54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Now, I am not scientific ; I don't claim to be scientific ; all 

 I claim is, that a scaffold of my early cut and little cured hay, 

 as I call it, will keep my cattle longer than hay that is so thor- 

 oughly dried as people used to dry it. Why, sir, where would 

 this world be if there was no improvement ? "Where should we 

 be, by-and-by ? There must be improvement in cutting and 

 curing hay as well as in growing it. I must think that some 

 people here in our good old Commonwealth are a little behind, 

 if they don't begin to see the improvements that are going on 

 in the curing of hay, and particularly in the time of catting it. 

 Why, sir, I suppose that there are hundreds of tons of hay in 

 Framingham that are put into the barn the same day that it is 

 cut, and they cut very heavy crops of hay there, and cut very 

 early. There is one man who cuts more than a hundred tons 

 of hay, and his hay was in the barn this year before the tenth 

 of July. 



Again (and I hope the doctor will take particular notice of 

 this), last year was one of the years in which we cut our grass 

 early ; year before last we cut it early, and next year it will be 

 fully as important that we cut it early, because it has been so 

 early these last two years. We have got to give the second 

 crop a chance to come up and grow, and give us something to 

 start upon. August is the time for our grass to start for the 

 next year. Very little has started this year, and I think, there- 

 fore, that we shall come pretty short next year. I advised my 

 neighbors this year, — and many of them agreed with me, — 

 to cut their grass rather early, with the idea that, even if we 

 did not get so much grass as we should if we postponed cut- 

 ting until later in the season, we should gain it by the grass 

 getting a good start for next year. I am satisfied that many of 

 us cut our hay altogether too late. And as for hay going 

 through cattle and scouring them, as the doctor says, I have no 

 trouble of that kind with my stock. I don't use much salt in 

 my hay. I don't believe in salting cows very much ; a little at 

 a time, and often. But I do believe that the proper time to 

 cut hay is when it has the most nutritive value, so that, when 

 it is cut and dried, it may be the nearest like green grass. It 

 is better for our cattle, they relish it better, and certainly they 

 are pretty good judges. 



