GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 237 



tais put a little top-dressing, and the seed thus sown;will quickly germinate and greatly im 

 prove the grazing; though it should not be fed upon until it has had an opportunity to be - 

 come deeply-rooted and well-established in the turf. It is very important, and we would 

 repeat it here to impress it more forcibly upon the minds of farmers, that both mowing 

 lands and pastures should occasionally have a dressing of manure or some other fertilizer. 

 It will be economy in the end for farmers to put more manure on their grass lands, instead 

 of putting it all upon their other crops to the neglect of the grass. If it is not profitable to 

 cultivate corn or wheat without manure, neither is it profitable, nor should it be expected, to 

 cultivate grass well without some assistance from fertilizers. The best time for applying the 

 manure is in the fall, as it serves to protect the roots and give the grass an early start in 

 the spring. 



Time of Cutting and Method of Curing Hay. As to the time of cutting grass 

 for hay, there is still a diversity of opinions among the farmers of our country, although in 

 the main, there has been quite a change in favor of early cutting within the last twenty-five 

 years. Some recommend cutting just before it comes into bloom, some when in perfect 

 bloom, others when the blossoms have just fallen, others when the seed is in a milky state, 

 and others still when the seeds are nearly ripe. 



Two very important considerations are involved with respect to this subject The first is, 

 to cut it at the time it contains the greatest amount of nutriment; the second, to do it 

 when it will involve the least injury to the aftergrowth. The question to be considered i.3, 

 When is that time? With regard to the first, the opinion and practice of farmers have greatly 

 changed within the last quarter of a century. It was formerly the general opinion, that the best 

 time for cutting most kinds of grasses, Timothy, and Orchard grass, for instance, was when 

 the seed was nearly ripe and ready to shell; but experience and scientific analysis have proved 

 that the time when grass contains the greatest amount of nutritive matter, such as starch, 

 gum, and sugar, is not at this period, but at the period before the seed is formed, since most 

 of these nutritive properties of the plant go to form the seed, leaving the woody fiber in the 

 stalk, which serves to give bulk food, but not nourishment; hence, if not cut early, a great 

 part of the nutriment of the stems and leaves is wasted. Experience and observation, together 

 with the information afforded us by analysis, prove that the proper time for cutting nearly 

 all kinds of grasses, is when they are in full bloom, or just as they are coming into bloom; 

 opinions vary somewhat with respect to these stages of growth, but we believe the majority 

 are in favor of the time of full bloom. Even a casual observer must have noticed that when 

 cattle are grazing, they do not select the stalks of grass with ripened seed or withering blos 

 soms. No,&quot; they pass these by and take the more tender grasses that have not arrived at this 

 stage, and we think they must be better judges than we, as to which is the most desirable for 

 food. Now, in making hay, our object is to have as little change as possible in the grass, and 

 to preserve, as nearly as we can, the solid constituents, in the same state as when the grass 

 was young and green, and if cut at the period of blossoming, there will be little of the woody 

 fiber in its composition. If left until the seed is ripened, we find the seeds the storehouse of 

 the starch, gum and sugar, as before stated, while the stalk becomes hard, wiry and about as 

 nutritious as straw. Swale hay is almost worthless, if cut when the seeds are ripening. Clover 

 should be cut also when in full bloom, and not when the head has become brown. It has been 

 found by careful experiment that herds-grass, red-top and clover cut at the time as we have 

 indicated, will produce more milk and butter than the same quantity of late-cut hay, even 

 when fed with a certain quantity of grain daily, and that the same relative value will be found 

 in making beef or feeding any farm stock ; besides, no one can deny that the early -cut grass 

 is most like green grass. 



With respect to our second consideration, viz., the time of cutting that will best con 

 duce to the aftergrowth, the same rule applies equally well. 



