.280 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 



sonablenessj and no pertinency, they may be use- 

 ful if they excite the inquiries and elicit the obser- 

 vations of wiser or more experienced minds. 



Hay making must be set down as one ot the 

 most importani operations in husbandry. Hay 

 with us is the great means of supporting our Hve 

 stock. Our straw is ])rincipally used for htter or 

 the subsistence of our young cattle. Grain and 

 meal are always given with reluctance, excepting 

 to iatting cattle; and comparatively no succulent 

 vefretables are grown for the winter keeping of our 

 sto'ck. It is hoped in this latter case there may be 

 a speedy alteration in the habits ol our farmers; 

 and that it will become as much matter of custom 

 among our farmers to raise large crops oi" vegeta- 

 bles, with which to store iheir cellars as large crops 

 of hay with which to fill their barns. Common 

 white turnips, though very little in favor with us 

 are a valuable crop both for sheep and neat cattle. 

 The yellow varieties are still better, as they are 

 more solid and retain their good qualities much 

 longer. The rutabaga is a most excellent vegeta- 

 ble Ibrsheep, cattle and horses. Potatoes, carrots, 

 mangel wurizel are all excellent. An agricultural 

 friend, well qualified to judge, informs me that he 

 prefers to all others the common blood beet. He 

 asserts that according; to his own experience, it is 

 as sure a crop as any other; that it yields as much 

 to the acre as any other; none will make more 

 milk, or put on more flesh; none if properly taken 

 care of will last longer; and none of equal value is 

 raised with more ease orat less expense. My own 

 experience in their cultivation and use disposes me 

 to give almost entire credit to all these statements. 



It would seem to be most important to the health 

 of our animals, especially considering the length 

 of our winters and the time during which they are 

 confined to the stall, that they should have green 

 and succulent Ibod to mix with their dry; and that 

 dry especially not of the best quality. Certainly 

 very much of our hay is spoiled in the getting — it 

 is cut not at the right time. It is made either too 

 much or two little; so much as to become too hus- 

 ky and dry, or so little as to be heated and mouldy; 

 in either case much of its nutritive power is lost; 

 and though it may sustain life, cattle by the use of 

 it lose their condition and become diseased; poor, 

 hide-bound, costive and consumptive. 



The time when hay should be cut is a matter 

 not well settled and in which farmers in different 

 places difl'er with each other. Different grasses 

 ripen at different periods; and with some the sea- 

 son of flowering continues much longer than with 

 others. It is ascertained likewise by chemical ana- 

 lysis that grasses at difii^rent periods of their growth 

 yield more nutriment than all others. What in 

 some parts of the country is called the English 

 Bent, a fine and delicate grass, must be cut very 

 early, or it becomes hard and wiry. Herds grass 

 or Timothy grass, according to the experiments 

 of Sinclair, must be allowed to reach an extreme 

 ripeness in order to yield the greatest amount of 

 nutritive matter. VVe have some incredulity in re- 

 gard to the statements respecting this latter grass, 

 and some hesitation whether these experiments, 

 though highly exact and instructive, are to be con- 

 sidered conclusive as to the actual value of these 

 grasses lor feeding; and should deem some exact 

 experiments with the cattle themselves made un- 

 der fiivorable circumsiancos and by .skilfhl and 

 careful ubservcis, much more decisive. 



The time of cutting for most grasses is when 

 they are in flower. If' cut before this, they waste 

 greatly and have little substance; and if suffered 

 to stand long after this, they lose their succulence. 

 It is advisable in this matter to be early, rather than 

 late; and to cut before the plant is exhausted by 

 flowering, or by forming seeds. It is then in the 

 highest perfection. The time for cutting clover is 

 longer than of other grasses, as it continues longer 

 sending out a succession of flowers; but I am de- 

 cidedly of an opinion that the sooner this grass is 

 cut afier it conies into flower, the better, as it is so 

 apt to lodge and to become mouldy at bottom. 



On the subject of the time of cutting grass I am 

 happy to quote the opinions of a very able writer* 

 "This rule of cuttinggrass, when it first comes in- 

 to flower applies to ever}' species of herbage, which 

 is to be dried for winter food; but to coarse hay. the 

 produce of wet or marshy grounds, it is strongly 

 applicable; for most of the plants, which grow in 

 these situations, when they are in full vigor, are as 

 tender, and contain perhaps as great a proportion 

 of nourishing juices as any other description of 

 hay; and when cut at that stage and properly man- 

 aged aflerwards, fijrm a valuable article of food 

 both for sheep and cattle; but when the cutting is 

 delayed, as indeed it veryoflen is, till an advanced 

 period of the season, when the plants have not on- 

 ly reached their ultimate growth, but begin to de- 

 cay, this description of herbage becomes at once 

 the coarsest and least nourishing of all food. This 

 opinion does not proceed upon theory; but upon 

 the solid grounds of experiments carefully made 

 upon different kinds of herbage, at different periods 

 of their growth, the result of which establishes a 

 fact which cannot be two generally known, viz: 

 that plants of all sorts, if they are cut when in fiill 

 vigor, and afterwards carefully dried, without any 

 waste of their natural juices either by bleaching 

 with rain or exhalation, contain weight for weight, 

 a quantity of nourishing matter nearly double 

 what they do, when allowed to attain their full 

 growth, and make some progress towards decay." 

 These opinions are stated with great confidence; 

 and arc entitled to much consideration; and so far 

 as they apply to our wet meadows deserve partic- 

 ular attention, since the cutting and cuimg of 

 these grasses receive very little care; they are left 

 standing generally until very late in the season; 

 and the hay from "them commonly is almost worth- 

 less, excepting for litter. 



" In the survey of Perthshire, Eng. it is stated 

 that as the great object of making hay is that of 

 preserving as much of the natural sap as possible, 

 the proper time for cutting it is when the crop of" 

 grass has attained its highest degree of perfection; 

 when the plants are in lull blow, and before tlieir 

 flowers begin to fade. If cut too green the hay 

 shrivels and loses much of hs bulk; if allowed to 

 stand till the seeds are ripe, the stem becomes 

 hard and wiry; the roots lose much of their na- 

 tural sap; the aftermath is less abundant; and tiie 

 principal part of the hay is in danger of crumbling 

 away into short stumps, under the various opera- 

 tions which it must undergo. Better to be too soon 

 than too late, especially if the crop be heavy and 

 in danirer ol" lodging."' 



'' With clover the best time for cutting it is when 

 the llowers are all i'ully blown and the earliest be- 

 gin to liini brown. If allowed lo stand longer, the 

 roots of the stalks lose their leaves, and become 



