N(p. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICLTLTURE. 279 



all .sorts of coiilrivaiKrs for Lliis purpose. Some stick u[) bushes 

 all over tlie field to bang the vines on to cure. Some make scaffolds 

 of several stories of fonce rails and put a tbin laj^er of bay on eacb 

 sbelf. Tbe result of all tbese eontritances is that they finally get 

 a lot of dried stems and lose the leaves, tbe best part of the 

 whole, and what they get is of an inferior quality. I long ago 

 came to the conclusion that nnless we could cure tbe hay in a 

 more business-like manner and in a more economical way, we could 

 not afford to make it at all. I began experimenting with it many 

 years ago, and soon found that the same method I bad been using 

 with clover was equally well adapted to tbe pea hay, provided some 

 allowance is made for tbe ranker growth and heavier stems. For 

 thirty years I have bad no dillficulty in making tbe finest of hay 

 from the cow pea as easily as from clover. But, to show tbe diffi- 

 culty of getting men to properly apply a method of practice of any 

 kind, 1 have gotten numerous letters saying that tbe writers bad 

 tried my method and that the bay had moulded. Tbe only answer 

 I could make to these men was "come and look at the bay in my 

 barn, which w%is cured as I advise, and is not mouldy but sv/eet and 

 green in color." Telling farmers how to cure legume bay is some- 

 what like telling men who have bad no experience how to grow 

 mushrooms. I can grow mushrooms easily and with certainty, but 

 I never knew a man to take directions for growing mushrooms and 

 make a good crop with tbe first effort. Tbe trouble in making 

 legume bay of any kind comes from tbe fact that no two crops are 

 in precisely the same condition, and there are variations in tbe 

 weather, so that the farmer needs to know how to handle the crop 

 under various conditions. I told one farmer this season that my 

 pea vine hay was put in the barn tbe third day after cutting it. 

 He wrote to me afterwards that be left some of his out six 

 days and then it moulded in the barn. He had doubtless let 

 it lie and beat in the cocks, which I never allow. I cut ray peas 

 as soon as the first pods turn yellow. Tbe tedder follows the 

 mower, and keeps the vines tossed during tbe day. Cutting in 

 the morning only, I rake tbe vines into winrows in tbe evening. 

 These are turned and dried tbe next day and cocked. The follow- 

 ing day, if I find that I can take a handful of tbe hay, and, with a 

 bard twist, can see no sap run to the twist, the hay goes in tbe barn 

 that afternoon. But if not yet ready to stand this test I turn 

 every cock and remake them, and never haul in till the bay stands 

 the twist and is free from anv external moisture. Once in the barn 

 I let it alone. It will heat some in the mow, and if then stirred it 

 will be sure to mould, but let alone it will cure perfectly whether 

 the barn is shut or open. With a little common. sense and judg- 

 ment a farmer can soon learn the conditions on which success de- 



