1846.] Time for Cutting Hay. Ill 



of grass may sooner or later be expected; and hence, if possible, it 

 is better to suffer the first growth to stand until it can grow a 

 thick bottom. The removal of the early growth will leave a naked 

 surface, which is less favorable to the latter; and besides, the la- 

 bor and expense of cutting over the same ground twice, may be 

 saved. Hence circumstances will necessarily control the farmer 

 in his work in the hay harvest. The season must be regarded, 

 and in consequence of the amount of hay to be secured, some must 

 be cut too green, and some must stand till it is too ripe. 



The time for cutting grass is when it has acquired the greatest 

 amount of nourishment in its stalk. This may be known by the 

 state of its flower. When in full blossom it is in the proper stage 

 for cutting, as it is at this period that its stalk has stored up the 

 greatest amount of nutritious mattej". Now the flow^ering of tim- 

 othy goes on for nearly two weeks. At the first appearance of 

 its flowers it is still too green; only a part of the head has its 

 flowers ripe. The number continually increases for a week, and 

 at this time if the farmer examines his grass in the morning the 

 field presents a rich purple hue from the long purple anthers which 

 hang from the heads of the gi'ass. Under ordinary circumstances 

 very little change takes place for a week to come — the straw 

 grows firmer and stronger, but at the end of the week its leaf begins 

 to wither and dry, and now^ a loss will be sustained in the crop if 

 not immediately cut. Now^ it is evident, if the farmer does not 

 commence his hay harvest until all his fields are in this state, a 

 heavy loss will be the result. Some seed will generally ripen in 

 the heads of timothy during the fortnight the flowering is pro- 

 gressing, but the crop for hay ought to be secured ere much of it 

 has ripened, as the ripening of the seed exhausts the nutriment of 

 the stalk. 



Other circimistances, too, control this work to a certain extent. 

 Grass which has grown rapidly often lodges, and hence ought to 

 be cut early. Grass, if we could have a choice, ought not to be 

 cut immediately after a heavy rain. We are right, w^e believe, 

 then, in saying, that circumstances must necessarily control the 

 best farmer in securing his harvest, while at the same time he 



