SECRETARY'S REPORT. 191 



among practical farmers, some considering one good hay day 

 sufficient, while others require two and sometimes three, as if 

 it were not possible to dry it too much. Our practice in this 

 respect is, 1 believe, better than it used to be twenty years ago. 

 Most farmers now think that grass can be dried too much as 

 well as too little, and that the injury and loss in the crop is 

 equally great from over-curing as from housing green. A 

 practical farmer of Hampshire county says : " One good hay 

 day is sufficient to dry Timothy, redtop or wet meadow. I 

 think farmers lose more by drying their hay too much than by 

 not drying it enough." 



An experienced farmer of Hampden county says : " As far 

 as my experience and observation extend, I think farmers dry 

 their hay too much as a general thing. Grass should never be 

 dried any more tlian just to have it keep well in the mow. I 

 think it is best to get in hay as green as it will possibly do, for it 

 contains more juices, which constitute its value." 



A practical and experienced farmer of Worcester county 

 says : " Redtop is a more difficult grass to make into hay than 

 Timothy. To make hay from any grass, it is highly important 

 that the swaths, of the hand scythe, be well shaken ; here lies 

 the secret of making hay evenly, without having green, heavy 

 locks. If the burden is heavy, time in making the hay, if cut 

 in the morning, will be gained by turning it by one o'clock, P. 

 M., and then putting it into good sized cocks while it is warm. 

 If the weather be clear, according to my experience, this hay 

 will do to cart the second day without giving it much attention 

 — the sap has become candied and it is fit for the mow. The 

 exposing the hay to the air on the second day, by pitching, is 

 of essential benefit. "When carted the same day it is mown, 

 unless dead ripe, it will be withy, clammy, and will be likely to 

 smoke in the mow ; in which case the hay has lost much of its 

 valuable quality. 



" To keep it till the third day and expose it to the rays of 

 the sun every day, as some practice, dries out the juices and 

 the stem becomes hard and brittle — the life of the hay is gone 

 to some degree. Our mothers and grand-mothers used to dry 

 herbs in the shade — I hold to curing hay in the cock." 



Another practical farmer in the same county says : " My way 

 of making Timothy and redtop is to mow it early in the morn- 



