182 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



to learn the different grades of hay. It is just as important for him 

 to know the grades of hay as it is for the city buyer. 



Too many farmers claim always to have good hay, no matter 

 how late it was cut, or how much foreign material, weeds, etc., it 

 contains, or how inefficient was the method of curing. Hay in the 

 city markets sells on grade, and it was found out long ago that 

 this is the only way to sell hay successfully. This being true, why 

 not buy hay in the country according to its grade. There is no good 

 reason why if this practice will work in the city it will not work in 

 the country. Country buyers in many localities buy hay the year 

 round, and the subject of grade is either not mentioned or if it is 

 most of the hay is classed as No. 1 in order to make a sale. 



There are often seen farms where the hay consists of perhaps 

 one-half timothy and the remainder is made up of red-clover, alsike 

 clover, redtop, Kentucky bluegrass, wire-grasses, and weeds of va- 

 rious kinds. When the producer is informed that the market does 

 not want that kind of hay, he replies that he has been growing just 

 that kind of hay for a number of years and that buyers have always 

 taken it, and that it sold about as well as any in the neighborhood. 

 This shows very clearly that the average producer does not know 

 the true grades of hay, having sold inferior grades of hay for the 

 better grades for so long that he thinks there is no reason why he 

 should make extra efforts to grow hay that is free from other grasses 

 and weeds and cut it at a certain time and cure it in a certain way. 



If hay sells on grade in the country the man who has the poor- 

 est hay will receive less than he does now. At present the man who 

 has choice hay receives less than it is worth on the market, and part 

 of the profit which the shipper makes on the good hay must go to 

 make up for the loss on the poor hay. With the present system of 

 buying hay there is not enough difference in the price paid for the 

 better grades in the country; therefore, if the man who has No. 2 

 hay receives within 50 or 75 cents as much as does his neighbor who 

 has choice hay, he is satisfied and thinks that it is not necessary to 

 take the precautions that his neighbor did in order to get a slight 

 advance in price. 



A firm in Illinois buys hay somewhat according to its grade. It 

 buys a great deal of new hay as soon as it is in good condition to 

 bale, and has a sort of sliding scale, paying the highest price for the 

 hay that is cut early and properly cured. The price is lowered for 

 that which was cut as it approached maturity, depending on the 

 number of days the grass stood after the proper time for cutting. 

 The farmers like this way of selling their hay, and make special 

 efforts to cut it in time to secure the extra profit which the higher 

 price paid at the beginning allows them. This way of selling is suc- 

 cessful because farmers have learned the grades of hay and know 

 that they must have choice hay in order to secure top prices. 



The causes for hay being graded low, such as its being cut too 

 late, the presence of weeds and fine grasses, and improper methods 

 of curing and baling, can easily be remedied. When intelligent 

 farmers produce low-grade hay it is not on account of the reasons 



