HINDRANCES TO SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 95 



food, daily cut for tlicm ; first, winter rye, then early grass, 

 then oats, then clover, then drilled corn, and last, late-sown 

 barley, they will be better, will give more milk, will bo un- 

 der innnediatc supervision all the time, and a great saving is 

 made in the manure ; all which would be dropped in the pas- 

 ture is saved, and also the liquid manure, by the use of 

 muck, loam, sawdust, or some other absorbent, and as a 

 cow makes, during the year, something over five cords of 

 manure, — at $5.50 per cord, it is an item worth considering. 



IJarvesling. — There is a loss in not harvesting crops at 

 the proper time. Grain of all kinds should be cut l)eforc it 

 is dead ripe, lest it should shell out and be Avasted ; the 

 straw, too, is much better. Corn should be cut up and 

 stacked, or topped as soon as it is glazed. The general 

 course is to cut it at the bottom, and allow it to ripen in the 

 stack ; a few farmers still top their corn, believing that the 

 top stalks, well cured and bright, are worth more than the 

 whole stalks after standing for wrecks cut up and stacked. 

 I believe the poorest way is to let the corn stand till it is 

 entirely ripe. I tried a partial experiment this fall on a half- 

 acre of Sto well's Evergreen, topping one-third, cutting up a 

 third, and allowing the remainder to stand till frost. So 

 far as the appearance of the grain went, that which was 

 topped ripened ofi* the soonest and best, while that which 

 stood and ripened in nature's own way w^as certainly the 

 poorest. 



Grass should be cut very early, and is now mown much 

 earlier than formerly. Good farmers now finish their hay- 

 ing, with the improved implements of the day, almost as 

 early as those of former years used to commence. Grass 

 should be cut as soon as it blossom, for then it begins to draw 

 heavily on the land ; by cutting thus early, we get finer, 

 more succulent hay, and a much heavier crop of rowen, 

 which is an important crop certainly for milk, and indis- 

 pensable for sheep. With good weather, a mowing ma- 

 chine, the invaluable tedder and horse-rake, much hay may 

 be secured the same day it is mowed, and none need be cut 

 more than twenty-four hours. 



Rools. — Roots should be harvested as soon as they are 

 ripe and before frost, as some are exceedingly subject to 



