124: BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



times, in a good fair hay day, your hay will be made enough by 

 5 o'clock to get in. And this I believe to be the best method of 

 getting hay. 



I have seen this method practised in many cases. Last season 

 I drove up to a man's door about dusk. Said he, " Friend Sweet, 

 there is the last of ten loads that I cut to-day, which grew on five 

 acres of ground." That hay was made enough ; I should not be 

 afraid to put it auywhere. Said he, " I went over that three times 

 with my tedder with what assistance I have had from my sons, 

 and you can see what condition it is in." He cleared his field that 

 night. There were a hundred tons of hay cocked up in that 

 vicinity ; the next day there came a tremendous rain storm, and 

 all that hay was almost spoiled. With the help of a tedder he had 

 saved his. 



Mr. Sears. My friend, the Colonel, will remember that I did 

 not advocate putting salt in dry hay, but only in hay partially 

 made. I would not put salt to hay that can be dried enough to go 

 into the barn without salt, but apply it to that hay which cannot 

 be thoroughly made. 



Mr. Putnam of Houlton. I wish to inquire if any one here has 

 salted his hay, putting it in green, so that it would dissolve the 

 salt, and fed it to his cattle during winter, and got their coats off 

 before August ? I never saw the coat come off of a young animal 

 fed on salt hay, before August. One year, when we had but little 

 hay and a large stock of cattle, we fed them on hay that had been 

 salted. They eat only a little of it, but they would fill themselves 

 with water, and when they were sent to pasture, they carried 

 their old coats, and retained them until August ; and they were no 

 bigger than they were in the fall. 



Mr. Gilbert. It occurs to me, that because a man may like a 

 salt-water bath is not conclusive proof that he would like to be 

 pickled in brine. Persons in the habit of strewing salt on hay 

 generally use altogether more salt than their cattle require. If 

 salt is fed every day to stock, they will eat only a very small 

 quantit3^ Four quarts of salt to the ton is much more than neat 

 stock require, and more than they require is certainly injurious. 



Now in reference to storing hay green, we farmers are very apt 

 to run into extremes. For instance, we hear of somebody who is 

 in the habit of housing his hay when it is scarcely wilted, and 

 without inquiring into it much, we think it is a prettj" good way to 

 operate ; it saves labor and anxiety, and we rush into it without 



