56 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



applies to the ten commandments. We do not abolish them 

 because we cannot live up to them, but we want to live up to 

 them as nearly as we can. 



Now, this theory of Mr. Johnson's about cutting hay and 

 putting it in the same day, although I have never tried it my- 

 self, I think may probably be successful in practice ; and so I 

 think the rule that we must cut our grass when it is going out 

 of blossom, and before the seeds begin to form, is a good one. 

 It is important for us to lay down these practical rules, because 

 we want to live up to them as closely as we can. The farmers 

 throughout the Country cannot, as a general thing, stop to 

 analyze, and go into all these minute particulars. What they 

 want is some general rule on which they can rely, in regard to 

 the time of cutting their hay. 



Now, in my part of the State, a good many farmers still cling 

 to the old-fashioned notions, and they will not begin to cut 

 their hay until all their other work is out of the way. They 

 get mowing machines and tedders, and all the new-fashioned 

 implements, but they think they cannot use them until the 

 hoeing is all done ; they have no idea, apparently, that it is 

 possible to carry on two kinds of work at the same time. That 

 policy works more harm than anything else. Those of us who 

 are in the habit of using machines, and managing this thing 

 properly, can carry on our hoeing with one set of machines, 

 and our haying with another, at the same time. I noticed this 

 year, when hay was very scarce, some of our farmers waited 

 until after the fourth of July, until after hoeing was over, and 

 the annual frolic over, before they cut their clover. Every one 

 knows it is not worth one-quarter so much as it would have 

 been, if it had been cut earlier ; and not only has the farmer 

 lost a considerable portion of a valuable crop, but he has put 

 himself behind in getting his other crops. It will be a good 

 thing if we can lay down a general rule as to the time when 

 our clover crop should be cut. And just here I want to say, 

 that so far as the cutting of clover is concerned, there is no 

 more valuable aid to the farmer than the hay-cap, which is not 

 much used in this country, but which in England is considered 

 as indispensable to the farm as the hoe or mowing machine. 

 If you have these caps, you can cut your clover at any time in 

 fair weather, cock it up, cover it with a hay-cap, let it lie a 



