to become well wilted. This may only require four or five hours 

 after cutting in hot, dry weather, or a day if the weather is cool, 

 damp or cloudy. The wilted hay can be raked and bunched with- 

 out loss of leaves" into cocks of about one hundred pounds each. 

 Larger cocks may heat and mold in the center. (See Fig. 36.) 



Fig. 58. Rapid Methods for Large Acreages. 



With a good hay loader alfalfa can be loaded from the cock 

 or windrow without waste. 



Beware of Hay Stored when Damp with Dew or Rain 



Under no circumstances should alfalfa hay damp with dew or 

 rain be bunched, raked or stored. Invariably this causes molding, 

 severe heating and possible burning in the mow or stack. 



With favorable weather alfalfa will be ready to store two days 

 after bunching. With frequent rains it may require one or even 

 two weeks. I have seen cases where alfalfa round the cocks had 

 grown six inches in height before the hay could be hauled in. 



What about the plants under the cocks? Will they be smothered 

 out? Perhaps they will, but not likely. I have left cocks of alfalfa 

 hay on the same places in the field for two weeks straight without 

 injury other than delaying the development of the plants beneath 

 and giving the field an uneven growth andjspotted appearance. It 

 is a good plan to move the bunches after five or six days, as this 

 will produce a more uniform growth of the following crop. 



How Alfalfa Cures in Bunches 



The curing process which goes on when well-wilted alfalfa is bunched 

 is quite remarkable. Neither the leaves nor the stems are dead. 

 The life processes of the plant continue and the moisture moves up 

 the stems through the leaves, resulting in a uniform curing of the 

 hay. In fact the leaves act as pumps in their dying attempts to 

 secure moisture from the stems. 



An hour or so before loading the canvas cap is removed and the 

 cocks are spread apart and opened up to wind and sun to free the 

 interior from any surplus moisture. The hay is then ready to be 

 loaded with a drum hay loader, or pitched by hand. 



Best Hay but not^ always Best Method 



With this method the brightest green hay is obtained with the 

 least loss of leaves; the hay caps are a security against rain. Is 

 it practicable? Ask a small farmer with ten to twenty acres and 





 72 



