MEADOWS AND MAKING HAY. 419 



peas for any use, is the pea harvester ; seed crops of 

 soy beans may be cut with the binder. 



Nearly all the small cereal grains are harvested with 

 the binder, when cut for hay, whether grown alone or in 

 mixtures ; when thus cut, they are more easily handled 

 and with less labor, while being cured, stored and fed. 

 But when harvesting them, the sheaves should be made 

 small and tied rather loosely to facilitate drying. If 

 bound tightly, more or less mould is likely to appear in 

 the sheaves underneath the band that ties them. How- 

 ever, when those cereals grow in mixtures and are much 

 lodged and tangled, it will usually be preferable to cut 

 them with the field mower. When vetches are grown 

 alone for hay, they can be best harvested with the pea 

 harvester but may be cut with the mower. 



The proper stage at which to cut nearly all grass- 

 plants is when in bloom, a little prior to that stage 

 for cattle, especially milch cows and sheep, and for 

 horses, a little later than the full bloom stage. Grasses 

 which quickly lose in palatability when nearing matur- 

 ity should be cut when rather less advanced than others, 

 such are orchard grass and western rye; others again 

 do lose much when cut later than the blossoming stage, 

 such is Eussian brome. The clovers should be cut when 

 in full bloom, except alfalfa, which is best cut when 

 coming into bloom. The best time to cut the sor- 

 ghums, grown thickly for hay, is when seed is in the 

 dough stage; when two cuttings are wanted in the sea- 

 son, it must be cut earlier; the difficulty in curing it 

 increases with earliness in the stage of cutting. The 

 millets are ready for cutting, when all the heads have 



