350 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



ON MAKING HAY. 



Mr. Editor : — Aa we are about to engage iu the 

 procc!*.'} of hay-making, an important Ijusincss in 

 thi« latitude, a few wovdH on the t-ubject of cur- 

 ing liay may not bo unacceptable. 



fher*' is, in my opinion, a very great mistake 

 existing in regard to tliis matter. It is an old 

 adage, "make buy wliile the siin shinen," and 

 many seem to think tlie more sun they can got 

 opon their hay the better ; here is the mistake to 

 whic'il allude. I am confident that a lai-;;e por- 

 tion of the hay in this country is lost l)y this pro- 

 cess of over-drying in the sun. Tlic iarluence of 

 the Bun is partly that of distillation. It has the 

 po\Yer to expel, not only the watery elements con- 

 tained in plants, but the r«il life-sustaining sub- 

 «t:ince of the plant itself, which goes to form the 

 fat, fljsh, wool and bones of aU ruminating ani- 

 mals. 



It is asserted by the distiller of plants, that to 

 procure the most oil, they must not bo dried in 

 the s'.in, as it not only lessens the quantity of oil, 

 but also diminishes the flavor. 



Now, hay maj^ be exposed to tlie action of tlie 

 sun's rays, until there remains little but tlie woody 

 fibre, and there is no more nourishment in it than 

 there is in so many tons of ]iine rails. Thus, 

 frroi one-tenth to four-iifths of tlie nutritious part 

 ©f hay is lost iu the process of luiy-makiug ; in 

 what might be more propjily called a process of 

 tiistillation. 1 have reason to believe that iu 

 the State of Vermont, alone, there was lost dur- 

 ing th:i last season, in this way, more than fivt 

 hundred thousand dollars wortli of hay, which, 

 if it had been ■wisely retained, niiglit have gone to 

 nourish many flocks and h.erds. A great part 

 was resolved again into its constituent elements, 

 and pass.'d a.wayiu a gaseous form. 



For example, we will suppose that F.irmcr A. 

 eut« ten acres of grdss, that would weigh 25 tons 

 jjroen ; he reduces that by judicious curing in the 

 san and cock to 15 tons and puts it under shelter, 

 where, })y the continued process of making, it is 

 farther reduced, and when in the highest stage of 

 preservation, the whole quantity of liis crop of 

 fragrant hay weiglis 11 tons. Farmer B. also 

 •uts irom his 10 acres the same quality md (quan- 

 tity of A. But under B's. rigid proca^ of "drying 

 and curing," as he calls it, reduces his 25 tons of 

 gras-i in the field to eight tons ; after lousing, it 

 shrinks one ton more. Now for the result. 



I?«rmer A's. mow of hay to the nmnunt of 11 tons, is richly 



woiih $10^ ton $110 



And fanner li'B. 7 tous, valued at $8 ^ ton 66 



l/javini; farmer A. nett over B $54 



To make this arrangement more plain. In 

 the above estimate, I have valued A. 's crop of 

 hay at $2,00 per ton, or twenty per cent, more 

 than B.'s. We will now 8ul)tract that which is 

 of no value from each number of acres mowed. 

 That is :— 



A.'biiiow ....11 tons. Ti.^a mrtv; . . 7 tons 



Woody fibre 3 *' Woody tiliro 3 " 



Solid nutriment. 



Solid mUrlmciit 4 



We see that hero A. has retained, in th 

 curing process, twice as mucli as B., of the fat 

 and Ib'sh-lbrming elements; thus you see that the 

 only (issential properties contained in the 25 tons 

 df grass may be all estraeto<i in three ways. One 



process is by steeping in water, which cxtracta 

 more rapidly than the second, whicli isbyevapor- 

 aii<m, or the influence of warm air. The tiiird, 

 and most jn'ofitahle method for the Auieriean far- 

 mer, is by dissolving the hay in the animal JisUl- 

 Irry. By this process of docompo.siug the aliment 

 in ti.e stomach of animals, and of recomposiug it 

 in a new form, and thus prejiaringit lor circula- 

 tion and nutriment, is the phi/osop/ur's stone of 

 which I am endeavoring to elucidate. 



A majority of hay enr.ers the barn quite tO) 

 dry, that is, too much of the nutritious quali- 

 ties of the grass are exhausted in the hav field. 

 One may place his hay quire too rapidly into large 

 bodies and quite too gretp, an ( suHer loss by ko 

 doing. In the mean time, u thtit hay had been 

 divided and stored in several pilaces a large per 

 cent, of nutriment might have been retained. 



When tiie hay-maker is desirous of stacking or 

 mowing his hay a little too green, he may do so 

 with impmnity, by occasionally adding a layer of 

 dry straw or old hay, to absorb tlie gases which 

 would pass oii', if under the influence of the sun. 

 'laying may sometimes be expedited in this way, 

 and to advantage ; for stock will eat the straw or 

 old hay with avidity, which has retained the prop- 

 erties of the green. hay, in the straw or old hay, 

 though that may only have been of second quali- 



Another good method of securirig your hay as 

 green as possible, is to pntvide s 'veral places of 

 storage, so tlmt but a few loads miiy be stored to- 

 gether the same day. Tiie more .-^lowly the pro- 

 cess of collecting the hay together, the richer it 

 will be in quality, if cut in proper time. If the 

 hay is underdone it is a good practice to cast it 

 upon an open scaffold, or remain cm the load, to 

 sweat over night. All hay underdone siiould bo 

 pressed as tightly as possible in the mow, but if 

 over cured or ripened, the more solid it is pressed 

 thj bettor. 



A stack of hay, to Ijc made properly, should be 

 several days going up, for the double purpose of 

 saving the nutritous qualities and giving it time 

 to settle by degress. 



Grass should he first wilted, and if no dew or 

 water fills on it, put into cocks, and made into 

 hay by degrees. In the time of mowing, if the- 

 grass gums the scythe it requires little or no dry- 

 ing ))efore it enters the barn. 



Hay may heat in the mow to a certain extent, 

 and stock will eat it freely. When it is liable 

 to over-heat, it must be overhauled, or a square 

 cut out of the centre, wiiich will check the iieat 

 by coming in direct contact with the air. A chim- 

 ney is sometimes formed by setting bundles of 

 straw on one end, one on top of the other, com- 

 mencing near the bottom of the stack or mow, 

 and ending near the top. Hay, as belbre stated, 

 when over dried, will never become solid in th? 

 mow, and compact hay will go much farther, 

 pound for pound, than hay loose in bulk. 



Every stack or mow, divided by a iiay-knife, and 

 first out fed one part, will spend much better, 

 when fed in this fresh state, than that, which con- 

 stantly exposes a large surface to the action of the 

 air, S. W. Jkwett. 



Middlebury, Vt., July 5, 1854. 



Remarks. — We regret that friend Jewett had 

 net sent us this article a few weeks earlier, that 



