130 MASSACHUSETTS AGEICULTUKE. 



summer-sun just after taking off the first crop, especially if it 

 has grown fast and is tall and slender. 



PREPARATION OF LAND. 



^1 rather prefer to have the land to be seeded, previously 

 planted with some hoed crop ; but if I have fields that from 

 any cause are not producing satisfactory crops, I do not hes- 

 itate to re-seed without planting. If to be sown in spring, I 

 should want the ground well ploughed, cultivated and manured 

 the fall before, so that I could get the seed in at the earliest 

 moment that the ground could be made fit. In preparing for 

 re-seeding, I am particular to have the furrows turned well 

 over, all one way, by a swivel-plough that leaves no dead fur- 

 rows or ridges, and not less than eight inches deep, so I 

 can have a mellow top-soil of at least four inches for a seed- 

 bed. Always pick up loose stones, and roll down smooth at 

 the time of seeding. If only a light coat of manure is applied, 

 it is always spread directly from the cart, as, if left in heaps, 

 the grass is apt to lodge where the heaps were dropped, 

 especially if left through a storm. 



HARVESTING. 



I always consider it safe to commence haying as soon as 

 grass begins to lodge, whether it is in May, June or July. 

 Cut all my hay and rowen with a machine. If the weather is 

 steady and good for hay-making, cut in the afternoon after 

 four o'clock. The next morning, after the dew is off, turn it 

 two or three times, then, after dinner, rake up and put it in 

 the barn as fast as possible, treading it down solid and keeping 

 it as much as I can awav from the air. Prefer to make it enough 

 so it will not mould and turn brown, but choose to run a little 

 risk of underdrying, rather then a greater one of overwet- 

 ting, in bad weather. I do not object to putting in hay that 

 will slightly heat in the mow, if it is free from any moisture 

 except its own sap. I find that a great deal more hay can be 

 stored in the same barn, if cut early, than if allowed to get 

 ripe. To have it feed well to my cows, it must be cut and 

 cured in such a manner and at such a time, that it will come 

 from the mow soft and limber, instead of hard and wiry. If 

 the hay- weather is not good, of course it takes longer to 



