MAKING ALFALFA HAY 235 



field and, getting on your knees, make close examination 

 to see the condition of the small shoots near the ground. 

 If these have not yet started at all, delay a little until 

 they do start, no matter if it is in bloom. When the 

 shoots are an inch or two long, cut and make into hay, 

 no matter how much or how little bloom there may be. 

 The stage of bloom is no certain index of proper time 

 to cut alfalfa in the East, if it is anywhere. The shoots 

 at the base of the stems are unfailing as telling the in- 

 ternal condition of the plant, its vigor and readiness to 

 send out new and vigorous growth. If one lets it stand 

 long after these shoots appear, one -will be in danger of 

 cutting them off, and the leaves will have fallen from 

 the stems, leaving very hard, woody hay. I. D. O'Don- 

 nell of the Yellowstone Valley cuts down 400 acres at 

 one dash when the right time arrives, so as to keep his 

 alfalfa always in full vigor. 



Making Alfalfa Hay. The making of alfalfa hay is 

 an art seldom learned. Most men are content to allow 

 the sun to dry the stuff till it is crisp and brittle, then 

 rake it, leaving the earth green with leaves, the best part 

 of the hay lost. Alfalfa leaves have been proved by the 

 Nebraska station to be worth pound for pound a little 

 more than wheat middlings, so it is clear that one can 

 not afford to leave them scattered over the field. The 

 right method is to rake the hay while it is yet tough 

 enough to hold its leaves, making the windrows small 

 so that it may go on drying somewhat in that condi- 

 tion. Afterward it may be laid up in small cocks, laid 

 high enough to put enough hay together so that a rain 

 will not penetrate through, and narrow enough to le,t 



