82 CLOVER CULTURE. 



This habit of its life clings to it in death. When mown, it 

 evaporates its water so rapidly that in a short time under a 

 hot sun and in a dry wind the leaves, the most valuable part 

 of it, are dried to the point where they crumble to pieces in 

 handling. The problem before the farmer is to avoid this 

 crumbling, and at the same lime secure such an amount of 

 evaporation from the stalk that it is in condition to go into 

 the barn. The destruction of the structure of the leaf by too 

 rapid drying destroys its power to evaporate water from the 

 stalk, and hence it is possible to have the leaves dry, almost 

 charred, in fact, and their evaporating power destroyed, while 

 the stalk may yet remain full of sap. When clover is very 

 heavy, say three tons of cured hay to the acre, it is not an un- 

 common thing to see the leaf structure on the surface of the 

 swath destroyed, while the underlying grass is almost as green 

 as when it first felt the edge of the sickle. To avoid this we 

 regard as the essential point, the very key to the situation in 

 the curing of clover hay. The leaves must be preserved, not 

 merely for their own sake, but for their use in evaporating 

 the juices or sap of the stalk. It is this consideration that 

 makes the use of the tedder so imperative when clover hay is 

 cut when it should be to secure the best quality of hay, and 

 at the same time a reasonable chance for a seed crop. 



It must be remembered that the only practical agencies 

 which the farmer can use for the ev poration of the surplus 

 moisture are the sunshine and the wind, and the whole prob- 

 lem lies in exposing to the fullest extent the fresh-cut grass 

 to the sun and wind so as to secure the requisite amount of 

 evaporation in the shortest possible time, and in the best part 

 of the day. It must never be forgotten that while clover parts 

 with its moisture readily, the evaporating power of its leaves 

 being usually great, it absorbs moisture with almost equal 

 readiness. A heavy swath of clover lying on damp ground 

 will keep green for days, especially if the atmosphere is heav- 

 ily laden with moisture, which it sometimes is even in the 

 hottest weather. We have had it after two days of hot sun 

 so dry on the top of the swath as to be seriously damaged, 

 while the bottom was almost as green, to all appearance, as 

 when first cut. It absorbs dew like a sponge and in fact be- 

 gins to take up water from the air in a day when the atmos- 

 phere is full of moisture, long before the dew begins to form. 

 Much of the damage to clover hay arises from the failure on 

 the part of the farmer to comprehend this wonderful powei 

 of tfie clovers to absorb as well as evaporate moisture. On 



