426 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



site to success before they attempt to cure it thus. In 

 dry weather^ the advantage from curing by this method 

 is to be questioned. 



The grasses cure much more quickly than the clovers. 

 The practice is common, therefore, of drawing them 

 together with the hay rake, after the tedder has gone 

 over them, and drawing the hay from the winrows. It 

 is lifted or may be lifted from these with the hay loader. 

 To facilitate such lifting, the winrows should be small. 

 The duration of the exposure will depend upon the 

 kind of gTass, its maturity and the weather. In good 

 weather, it can usuallj^ be cut one day and stored the 

 next. In showery weather, what is cut should be put 

 up in cocks, as these will shed rain better than those 

 composed of clover. Millet and mixed grains are some- 

 times cured in winrows and sometimes in cocks ; which 

 method should be followed will depend upon conditions. 

 These crops take more injury from rain than many of 

 the grasses but less injury than clovers ; hence, in show- 

 ery w^eather, they should be cured in the cock. 



Storing Hay. — Hay is stored in the mows of barns 

 or in the lofts of stables, in hay sheds or in stacks. The 

 aim should be, on the part of those who feed the hay on 

 the farm, to store it under cover to the greatest extent 

 practicable, in order to avoid the expense of handling 

 a second time before it is fed and the loss from the shed- 

 ing of leaves and heads, which, in nearly all instances, 

 accompanies the second handling of hay. In handling 

 cow pea, soy bean and clover hay, this loss is very much 

 greater than in handling hay from grasses. Further- 

 more, the aim should be to store it in such proximity 



