HARVESTING 85 



small cocks. These stood through two days of heavy 

 rain. Later the cocks were opened and found to be 

 unharmed, and after one day the hay was put into stacks 

 in excellent condition. This was a somewhat unusual 

 circumstance, surely, and might not often occur in a 

 climate less dry than that in some parts of Colorado. 



A grower in southern Kansas, however, who harvests 

 about one thousand tons of alfalfa per year, and is work- 

 ing with it nearly every day from the second week in 

 May until November 10, insists that alfalfa, under the 

 same conditions of rainfall, is much easier to save in fair 

 feeding condition than red clover. He finds the side- 

 delivery rake especially excellent for turning over the 

 green or wet windrows to the sun and air with the least 

 loss of leaves, and cured thus, after being wet, the nat- 

 ural color is better preserved. "That alfalfa hay has a 

 higher feeding value than almost any other, even when 

 saved under the most unfavorable circumstances, should 

 be impressed upon the inexperienced." 



THE USE OF HAY- CAPS 



Any man who goes into the business of raising alfalfa 

 anywhere in the rain belt cannot well afford to ignore 

 hay-caps as a part of his equipment. Comparatively the 

 cost is slight and the trouble of using them small con- 

 sidered in the light of their great utility, although the 

 expense, and the use and care of them may at first blush 

 appear to be quite formidable. American haymakers 

 do not seem to appreciate the bad effect of dew upon the 

 color and aroma of all kinds of hay. Prof. F. H. Storer 

 in his ''Agriculture" (Vol. Ill, p. 559) says: ''One 



