No. 9. 



Making Hay — Cutting Grass. 



291 



A little plat of cranberries grew on high 

 land, from which his daughter picked a pint 

 or a quart. 



Mr. Bragdon, of Milford, said that his fa- 

 ther had a meadow which bore cranberries. 

 He ditched it and the cranberries failed ; but 

 as the ditches filled up the cranberries re-ap- 

 peared. 



Mr. Breck said, where he was born, in 

 Medfield, cranberries were considered worth- 

 less, and attempts were made ^ to destroy 

 them. They flourished on flowed lands ; but 

 as they were drained and dried the vines died. 



Mr. Cole stated that, in 1843, cranberries 

 were killed extensively, on the morning of 

 the 4th of July. He had been informed by 

 several persons, who flowed their cranberry 

 meadows, that they turned off the water the 

 first of May ; but, as they were liable to be 

 killed in the blossom the first of June, they 

 should try the effect of keeping the water on 

 till the last of May. There is no regular 

 system established as to the cultivation of 

 the cranberry. He asked a 'gentleman of 

 experience and observation to give the best 

 mode of culture, and he said that they would 

 flourish well in sand and water. As the 

 cranberry grows on marshes, where the salt 

 water often flows, salt may be good manure 

 on high lands. He had seen them grow on 

 upland which was not too moist for potatoes. 



Making Hay— Cutting Grass. 



Twenty-two years ago. Judge Cheever 

 says, he purchased a small hay farm, and 

 upon that and elsewhere he has ever since 

 cut from 100 to 250 tens of hay per year 

 Of course it had become his interest to learn 

 all he could of the best method of seeding, 

 and keeping up his meadows ; the best sea^ 

 son, and best mode of cutting and curing 

 hay, and then how to turn it to best ac 

 count. His bottom lands upon the rear, he 

 seeded with timothy only, except in some 

 places where it was too wet to grow timo- 

 thy ; there he seeded with red-top. On his 

 uplands he seeded with timothy and clover. 

 Where he used timothy alone, about eight 

 quarts to the acre was his quantity. Where 

 he used clover with it, he used six or eight 

 pounds of clover to six or eight quarts of 

 timothy. He had succeeded in seeding with 

 timothy at almost all seasons of the year, but 

 always best when he covered the seed well. 

 He had had good success in seeding with 

 buckwheat, sowing the fore part of July, 

 sowing the buckwheat thin, not over five 

 quarts of seed to the acre. If he seeded with 

 winter grain, he preferred sowing timothy in 

 the fall with grain, and in the spring, of 

 course, if on a spring crop. He had succeed 



ed much the best by sowing and passing a 

 light harrow over it once, to cover it well. 

 He had had good success in sowing clover in 

 the fall, with grain, on sandy and gra^'elly 

 lands ; but on clays and tenacious soils there 

 [was great danger of loosing it, from the ac- 

 tion of the winter frost. It was safest to sow 

 clover in the spring, upon some of the last 

 snows, if on winter grain, and with the grain, 

 using the harrow upon it, if sowed with 

 spring crop. He always used the harrow 

 when he could. He had kept up his mea- 

 dows by leaving the after growth upon them 

 as much as he could ; 'and where he grazed 

 considerably in the fall, to repay it by an 

 occasional top-dressing. Grass land, whether 

 bottom or upland, will keep itself up, if 

 mowed once in the year, at the ordinary 

 season, if all the after growth is left, without 

 top-dressing. If the fall is dry and tlie after 

 growth light, the next crop will not be full, 

 but the first wet fall will bring it up again. 

 Meadows should be drained, when practica- 

 ble, as well as tillage lands. Although ir- 

 rigation is very useful, where properly ap- 

 plied, an excess of water is very hurtful, 

 especially to the quality of the hay. 



Making Hay. — He would cut his clover 

 in blossom, not sooner. He would let it take 

 the sun one day, but not enough to have the 

 leaf break off; then put it in small cocks and 

 cure it, until by a few hours' drying, by 

 turning over and breaking the cocks, the 

 fluids would be so far out of il that it may be 

 housed without hurting. The length of time 

 necessary to cure it will depend upon the 

 state of tiie weather, and the larger or small- 

 er growth of the crop. Upon this the farmer 

 must exercise his judgment. 



He would not cut timothy until it had 

 passed out of the blossom. Professor Davy, 

 in his Agricultural Chemistry, says, the 64 

 parts of clover hay cut in the blossom, pro- 

 duced 10 parts of nutritive matter, and the 

 same taken in seed. Timothy, 10 parts in 

 blossom, and 23 in seed. This in the timo- 

 thy is probably too much ; but that the nu- 

 tritive matter in timothy improved after the 

 fall of the blossom, he had no doubt. Red- 

 top comes to maturity later, and he did not 

 think there was much diflference, whether 

 cut in the blossom or soon after. He be- 

 lieved timothy cut in blossom would, pound 

 for pound, produce more milk when fed to 

 cows or sheep, than it would cut afterwards; 

 but for horses and other stock, he thought it 

 more nutritious to stand a little longer. It 

 certainly improved in weight. 



He preferred mowing his hay, as far as he 

 could, when free from dews or water. He 

 let the swaths take the sun a few hours, until 

 the top got a little wilted or seared, before 



