FARM IMPLEMENTS. 141 



matter of indifTerencc. Hay or straw, when cut short, or 

 chafled, is taken up in a condition to j)revent any unnecessary 

 expenditure of niusouhir force. As less mastication is requisite, 

 if cut fine, less of the tissues of the body are expended in 

 grinding down the food. 



Hay or Fodder Cutters are made to cut the feed of different 

 lengths, according to the stock for which it is designed. For the 

 ruminating animals, it may be less finely divided than for others. 

 If for an ox, a cow, or a sheep, it is cut from one to two 

 inches long ; for a horse it would be better economy to cut it 

 from a quarter to half an inch. It is of the first importance 

 that a machine should cut short, and with perfect regularity ; 

 and to this end the hay or straw must be delivered to the 

 knives with the same regularity, or the work will be impeifect 



Here is the great defect of the machines fed by hand. Next 

 to a short and regular cut, strength, simplicity, and durability 

 are to be considered. 



But besides the great economy of feeding cut fodder, which 

 amounts to a gain of at least twenty-five per cent., under ordi- 

 nary circumstances, in the food and the increased thrift secured, 

 there is a positive advantage to be derived in the manure. Long 

 stalks of coarse straw are often quite inconvenient to handle, 

 and are liable to be troublesome in plowing. The use of some 

 form of hay and straw cutter has, therefore, become almost uni- 

 versal, and must be regarded as quite indispensable on every 

 well-conducted farm. 



The National Fodder Cutter possesses many points of de 

 cided superiority, and is very properly regarded as one of the 

 best. It is manufactured by J. D. Burdick & Co., of New 

 Haven, Connecticut, of several sizes, to suit the requirements 

 of large as well as small farms, the former to be worked by 

 horse or steam power, and capable of reducing a ton and a half 



