the kind of hay produced.
The first class includes those pro-
dueers that do not keep much live
stock on the farm, but who realize the
necessity of keeping the soil in as
good state of fertility as possible.
They use fertilizers or grow some
leguminous crop, either alone or in a
mixture with grass hay, and practice
rotation of crops. The use of a prop.
err rotation with fertilizers or legumes,
or both, tends not only to maintain the
productiveness of the soil and to pro-
duce maximum crops, but also to yield
hay that contains less weeds and 9TH
er grasses than when the meadow is
of the value of crop rotation.
The second class is made up OF
those producers that feed live stock,
and apply fertilizer to the soil, and
who sell only the surplus hay.
The largest class of producers, the
department of agriculture says EN-
braces those that do not include the
meadow in the rotation, but who con.
tinue to cut hay from it year after
year long after the yield has fallen be-
low the average and after the inva-
sion OF foreign grasses and weeds.
Such hay grades low, no matter how
much care is taken TO cut and cure it
properly. The study of the relative
quantities of the different grades on
the various markets and the causes Of
low grading indicates to the depart
ment of agriculture officials that it is
this class of producers that lose most
because of lack Of knowledge of mar
ket demands and of the value of crop
on.-Indianapolis News.