FORAGE AND SOILING CROPS 109 



The curing should be done largely by the action of the air and 

 wind. To understand this, it is well to keep in mind how plants 

 grow. The great amount of water that plants take from the soil, 

 jDasses up through the stems and branches and escapes to the 

 air through the millions of fine openings in the leaves. This 

 process continues after the plant is cut, the leaves pumping the 

 water out of the stems as it were. If, however, the leaves are 

 exposed to the hot sun, they dry up, the fine openings are sealed 

 up, and the escape of the water in the plant is made difficult. 

 We should therefor "make hay while the sun shines" but allow 

 the leaves to dry in the shade. 



Before beginning to cut in the morning, it is well to wait till 

 the dew is well dried off, for this drying will take place quicker 

 with the grass standing than with it lying in the swath. It 

 should be left in the swath only long enough to become thor- 

 oughly wilted, and then raked into windrows, where the leaves 

 will continue to pump water from the stems. If the hay is left 

 in the swath till the leaves are thoroughly dry, they will break 

 off when the hay is handled, and much of the best part of the 

 hay will be lost. This applies especially to the clovers and to 

 alfalfa. 



AVhere large amounts of hay are made, it is usual to cure it 

 in windrows, using the side delivery rake and to load with the 

 hay loader. The best hay is probably made by curing in cocks, 

 since there is less exposure to the sun. 



Storing". — Hay is best stored in barns or sheds. AVhen stacked 

 in the field there is considerable loss, especially if the stacks are 

 small. In tests made it was found that there was a twenty per 

 cent loss in a ten-ton stack before the first winter and a forty 

 per cent loss when left till the following spring. 



