loader, and you wouldn't ask for nicer hay than I had. But I was 

 lucky didn't get one drop of rain on that hay. With this kind of 

 weather there's little chance of curing alfalfa in the windrow. That's 

 why I'm going to bunch it and use the hay caps and play safe. 



"I don't like this way of making hay, either, but I^believe it pays 

 when you have weather like this to contend with. It's the only way 

 you can save a crop that's worth twenty dollars and more a ton right 

 now. I intend to take a chance on bad weather with my second and 

 third cuttings and do the job up quick with our side delivery rake 

 and drum loader. 



"You're right this alfalfa proposition is not all sunshine and 

 roses. There are a lot of things a fellow doesn't figure on when he 

 first starts out. It keeps you hustling to get alfalfa started, and it 

 keeps you hustling after you have it started. It's no lazy man's 

 crop. It's the hustler's hay. And a fellow who works as hard as 

 you do ought to grow this very kind of hay. Why don't you try a 

 few acres?" 



"Going to," replied the neighbor. "That's why I've been talking 

 to you and getting your views. Good day, Sam." 



A Sure Method 



I have listened many times to this sort of conversation. Out 

 West the sun shines most of the summer and it is easy to make hay 

 when the sun shines. But if you asked me the way to get the bright- 

 est and leafiest green alfalfa hay under the average humid conditions 

 of the Corn Belt and Eastern States I should advise this procedure: 



Cut your alfalfa on a day that promises to be fair. Cut it when 

 the little sprouts of the next growth at the crown of the plant have 

 made about an inch of growth. Set the mower bar to leave two 

 inches of stubble so as not to injure these new sprouts or growing 

 points of the next crop. (See Fig. 6.) 



Cut at Right Stage 



If rain prevents you from cutting at this stage and the sprouts 

 grow two inches or more, then set the bar still higher, so as not to 

 clip them any more than is absolutely necessary. This is very im- 

 portant. Clipping off these fresh growths checks their develop- 

 ment so that the following crop will be delayed from ten to twenty 

 days. This means lower yields, and in the Northern States it may 

 result in the total loss of the third crop, since cutting after the first 

 week in September in a section where early frcsts occur may not 

 give sufficient time for the eight inches of fall growth necessary for 

 winter protection. But now about the curing. 



Do not Dry Alfalfa in Swath 



Can we cure alfalfa in the swath as we do time thy? Not if we 

 want to get good hay. At least half the feeding value of the alfalfa 

 plant is in the leaves. With their thin, much-exposed surfaces they 

 dry out quickly, become brittle and break off in handling. The 

 thicker stems cure very slowly, and, if they are stored when too 

 moist, heating in the mow or stack may occur. 



Alfalfa should not remain in the swath any longer than necessary 



71 



