GRASS CROP. in 



third and fourth weeks of June and the first week of July, is it 

 not a reasonable conclusion that it is the same in our meadows ? 

 Then that is the right time to cut it. But if we cut it then we 

 g-et but little more than half a crop. Very true, and some of us 

 will get but half a crop if we wait even until after the " second 

 blossoming." But I am not speaking of these half crop lands ; 

 I mean where we have drained, manured and generously seeded. 

 Suppose wc do get but half a crop ; we can get another half-crop 

 by the first of August, and that makes a whole one ; and that 

 whole crop is worth enough more than a late crop to pay for har- 

 vesting both of them. That is my opinion, t'ake it for what it is 

 worth. You have also some of the reasons why I have arrived at 

 this conclusion. But farther : The end and aim of all the grasses 

 in the coxirse of nature, is the production of seed for the perpet- 

 uation of their species. No matter how often grass is cropped, if 

 not too closely, it will struggle on until that end is gained. It is 

 then ready to die ; and it contains scarcely a particle of those 

 elements necessary for the production of milk, fat, bone or muscle. 

 It is unpalatable and almost worthless. Sheep will leave it and 

 tal<^' fir brush in preference. Some farmers prefer it after the 

 seed has formed because it " spends better." So it does; and 

 whatever cattle dislike most " spends " the best. 



But before going farther, I will cite you to some authority out- 

 side of this State : 



T. S. Gold, Secretary of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture 

 in 1868, addressed letters of inquiry, concerning the grass crop, 

 to the farmers of every town in that State ; and among these in- 

 quiries was this : " Time and manner of cutting and curing hay?" 

 I have examined the replies published, (thirty-two) and nearly all 

 of them say, "cut grass while in blossom," and they give the 

 same reasons I have given before. Not one of them sa^^s com- 

 mence when your grass is in h\ossom, hut " cut it fhen.^' In all 

 the replies, not one has mentioned the " second blossoming;" and 

 I sincerely believe that in the State of Connecticut, Timotliy has 

 a steady habit of blossoming but once. 



Mr. Gold, in summing up the replies makes the following very 

 pertinent remarks: "As to the time of cutting hay, it would 

 seem as if the testimony here presented would be sufiScient at once 

 to convince us of our delinquency and insure a reform. The 

 average time of cutting hay is at least two weeks too late. (The 

 time mentioned for commencing, by nearly all of them, was June 



