108 One Thousand Questions in Agriculture 



a 30-day stack it is common to allow an eight-foot cube to a ton, etc. 

 Perhaps you can guess from that. 



When to Cut Oat Hay. 



To make the best red oat liay sJioidd it be cut when in the "milk," 

 "dough" or nearly ripe? 



It should be cut in the "soft dough" or, as some express it, "be- 

 tween the milk and the dough." This is probably as near an ap- 

 proach in words as can be made to that condition which loses neither 

 by immaturity or by over-maturity from the point of view of hay 

 which is to get as much as can be in the head without losing nutritive- 

 ness in the straw. Of course there are other conditions intruding 

 sometimes, like the outbreak of rust or the premature ripening 

 through drought. In such cases care must be taken not to let the 

 plant stand too lon^ for the sake of reaching an ideal condition in 

 the head — which for lack of favorable growing conditions the plant 

 may not be able to reach. 



Rye for Hay. 



When is the best time to cut rye for hay, and hozv should it best be 

 handled? Would it be well to cut it up and blow it into the barn, and 

 would it do all right for silage? 



Rye makes poor hay on account of its woody stems and must be 

 cut earlier than other grains. After that it is handled as is other hay. 

 Cutting it up would probably be more of a help than to other grain 

 hay. It could be put into the silo, but would of course have to be cut 

 pretty green and would have to run through a cutter and blower. Put- 

 ting it in whole would be out of the question. In the silo, the fer- 

 mentation would largely overcome the woodiness of the stems. It 

 would also as a silage balance up nicely with alfalfa, and the best way 

 to do would be to mix it with alfalfa when putting it in. 



Rye in California. 



Which kind of rye is the hardiest, the best yielding, and the best hay 

 varieties in your State? 



Rye is the least grown of all the cereals in California, and no 

 attention has been paid to selection of varieties. That which is pro- 

 duced is "just rye," of some common variety which came to the State 

 years ago and still remains. No rye is grown for hay, as the tough- 

 ness of the stem renders it undesirable for that purpose. There is a 

 certain amount of rye grown for winter feeding. This is grown in the 

 foothills principally and it serves an excellent purpose, but it is fed off 

 before approaching maturity. 



That Old Seven-Headed Wheat. 



We are sending you sonie heads of grain zvhich zuas groivn in this 

 county. The land zvas planted with an imported Australian wheat, which 



