FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 145 



On his Horses being thus affected, the Servant was for 

 applying the usual remedy of cuting out the haws; which 

 Mr. Peters would not suffer to be done, as Horses are often 

 deprived of sight by the operation. He found an effectual 

 and speedy remedy for the disease, by feeding the Horses 

 entirely on raw potatoes. 



HAYMAKING. If a meadow is to be mowed twice in 

 a season, the first crop ought to be cut earlier than where 

 mowed but once, in order that the roots may recover im- 

 mediately and be ready for vegetation afresh. Where the 

 grass is cut later, the vegetation ot the roots stops for some 

 time. The grass, however, which is thus cut early will not 

 be so heavy as that which is cut later, as it will shrink after 

 cu'jng; but the roots will not be so much exhausted, and 

 will afford a larger crop the next time of cuting, or the 

 next Summer, if cut but once in a season. 



The best time for cuting herd>sgrass, where but one crop 

 is cut in the season, is when the seeds of the grass have 

 formed, but before they have become fully ripe ; but, as 

 Farmers cannot cut all their hay in a day or two, it is 

 necessary they should begin before this time, that they may 

 not end too long after it. The same time is also proper for 

 cuting clover; or rather when a part of the heads begin to 

 turn brown. Fowlmeadow or birdgrass, may be cut much 

 later, without being hurt by long standing. We have seen 

 wiregrass mowed on the clay-lands of Coxackie, in the 

 month of October, for the first time in the season, and it 

 then made tolerably good hay. Lucerne, on the contrary, 

 must be cut while entirely greer, ; otherwise it will make 

 but poor hay. The same may be observed of all wild 

 swamp-grasses, and of the high coarse grasses which grow 

 every where on the vast prairies, that extend through the 

 western parts ot the territory of khe United States, 



For haymaking, it is essential to have dry weather; and 

 the prospect for this ought always to be an object of atten- 

 tion with the Farmer. Frequently, the change and full of 

 th^moon produces an alteration of the weather, either for 

 the better or the worse ; but there is no certainty in this. 

 As a general rule, the weather between the change and 

 the full may be expected to be the best. Sometimes rainy 

 spells of weather Jast for weeks, during hay-time; and 

 during such spells it is sometimes as well for the Farmer 

 to let his grass stand untouched, until the indications of the 

 weather become more favorable. 

 See WEATHER. 



Some methods are recommended for making hay, which 

 are more tedious and more expensive than the common 

 method, and, on that account, so much the worse, if in 



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