354 



The Hay Crop. 



Vol. VI 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 The Hay Crop. 



Mr. Editor, — We all grow the same ar- 

 ticles for market, and then complain we want 

 a market for our produce. If we were to look 

 abroad, I think we could find that there are 

 still others which would remunerate a fair 

 outlay of expenses, and be the means of re- 

 lieving not only ourselves but our neighbours, 

 by drawing off a portion of the articles that 

 are so commonly, so universally exposed for 

 Bale — the everlasting corn, wheat and oats 

 — wheat, oats and corn of a country many 

 miles in extent. In the last number of that 

 most valuable agricultural periodical, "The 

 Farmers' Register," published in Virginia, I 

 find a paper on this subject written by the 

 Rev. J. H. Turner, which has interested me 

 exceedingly, and brought to my remembrance, 

 that the late Mr. George Walker, of Holmes- 

 burg, embraced the above mode of cultivation 

 in a considerable degree, and experienced 

 from it profit, and much relief in the business 

 of disposing of his crop — a difficulty which 

 is now so much complained of — his method 

 being, to dispose of his hay at the market, 

 where its superior quality always commanded 

 the best price, as well as a ready sale. Mr. 

 Turner's reasoning is so simple and so just, 

 that I think it will tempt others to go and do 

 likewise. Speaking of his reflections on this 

 subject on first coming to his farm, he says : 



•'In determining on a main crop, it has 

 been an object with me to fix on that one in 

 which I could most nearly enjoy a monopoly ; 

 and as hay is a bulky article compared with 

 its weight and price — so much so, that it will 

 not bear transportation to any considerable 

 distance, I have made that my chief crop; 

 all my farming operations are therefore sub- 

 servient to the cultivation of the grass crop. 

 And in looking back to the time when I com- 

 menced farming, I think it a little remarka- 

 ble, that without any previous experience to 

 guide me, I should fix on the very crop which, 

 upon trial for fifleen years, I am still convinced 

 was the very best for me to cultivate. I had 

 observed, that but little hay was brought to 

 market from the neighbourhood, and that 

 most of that little was of inferior quality ; 

 those who then kept large numbers of horses 

 depending almost entirely upon the North for 

 their supplies of hay ; and this was with them 

 a matter of necessity, for the surrounding 

 country supplied perhaps not one-twentieth 

 part of what was needed. Observing this, I 

 concluded that if I could succeed in raising 

 hay of a good quality, I should have no diffi- 

 culty in finding a market for it; nor in this 

 have I been disappointed, for I have never, in 

 any instance, failed in disposing of my whole 

 crop, and generally at fair remunerating 



prices; and even at this lime, when every 

 body is complaining of a scarcity of money, 

 hay commands a more ready and a better 

 price than almost any other article. Some 

 of my neighbours have expressed the appre- 

 hension that the market would soon be over- 

 stocked, and that therefore the price would 

 go down, but I entertain no such apprehen- 

 sion ; the first effect arising from the increased 

 quantity at home, will be to arrest the im- 

 portation from abroad. At present there is 

 still coming a considerable quantity from the 

 North, and as long as this is the case, I have 

 no fear that good hay will be a drug upon my 

 hands; indeed I am pleased to see that vigor- 

 ous efforts are now making greatly to increase 

 this crop, and I hope that the time is just at 

 hand, when, in addition to our neighbourhood 

 supplies, we shall see large quantities borne 

 to market on our canal and railroad ; for it is 

 quite time that Virginia should assert her 

 own independence — she has been too long 

 dependent upon the North for her hay, and 

 upon the West for her pork. 



" But the main point remains yet to be 

 touched — what is the value of this crop 1 I 

 answer, I know no crop that, upon the whole, 

 requires less labour, is more certain, and at 

 the same time yields a fairer compensation. 

 The chinch-bug and the Hessian-fly, which 

 prey upon our corn and wheat, never touch 

 this crop, nor is it subject to the depredations 

 of any other destructive insect; give it rich 

 land well prepared and a moderate degree of 

 moisture, and this is all that it asks. If, there- 

 fore, it be subject to fewer casualties, and 

 when produced commands a fair and ready 

 market, I must pronounce it a good crop. 

 But besides these recommendations, there is 

 another which, in my opinion, greatly en- 

 hances its value, and that is, I regard it as 

 less exhausting than most of our other crops, 

 but I pretend not, that this, in common with 

 all other crops that are removed from the 

 land, is not an exhauster; but then, it ought 

 to be recollected that other crops, such as 

 corn, wheat, oats, &c., when removed, make 

 no effort to recruit themselves ; they leave the 

 land, with the exception of a little stubble, 

 entirely naked ; but this is not the case with 

 the grasses, for besides the stubble, they begin 

 immediately to renew themselves, and con- 

 tinue so doing, until arrested by severe frosts; 

 so that the aftermath on good land, especially 

 in clover, is often nearly equal to the first 

 crop; and this second crop, if left to fall and 

 rot on the ground, must contribute materially 

 towards repairing the exhaustion of the first 

 crop; and this, in my opinion, is the true rea- 

 son why grass exhausts less than other crops. 

 In this view of the subject I am greatly 

 strengthened by Liebig and other celebrated 

 writers on the subject of agriculture ; they 



