CULTURE. 



method of handling the hay, the labor of 'cocking it, or raking 

 it into windrows, the expense of hay caps, etc., are avoided: 

 Where the crop is light, say one and one-half tons to the acre, 

 it is necessary to use the hay rake for speedy loading, and 

 under these circumstances the second tedding may be omitted 

 and the hay loaded out of a small windrow. 



It requires nice judgment to know what to do with hay 

 partially cured that has been caught in a heavy rain. In the 

 West storms are frequently accompanied with such high 

 winds, and the down-pour is so heavy that hay anywhere near 

 cured, if put in a cock, will be soaked to the bottom. If 

 caught in a windrow or bunched it is in a worse condition, 

 when thoroughly wet, than if it were scattered on the ground. 

 It will need to be shaken out before storing away, and every 

 time hay is handled after partially cured and then soaked, it 

 is seriously damaged. We have seen it in hot weather with 

 the atmosphere laden with moisture, utterly ruined in twen- 

 ty-four hours in the windrow. The best way is to keep the 

 work well in hand and the loader well up with the work, so- 

 that but a small amount of hay fit to go into the barn or shed 

 can be exposed to threatened rain. It is almost as easy with 

 Improved machinery and an adequate force to put hay in the 

 barn or shed as it is to put it in cock, and when once in the 

 cock and completely soaked, it is about as well to let it stand 

 until it dries out of itself. Half its value will be lost in the 

 handling and if allowed to stand till winter it is likely to be 

 no worse. In a matter requiring as sound judgment and 

 prompt action as curing clover hay, no minute directions can 

 be given. Experience will best suggest details. It should 

 be borne in mind that the damage which hay in the process 

 of curing receives from rain, is proportionate to the stage to 

 which the curing process has been carried. The more thor- 

 oughly it has been cured, the more damage it receives from 

 the same amount of rain. The less it is handled after being 

 once wet, when partially cured, the less ultimate damage will 

 result. It is almost impossible in ordinary seasons to secure 

 a crop of clover hay in the best condition without the use of 

 barns or hay sheds. If the farmer is to wait until settled 

 weather before commencing to stack and hasten the rounding 

 out and covering ot the stack when a cloud appears on the 

 horizon, his work must necessarily be greatly* hindered. 

 All farmers cannot have expensive barns, but it is possible for 

 every farmer who has twenty acres of clover hay to build a hay 

 shed, that will hold his crop, and by facilitating the process of 



