The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-07-04
By c. H. MORTIMER, f,oIJere of Agriculture

Gov beans are not so easily cured into hay as the crops already consid- cred. On account of the broad leaves and the effect that drying has upon the plants, considerable care must pc exercised or many of the leaves Will be lost in handling the crop during the curing process.
 Cutting should never be delayed to the time when many of the lower leaves have turned yellow and are be- ginning to fall. At this time the stems have become too woody to make a good quality of hay. Stock will not eat it clean, resulting in mucn waste On the other hand. cutting too early means difficulty in curing, for the plant contains large amounts of moisture then. At about the time the pods are forming seems to be sne best time to cut soy beans for hay. This gives a good, palatable hay as well as the best yield
 Cutting should not be started until the dew has dried off. It is much easier for the plants to dry while StanQlnR LHcH WACil III ltiC cV @eA-. there are good indications of con tinued fair weather it is better to al- low the plants to remain in the swatn for at least a day in order to produce good wilting and a partial drying. Under most any conditions this IS sufficiently long. for continued ex- posture in the swath would cause the loss of many leaves. The swaths should then be turned either by hand A nd a11nWad to continue curing for a few hours or perhaps half day.
 PUT INTO COCKS
 It should then be put up into small well made cocks and allowed to re- main long enough to completely cure. Soy beans put up in this way will shed rain very well and will cure out nice- ly. The cocks should not be made tCo large especially if the beans are rather green and only slightly wilted It may result in musty blackencd, dusty hay on account Of too much heating taking place. Airing out the cocks for few hours before hauliIs aids materially in the keeping quail ties of the hay while in the stack or now
 If it is not desired to make hay out of the soy bean crop. it may be all lowed to grow several weeks longer until well podded and then put into the silo The crop can be nicely han dled in this way providing it is not too ripe at the time corn is being ensiled. This is not liable to be the case if the variety grown is not too early. It is better to ensile it with corn rather than alone. for a better silage is oo- tained The two crops should be run through the cutter together at the rate of about one load of the beans to two or three loads of corn. This will distribute the beans well with the corn, making a much better mixture than ensiling the two in alternate lay CTS.
 The early varieties of soy beans seed well in Wisconsin. If indications are such that seed crop may be had it might be a good plan to save the crop or at least a portion of 1t for seed. The plants should be allowed to ripen to the point where at least three- fourths of the leaves have dropped off Further delay will cause
 too much shattering of seed from the earlies of pods. Cutting much earlier will mean difficulty in curing the plants and seed, and the quality of seed will not be as good on account of immaturity
 CUT WITH MOWER Cutting the crop with mower Is undoubtedly the most practical meth. od If the horses are made to straddle the swath and the beans arc not too ripe, the loss from shatterinz will not be very great Cutting with the pea windrowins attachment wln also give good results It may De necessary for some one to follow the