CLOVER. 



CLOVER. 



the better. By many, mowing the first crop is 

 considered preferable to grazing it, since the 

 scythe takes off weeds which cattle would 

 leave. 



In the humid climate of England it is often 

 difficult to cure the clover properly after it is 

 cut: But in the United States the greater dry- 

 ness of the atmosphere renders it much inore 

 easy to save the crop, and consequently the 

 practice of mixing it, layer upon layer, with 

 dry wheat straw, &c., may generally be dis- 

 pensed with. In saving clover, the object to 

 be obtained is to cure the hay in the cheapest 

 and best manner. 



" The common practice of spreading clover 

 .hay from the swath," says Buel, " causes the 

 leaves and blossoms to dry and crumble before 

 the haulm or stems are sufficiently cured. Thus 

 either the finer parts of the hay are lost, or the 

 crop is housed with so much moisture as to 

 'cause it to heat, and often to spoil. Clover 

 should only be spread when it has become wet 

 with rain in the swath, and should be gathered 

 again before the leaves dry and crumble. Both 

 these evils may be avoided, and labour saved 

 withal, by curing the grass wholly in swath 

 and cock. After experiencing the serious dis- 

 advantages of the old method, I adopted the 

 one I am about to recommend, and have pur- 

 sued it satisfactorily ten or a dozen years. My 

 practice has been to leave the clover to wilt in 

 the swath, and, when partially dried, either to 

 turn the swaths or to make grass-cocks the 

 same day, so as to secure the dried portions 

 from the dew. That which is not put into 

 cocks the first day is thus secured the second 

 day, or as soon as it has become partially 

 dried. These grass-cocks are permitted to 

 stand one, two, or three days, according as the 

 weather is, and as the curing process has pro- 

 gressed, when they are opened at nine or ten 

 o'clock on a fair day, the hay again turned 

 over between eleven and three, and, soon after 

 turning, gathered for the cart. Thus cured, the 

 hay is perfectly bright and sweet, and hardly a 

 blossom or leaf is wasted. Some care is required 

 in making the cocks. The grass is collected 

 with forks and placed on dry ground between 

 the swaths, in as small a compass as conve- 

 nient at the base, say two or three feet in dia- 

 meter, and rising in a cone to the height of 

 four or five feet. 



" The advantages of this mode of curing clo- 

 ser are, 



" 1. The labour of spreading from the swath 

 is saved. 



" 2. The labour of the hand-rake is abridged, 

 or may be wholly dispensed with, if the horse- 

 rake is used to glean the field when the hay is 

 taken off, the forks sufficing to collect it tole- 

 rably clean in the cocking process. 



"3. It prevents, in a great measure, injury 

 from dew and rain ; for these cocks, if rightly 

 constructed (not by rolling), will sustain a rain 

 of some days that is, they have done this with 

 fcne without heating or becoming more than 

 superficially wet. 



"4. Clover hay made in this way may al- 

 most invariably be housed in good condition ; 

 and if rain falls after the grass is mown, the 

 quality of the hay is infinitely superior in 

 340 



cocks to what it would be under the old pro- 

 cess of curing." (Cultivator.) 



Many prefer mowing the clover before it 

 gets very ripe, as then so much of the seed 

 would not be shaken off during the processes 

 of curing, removing, &c. As the hay of the 

 seed-crop is seldom considered of much value 

 except for litter and manure, it is frequently 

 left long in the field to become thoroughly dry, 

 so as to insure it against heating in the mow 

 or stack, as this would be far more injurious 

 to the seed than exposure to weather. 



Besides mowing the seed crop in the usual 

 manner for hay, several other methods have 

 been devised. The one most commonly re- 

 sorted to in Pennsylvania is the employment 

 of a scythe and cradle to cut off the heads, 

 which are caught by a kind of bag attached 

 to the lower fingers, the rest being removed. 

 Or the upper fingers being removed, the lower 

 ones may be placed sufficiently close Jo catch 

 the heads. 



Among other contrivances which have been 

 devised for gathering the heads in the field, 

 one originally described by Mr. L'Homidieu, 

 and since modified, is simple, cheap, and has 

 been found very effectual. A description of 

 the original "machine, illustrated with a cut, 

 may be found in the fifth volume of the Culti- 

 vator. It consists of an open box about four 

 feet square at the bottom, and three feet high 

 on the sides. To the fore part, which is open, 

 fingers are fixed at the bottom, somewhat like 

 those of a wheat cradle (or large points may 

 be substituted resembling saw-teeth or a comb) ; 

 these fingers or jagged points are about thir- 

 teen inches long, and so" arranged as to catch 

 and tear off between them the heads from the 

 clover stems, which are thrown back into the 

 box as the horse advances. This box is fixed 

 on an axletree provided with low wheels six- 

 teen inches in diameter. Two shafts, each 

 four feet four inches long, are attached to the 

 axletree between the wheels and sides of the 

 box. At the back part of the box, which is 

 closed, there are two handles three feet long 

 and twenty inches apart, resembling those of 

 the wheelbarrow. The machine may be com- 

 pared to a scraper, supposing this placed on 

 low wheels, and to have high sides. The 

 driver, by means of the handles, raises or 

 lowers the fore part of the box, the notched 

 bottom or fingers of which catch and tear off 

 the clover heads. As often as the box gets 

 filled with these it is emptied, and the horse 

 moves on as before. 



This machine has been advantageously mo- 

 dified, especially by Mr. James L. Bowman, of 

 Brownsville, Pennsylvania, who, finding the 

 wheels of the original contrivance too high, 

 substituted runners of three-inch scantling. 

 These runners, he says, ought to be about two 

 inches deeper behind than before, so as to ele- 

 vate that part of the box, and give the teeth a 

 depression towards the ground. The teeth 

 ought to be left flat on the top, and the edges 

 made sharp ; underneath they should be bevelled 

 dovetail fashion. Though wood will answer 

 for these, it would be an improvement to have 

 them made of iron, shaped like dirk blades. 

 Mr. Bowman also thinks the box should be 



