GRASS CROP. I ' 125 



proper thouglit and calculation, and sometimes make a mistake. 

 Let us look at it a few moments. 



Reference has been made to tight barns. I have a tight barn. 

 It is as tight as boards, shingles, clapboards, stone, lime and mor- 

 tar can can make it. I have had some experience in storing hay, 

 and I have fed almost eveiy pound of hay from that barn for ten 

 years. I knew precisely the condition of every load of hay that 

 has been put into that barn, when it was taken out, and I will say 

 from my experience, that while I believe there is such a thing as 

 drying hay too much, I believe a great deal more hay is injured by 

 too little drying than by too" much drying. I am not afraid of a 

 little sunshine on hay ; I am afraid of a great deal of rain or a 

 little dew. I believe if you expose your hay to the sun, and take 

 care of it, allowing no moisture to fall on it, sunshine will never 

 hurt it. 



If you have been in the habit of storing considerable quantities 

 of hay in a single day, say six to ten tons, and have observed 

 closely, you noticed that the top of that hay, although it may 

 have been thoroughly made, became wet after it had been in the 

 mow a week. When you store only one load in a day, the steam 

 has time to pass off, and there is so little in a single load, that 

 there is no large accummulation of moisture ; but I have never yet 

 been able to make hay enough, so that if I stowed away ten tons in 

 one day the top of the mow would not be vf et. If I found the top 

 of that hay wet, with my drying ; if I had stowed it away in a 

 greener state, would it not have been more moist ? Most cer- 

 tainly. 



Now let us see how that will operate. Gentlemen have told us 

 that we must put dry hay or straw over the top of the mow. We 

 will say that a barn sixty feet long will -contain ten mows of hay," 

 five upon a side — twelve feet each. Experience has taught me 

 that if the hay is not properly dried, there will be from one and a 

 half to two feet on the top of each of those mows which the 

 moisture has injured. Oftentimes portions of it will sour, and be- 

 come almost worthless. That will amount to perhaps one ton 

 upon each mow in the barn. In the whole barn, you would have, 

 if you stored your hay when green, ten tons of hay upon the top 

 of your mows completely spoiled ; which at $15 a ton, is $150 — 

 more than would be the cost of curing your hay properly. 



Suppose you put straw upon the top of your hay. The straw 

 will accumulate moisture and be spoiled for any other purpose 



