150 



FOD 



FOD 



a good method to apply salt to hay 

 that has been damaged in making, 

 and to straw, and hay of low mea- 

 dows, as it is put into the mow. 

 The salt will make it more palata- 

 ble both to horses, and neat cattle. 

 One peck of salt is enough for a 

 ton of hay. 



Some choose that a barn should 

 have large gaps between the boards 

 on the sides, that the hay, &c. may 

 have air. This is surely a mis- 

 taken notion ; for the hay that is 

 nearest to the gaps will lose its 

 sweetness. The roof of a barn 

 should also be kept very tight; and 

 none of the hay should be laid 

 very near to the ground. 



I do not approve of stacking any 

 kind of fodder, excepting in case 

 of necessity. For some inches of 

 the outside of a stack is certainly 

 spoilt by the weather. It is well 

 if the rest happen to be wt 11 sav- 

 ed. It often proves otherwise. 



When a farmer has more hay 

 than his barn will hold, let him 

 stack it near to the barn ; and, as 

 soon as he has made room, in some 

 damp or calm day take it in. 

 There will be the less danger of 

 its getting damage. 



Farmers, who mean to keep 

 good their stocks, and to have 

 plenty of manure, should not be 

 fond of selling hay. If they should 

 have some left in the spring, it 

 will not grow worse, but some 

 sorts will be better, by keeping. 

 And if a short crop should happen, 

 they will be glad they have kept it. 



Straw that is reserved for fod- 

 der, may help to preserve the 

 busks and bottom stalks of Indian 

 corn, which commonly have too 



much sap in them to be mowed 

 by themselves. If they are put in a 

 mow together, in alternate thin lay- 

 ers, the straw will preserve the 

 corn stalks, and the stalks will im- 

 pregnate the straw wilh their 

 sweetness, so that the cattle will 

 eat them together with a good 

 relish, and be well nourished by 

 them. 



Another method of managing 

 straw, which I have found to be 

 of singular advantage, is to mix 

 it with salt hay which is not more 

 than half dried. The hay is thus 

 kept from heating, and the straw 

 is so tinctured with the salt and 

 sap of the hay, as to be rendered 

 an agreeable fodder for cattle. 



It is well known that cattle pre- 

 fer short straw to that which is 

 long : Therefore many farmers 

 cut their straw as short as oats, 

 and to tempt the horses to eat it, 

 mix some oats or barley among it. 



But the most elTectual, and in 

 the present state of agricultural 

 science, the most approved method 

 of increasing fodder for winter con- 

 sumption, is to provide large quan- 

 tities of pumpkins, potatoes, car- 

 rots, Swedish turnips and beets, 

 by which the consumption of hay 

 is exceedingly diminished, and the 

 cattle, particularly milch cows, are 

 kept in much better conditon, and 

 it is believed at much less expense. 

 Two or three acres, in the culture 

 of such vegetables, furnish as much 

 food, as eight or ten acres of the 

 best grass lands in hay. There is 

 no doubt, also, that a great saving 

 may be made by cutting fine the 

 straw and hay given to cattle. 

 Various machines have been in- 



