SECRETARY'S REPORT. 137 



tion of my circular on this point, no doubt is expressed by any one 

 of their value ; but some who have not used them express their in- 

 tention to do so. Of those who have used them, a single reply will 

 serve as a sample of the evidence received : " We use hay caps and 

 find the advantage from them to be great. For instance : last season 

 we cocked up a lot of hay on Saturday afternoon and capped it. 

 Sunday forenoon it began to rain, and it continued wet and lowery 

 for five days. On the return of fair weather we found the capped 

 hay bright. Other cocks in the vicinity uncapped were soaked 

 through and blackened, so that it was not worth half price. Good hay 

 was worth here last spring eighty cents per hundred. If an ex- 

 penditure of twenty-five cents for a cap saved forty cents worth of 

 hay in that one storm, it must be apparent to the most obtuse that 

 it paid wcll.^^ 



They are usually made of a square of cloth a yard and a half 

 wide, with an eyelet hole in each corner in which a string is tied 

 and fastened by wooden pins. 



It is no part of my intent to recommend the present sale of hay 

 from the farms of Maine, believing as I do, that as a general and 

 almost universal rule, it is needful for some time to come, that the 

 crops of our farms be consumed at home in order to bring up the 

 productive power of our lands to a point where we may sell hay or 

 grain, or both, and yet obtain maximum crops. 



Wherever this is attained, and it is believed that no obstacle exists 

 which need prevent its attainment upon a great majority of the farms 

 of the State, or where the facilities for obtaining fertilizers from 

 other than home resources are such as to admit of its sale loithout 

 detriment, hay may be sold, if a remunerating price is offered, as 

 well as potatoes or any other farm product. In the hope that rapid 

 progress may be made towards an exportation which may not im- 

 poverish our lands and thus cripple our productive power, and, as 

 for some markets, and particularly for shipment from the ports on 

 our extended seaboard, it is needful to put it in more portable form 

 than as it lies in the mow, or is pitched from it, I give below an 

 engraving of a hay press exhibited at the last exhibition of the State 

 Society at Augusta, and which has been received with great favor, 

 having proved expeditious and efficient in accomplishing its work, 

 and has received numerous premiums. 



