220 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Another class of crops used for feeding, being the foundation 

 of all others, is the grasses ; these contain when made into hay- 

 some 14 or 15 per cent, of water ; in the green state, before dry- 

 ing, some 80 per cent. The dry part consists largely of woody 

 fibre, say 50 per cent. ; besides this there are valuable quanti- 

 ties of nutritious bodies, gum, sugar, oil, &c, to the amount of 

 26 per cent, in meadow hay ; the amount in English hay not 

 stated in the table. 



The time of cutting has much to do with the nutritive value 

 of hay ; when the leaves and stems are green they contain 

 large quantities of sugar and gum, which as they ripen are 

 changed into woody fibre ; and every experienced farmer well 

 knows that large portions of these are lost before they are fed ; 

 hence, after grass has attained its full size and height, it loses 

 large portions of its nutritious qualities by delay of cutting. 



It was a rule of the milk producers of Middlesex County, 

 (Concord and Lexington) years ago, if harvesting the crop was 

 delayed so late that the stalk above the upper joint could not 

 be easily separated from the sheath, and the lower part of it 

 became contracted and withered, the hay would not produce 

 its full quantity of milk. 



A question here presents itself, whether it is more econom- 

 ical for the farmers in Worcester North to employ labor at the 

 present high prices to hoe corn and grow roots, or to spread the 

 manure that is produced from a given grass field, every year 

 upon the same, and grow good timothy and redtop. 



What has been said in relation to early-cut hay, the same 

 occurs in the straw of grains and corn stalks ; if they are cut 

 ten days before the grain is ripe, their quality for feeding is 

 greatly improved compared to what they would have been if 

 cut when fully ripe. This, with the quality and quantity of 

 grain, shows a double advantage of early cutting. 



Careful experiments have shown, with regard to wheat, that 

 when cut twelve or fourteen days before fully ripe, the grain 

 not only weighs heavier, but actually measures more, — is better 

 in quality, producing a larger proportion of fine flour per bushel. 

 When the grain is in milk, it has comparatively a small amount 

 of woody fibre ; nearly the whole is gum, sugar and starch, 

 with a large per cent, of water. If cut ten or twelve days 

 before fully ripe, the proportion of woody fibre is still small ; 



