126 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



yielded at the two cuttings over five and a quarter tons to the 

 acre.* Chemical analysis shows, also, that hay grown on land 

 well fertilized is of a much greater feeding value than that 

 grown on a poor soil. 



A dressing of manure on permanent pastures will not only 

 give one or two largely increased crops, but will make the pas- 

 ture better for many years. I have passed daily, for several 

 years, some pasture lots which have been heavily top-dressed 

 with manure, and they carry fully double the stock per acre 

 that the ordinary pastures of the same neighborhood do, and 

 endure drought better. 



While pastures should not be overstocked, it is often a 

 decided advantage to have them eaten short, as many varieties 

 of grass become dry and of little value if allowed to go to seed. 

 It is wise, therefore, to have the pasture divided so as to enable 

 the farmer to concentrate the stock on one field while another 

 is growing up. This changing of the stock is of advantage both 

 to them and to the pasture. 



Hay Making. I doubt if in any farm operation there is so 

 little judgment exercised as in hay making, or if on any other 

 point a little scientific knowledge would be of so great value. 

 The practice of a majority of the farmers of my acquaintance is 

 to allow their grass to stand till ripe, often so that the seed 

 shatters in handling it. Chemical analysis shows that the 

 changes the plant undergoes in maturing the seed, greatly re- 

 duces the value of the grass for food, and careful experiments 

 in feeding confirm this. On this subject Professor Jordan, of 

 the Pennsylvania State College, says : " So far as composition is 

 any indication of value, the hay from early cut grass is more 

 valuable pound for pound than that from late cut grass." 



Some experiments made by Professor Jordan in feeding 

 early and late cut hay, confirm this: During the winter of 1881 

 and 1882, four steers were selected for experiment and two fed 

 on early cut hay for twenty-eight days and the other two on late 

 cut hay for the same period. Then they were changed and for 

 the same period those that had been fed early cut hay were fed 



* These two cuttings were made the same year. 



