THE SMALLER GRASSES STRAW HAY-MAKING 223 



arms do not touch the earth, and the green or partly-cured plants are 

 then piled on the frame so as to make a tall, slender cock. A somewhat 

 more elaborate device, the pyramid, consists of 3 or 4 legs joined at the 

 top and sometimes shaped so they can be driven firmly into the ground. 

 This permits making a larger cock with an air space in the interior. 

 Other frames combine the characteristics of the perch and the pyramid. 

 Often such crops as cowpeas are stacked before thoro curing, rails 

 supported at the ends being used to separate the stack into layers with 

 air spaces between. 



In districts with heavy rainfalls during the haying season, as in some 

 sections of the South, the hay is often stacked in the field on cheap two- 

 wheel trucks or on sleds, when dry enough to cock. It is then covered 

 with canvass or muslin covers and allowed to stand until thoroly cured. 

 When dry, the hay is drawn direct to the barn or baler on these trucks 

 or sleds. 59 



334. Brown hay. Where weather conditions render it impossible to 

 make good hay by the usual methods, the crop may be preserved as 

 ' ' brown hay. ' ' The fresh-cut material may be made into cocks at once, 

 each layer being thoroly compacted by tramping. The curing is brought 

 about by the fermentation which takes place in the moist mass. After 

 the cocks have stood for 48 to 60 hours they are opened out for a time to 

 allow the vapor to escape, and the brown hay may then be safely housed. 

 More commonly the crop is somewhat cured in the air and then piled in 

 compact stacks where it remains until fed. The crop must not be too 

 dry when stacked or it can not be packed firmly enough, and the undue 

 amount of air present permits the fermentation to produce sufficient 

 heat to char the mass. If the crop is too green, it will not cure, but be 

 converted into stack silage. Pott 60 recommends stacking when about 

 one-fourth of the water has been lost by curing. At this stage it will 

 not be possible to wring any water from a wisp of the grass stems. The 

 crop should not be stacked when wet with rain or dew. 



The product will vary in color from dark brown to nearly black, 

 depending on the extent of the fermentation. The darker the color the 

 lower will be the feeding value. Brown hay of good quality has an 

 aromatic odor and is well liked by stock. However, the losses of nutri- 

 ents are much greater than in hay cured by the usual methods, being as 

 high as 40 per ct. The process can therefore be recommended only when 

 the weather is unusually unfavorable. In a trial with fattening steers 

 at the Kansas Station 60 * McCampbell found brown hay about equal to 

 good green-colored alfalfa hay, but black hay was of little value. 



335. Spontaneous combustion. When hay carrying too much moisture 

 is put into the mow or stack, the rapid fermentation taking place causes 

 the production of much heat. In a large mow or stack most of this heat is 

 retained in the mass, producing a rapid rise of temperature. Lamb of 



W U. S. D. A., Farmers' Bui. 956. "^Jour. Agr. Res., 48, 1919, pp. 303-4. 



"Ernahr. u. Futter., I, 1904, p. 211, 



