GRASS AND HAY 205 



but there will also be considerable waste of material in feeding due 

 to the stems becoming hard and woody. 



Curing the Hay. The planting should be timed, so that the 

 crop can be cut for hay in September, as this month is usually the 

 most satisfactory for haymaking. The cutting may begin as soon 

 as the dew is off the plants and continue for the rest of the day. The 

 plants should be allowed to lie in the swath until the leaves are 

 well wilted, but great care should be exercised to rake them before 

 the leaves become dry and brittle. After raking into windrows 

 they should be left for a day or two, depending on the weather, 

 and then put in small cocks or bunches. Three to five or six days of 

 good weatner is ample time for making good soy-bean hay. Great 

 care should be used to prevent the loss of leaves, since these are the 

 most valuable part of the plant except the pods. When the hay is 

 dry, it should be put in good-sized stacks or under a shed. If it is 

 stacked in the open field it is very essential that some other material, 

 either grass or a canvas cover, be put over the stack, as soy-bean hay 

 does not shed rain well. Yields of from 1 to 3 and occasionally 4 

 tons of cured hay to the acre are secured. The average yield is 

 about 2 tons per acre. Curing frames can often be used to good 

 advantage in making soy-bean hay, especially in unfavorable 

 weather. The object of these frames is to keep the cocks open, so 

 as to prevent matting and to allow the circulation of air. They are 

 usually three or four sided pyramids made of boards or poles 3 to 

 6 feet long, fastened together at the top and held by crosspieces near 

 the base. By this device a hollow cock or shock is secured, and 

 consequent better curing. In stacking the hay, poles or logs placed 

 in the center of stack, so as to leave passages for air, will greatly 

 lessen the danger of spoiling. (F. B. 372.) 



Curing Sorghum Hay. Probably more than half the sorghum 

 grown for hay is improperly cured. Inasmuch as curing greatly 

 affects the quality and palatability of the hay and the ease with 

 which it can be marketed, it is a very important factor to be con- 

 sidered. Most frequently in curing too much sunlight is given, 

 which darkens and injures the hay, allowing much of its flavor and 

 aroma to escape, and aside from making hay less palatable also burns 

 and destroys much of its feeding value. Mown sorghum should 

 therefore never be left in the swath to cure, but should be raked into 

 windrows and cocks as soon as thoroughly wilted, which is usually 

 about one day after cutting. These cocks, as left by the rake, should 

 be forked around the edges and left untouched to settle and cure. 

 The curing usually takes about three or four weeks of sunshiny 

 weather, and by that time it will have cured into bright, sweet, well- 

 flavored hay. In humid regions these cocks should be made quito 

 small, so that in case of rainfall they will dry out without molding. 

 In some regions where the rainfall is abundant it is customary to 

 leave the hay in the swath so as to hasten curing and thus avoid get- 

 ting it wet, but it is doubtful whether curing is hastened sufficiently 

 in this manner to justify the loss by burning. Even in such regions 

 it might in most cases be more profitable to cure in small cocks, for 



