Alfalfa in Kansas. 71 



Sedgwick county: "About eight o'clock, so there won't be so much 

 dew on it. The dust will stick on dewy alfalfa and make dusty hay." 



Geary county : "In dry, settled weather mowing in the morning usually 

 allows raking the same evening and saves exposure to dew. Sometimes 

 mowing in the evening allows some curing without sun, which is an ad- 

 vantage. When the ground is wet or the crop heavy, cut any time and 

 rake when ready." 



Riley county: "In the morning, generally, so as to put up in after- 

 noon what we mow that morning." 



Ellis county: "We start the mower in the morning, very early, and 

 rake it in the afternoon. One day cures it here, and if you leave it ttfo 

 long you lose the leaves." 



Dickinson county: "In hot, dry weather at noon; in cool weather in 

 the morning; so it will dry and can be raked at nine or ten o'clock the 

 next morning." 



Wallace county : "Early, unless dew is very heavy. Would prefer to 

 wait .until dew was off, but too many acres to cut over to wait." 



Wabaunsee county : "After the dew is off the alfalfa, because the hay 

 does not cure as well when it is cut with the dew on it, and also because 

 cutting it with the dew on it has an injurious effect on the next crop." 



Harvey county: "Depends on weather conditions. If there is a heavy 

 dew I prefer to cut in the afternoon." 



Republic county: "About two p. m. The leaves do not wilt; they ab- 

 sorb moisture during the night, and we can stack the next day. We 

 have cut our alfalfa the past four years in the afternoon and evening, 

 and find that it cures well and the foliage never falls, even if very dry. 

 We are always ready to stack the next afternoon, unless cloudy and 

 rainy." 



(See pages 241 to 243.) 



CURING. 



In curing we are concerned, first of all, with the time to start the rake 

 with just how long the alfalfa should be allowed to lie in the swath 

 where it falls from the mower. Analysis of reports indicates that alfalfa 

 should not be raked until it is well wilted wilted to the point where the 

 rake will pick it up clean, without packing or wadding; and it should be 

 raked before it becomes so brittle that the leaves develop a tendency to 

 fall off. Some growers say, "Rake while quite tough." 



The time required for cut alfalfa to get into the right condition for 

 raking varies with the weather, from an hour or two to as long as forty- 

 eight or seventy-two hours. On a dry, sunshiny day, with a strong wind, 

 the time may be very short, while on a damp, rainy day, with showers, 

 possibly, the time may exceed even seventy-two hours. Under ordinary 

 conditions hay cut in bright, warm weather is mowed in the morning and 

 raked in the afternoon of the same day, and hay cut in cloudy weather 

 is mowed in the morning and raked in the morning of the following day. 

 However, the curing of alfalfa hay is a fine art, and as the best of artists 

 fail, no absolute rule can be laid down. Some growers' reports, which are 

 representative of the rest, follow : 



Franklin county: "Till it is well wilted. In very dry weather rake 'in 

 windrows right after mower." 



