HAY AND HAY-MAKING. 153 



down a full third of the area they usually cultivate, 

 and devote to the residue the time and efforts they 

 now give to the whole, they would grow more grain 

 and vegetables, while the additional grass would be 

 so much clear again. 



We sow almost exclusively Timothy and Clover, 

 when there are at least 20 different grasses required 

 by our great diversity of soils, and of these three or 

 four might often be sown together with profit;, es- 

 pecially in seeding down fields intended for pasture, 

 we might advantageously use a greater variety and 

 abundance of seed. I believe that there are grasses 

 not yet adopted and hardly recognized by the great 

 body of our farmers the buffalo-grass of the prairies 

 for one that will yet be grown and prized over a great 

 part of our country. 



As for Hay-Making, my conviction is strong that 

 our grass is cut in the average from two to three 

 weeks too late, and that not only is our hay greatly 

 damaged thereby, but our meadows needlessly im- 

 poverished and exhausted. The formation and per- 

 fection of seed always draw heavily upon the soil. 

 A crop of grass cut when the earliest blossoms begin 

 to drop which, in my judgment, is the only right 

 time will not impoverish the soil half so much as 

 will the same crop cut three weeks later; while the 

 roots of the earlier cut grass will retain their vitality 

 at least thrice as long as though half the seed had 

 ripened before the crop was harvested. Grass that 

 was fully ripe when cut has lost at least half its nutri- 

 7* 



