188 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station in speaking of 

 clover hay. While, in speaking of haymaking, without particular- 

 izing as to kind in view, on a model farm in Pennsylvania, the 

 Department of Agriculture says : 



"Harvesting hay on this farm is an interesting process. The 

 rank growth of the crop renders it necessary to move aside the 

 swath cut before the machine can get at the next one. The method 

 of curing is as follows: 'The grass is cut in the afternoon. The first 

 night's dew never hurts it. Let it lie the next day until noon. It 

 is then put into curing cocks, which are made flat. These cocks are 

 upset the next morning, and in the afternoon four of them are made 

 into one weathering cock. Let it stand thus for one day ; then haul to 

 the barn or rick.' ^ (Dept. Agr. Y. B. 1903; Tex. E. S. B. 109; 

 Mass. E. S. B. 134.) 



In the majority of sections where timothy is most extensively 

 grown, whether it be alone or mixed with other grasses, and fre- 

 quently with clover of one variety or another, the farmer pays but 

 little attention to the time of day ; if the crop is far enough advanced 

 to be cut, the weather appears favorable and he has nothing before 

 him that needs his attention more, he does not delay, but sets out to 

 cut grass or whatever the mixture may be. After being cut, and if 

 the weather is particularly fine, timothy when but little if at all 

 mixed can be tedded and retedded within a few hours; the hay can 

 in most cases be sufficiently cured so as to allow of its being hauled 

 in or stacked the day after the cutting in some cases in the evening 

 of the day it was cut in the early part of the morning. When, how- 

 ever, showers threaten and dangers from wetting by rain or dew is 

 great, no more should be cut for the time being. That which is cut 

 and but partially cured should be thrown into windrows, or better 

 still into cocks. When the danger is passed, these should be opened 

 out and thoroughly aired in order to prevent sweating and heating. 

 This cocking, reopening and spreading for the purpose of proper 

 curing may in some cases be required several times, the 

 weather conditions making it extremely difficult to make good hay. 

 If housed or stacked damp or not sufficiently cured, timothy is likely 

 to cake, get musty and be of very inferior quality even though the 

 stand in the field was of the very best. If, on the other hand, tim- 

 othy is permitted to get too wet and remain in that condition too long 

 before it becomes properly dried for housing, it will bleach, lose both 

 its nutritive and palatable qualities, become straw-like in proportion 

 to the degree that it may have thus been damaged. "The curing of 

 hay, so as to be able to put on the market a good quality of this 

 product, is also something which cannot be learned entirely from 

 books, but requires considerable experience for its successful con- 

 duct." (Dept. Agr. Y. B. 1909.) 



The best hay is made with rain and with the least possible 

 amount of sunshine. If it were possible to cure hay in the shade 

 the quality would be much better. The curing of hay is a process 

 of drying and of fermentation. Hot sun tends to stop fermentations 



