148 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



CUTTING AND CUEING CLOVER HAY. 



Editors Genesee Fakmee: — According to the 

 thirty years of close observation made by the 

 writer of this article, there is but one method of 

 curing clovpv hay which pays well for the labor, 

 and that I shall describe shortly. 



Observation has taught me, that the lest time for 

 cutting clover, is when two-thirds of the blooms 

 begin to turn brown. At this stage it makes the 

 best hay, and is not sappy enough to reduce much 

 in the curing process. 



"When the clover is in the above stage, cut it as 

 rapidly as possible ; but never cut when there is dew 

 01' rain icater on the clover. Let the green clover 

 be put in small shocks as fast as cut down, so that 

 the sun might not Avilt it. AVhen enough is cut and 

 shocked for a large stack, haul up and stack as fast 

 as possible. The stack should be some 14 or 15 

 feet at the base, and 16 or 18 feet high, so put up 

 a.s to make it tlie shape of a cone. With a hay 

 fork, let one hand throw up the green clover, while 

 two hands stack and trample it, so as to make it as 

 near air tight as possible. Every foot in height 

 should have about one quart of salt sprinkled regu- 

 larly over it. This will require about 75 pounds to 

 the stack. In finishing, top it off and rake it down 

 so as to turn rain. In ten or twelve days it will 

 become wet and hot, and smoke like a coal kiln, so 

 as to have all appearances of rotting ; but in ten or 

 fifteen days more, it will cool off, and be found dry, 

 bright, sweet hay. 



If the clover were allowed to wilt before stack- 

 ing, the hay would be dark and mouldy ; but if put 

 up green, the hay will be bright green, and sweet, 

 and free from mould. This process preserves all 

 the leaves of the clover, so certain to be lost by 

 any other process ; and it also preserves all the 

 volatile constituents of clover, which are sure to be 

 lost when it is cured in the sunshine or open air. 



The wliole management may be suumed up in a 



few words. Cut aud stack free from moisture, in 



the perfectly free state ; salt it well, and make the 



stack as near air tight as hard tramping can make it. 



Jiome, Teim. F. H. G. 



CURING HAY. 



Cut your hay always before the blossom of the 

 grass is off. Hay cut in August, dead ripe, and put 

 in the same day, weighs well, is got in cheap, and 

 is about as valuable as a ton of small sticks. Keep 

 rain and dew off your grass when cut. Hay caps 

 and nothing else will do this. Hay, when half dry 

 aud fairly wet through, is equal in value to a draw- 

 ing of tea after it has been once used. 



Begin with your mowing machine at 8 o'clock in 

 the morning, and by 12 o'clock you have four acres 

 (eight tons of grass) cut and spread. I want two 

 men with the machine, as it saves time. At 4 

 o'clock, begin to rake aud put in cocks of about 50 

 lbs. This is easily done by sundown, aud all cov- 

 ered. On the second morning, take off your covers, 

 open the hay for a few hours, and put two or three 

 together, and cover again, which can be done before 

 it is time to rake up your second day's four acres 

 of cuttings. Generally, the large cocks need not 

 be touched again; but if they get too warm, one 

 hour's opening will cure them perfectly. Cover 

 again, and you may draw in at your leisure, for 



rain does no injury. Hay got in this way, with 

 wages at $1.50 per day, costs about $2 per ton to 

 get it, including wear of hay caps and all expenses, 

 and is worth twice as much as the hay got by my 

 neighbor S., who cuts his in the morning, carts it in 

 from the swath, and got his in last year for 86 cents 

 a ton ; but as he does not feed it, but sends it to 

 New York, it weighs well, and makes no difference. 

 As he makesjand buys no manure, how will his farm 

 look in five years ? WM. h. dentsttng. 



FishJcill Landing, DutcJieas Co., N. T. 



SAINFOIN IN CANADA. 



Editoes Genesee Faemee: — Should you con- 

 sider the following account of Sainfoin of any use, 

 I can vouch for tlie truth. 



When living in Woodstock, I visited a piece of 

 land of a light sandy loam, and there sowed some 

 Sainfoin seed. It came up well; but from the 

 gi'ound being full of weeds, the plants were small. 

 However, I collected seed by hand-picking it, and 

 on my removal to my present farm, I transplanted 

 several roots. This was in the month of June, and 

 checked its growth very much. The next year, I 

 again collected seed ; but about the third year after 

 the transplanting, they were much hove by frost, 

 and I'then ploughed them in. 



I think this shows that our climate is as favor- 

 able for sainfoin as for clover, tuomas n. watt. 



Woodstock, C. W. 



SOWING GRASS SEED IN THE FALL. 



Editoes Genesee Faemee: — It has been my 

 invariable practice to sow Timothy seed in the 

 spring, with one exception. Some years ago, I 

 purchased my seed in the spring, except Timothy 

 seed, for about five acres of barley. I expected 

 that toward the end of the season, seed would be 

 cheaper ; but when the time of sowing came, I 

 could not get it at all ; so I seeded it with clover, 

 and after harvest, about the first of September, I 

 sowed about six quarts of Timothy" to the acre, 

 right on the stubble, witltout harrowing. The first 

 year I pastured it, being principally clover; the 

 secon year, more than hah" Timothy, which I 

 mowed, and it was, I think, the thickest seeding 

 that I have ever had. The land was clay loam. 



Bumiesbxirgh, JV. Y. C. 



DuTTON CoEN. — In very favorable seasons, the 

 Button corn is one "of the very best varieties of 

 field corn," but it is not so early as some other vari- 

 eties. After trial of several varieties, I would say 

 to " A Beginner," we have settled on the eight- 

 rowed yellow, as yielding largely, maturing early, 

 husking easily, and having a small cob-curing well. 

 Otliers may prefer the Button — the Yellow or 

 White red-blaze, the Wliite Flint, or the King 

 Philip — we have tried them all and discarded 

 them, for the above named kind. Seed corn war- 

 ranted to yroio, of all varieties, is scarce. J. H. B. 

 — lioyaltoa, IT. Y. 



A Great Layeb. — I have a hen, a mixture of 

 the common dung hill and the Chiltagong, hatched 

 last May, which has now laid eighty -five eggs. — 

 Who can beat this? The hen was fed on eorii. 

 H. Altfather. — Berlin, Pa.., March 10, 1858. 



