292 Making Hay — Cutting Grass. — Fact for the Curious. Vol. IX. 



turning. It thus held up the greener parts 

 when turned over and spread, and permitted 

 the air to circulate under it : it also gave the 

 ground between the swaths time to dry, 

 which was important in hastening the cur- 

 ing. In this way he avoided the necessity 

 of turning the hay after being spread, which 

 was one of the most tedious processes through 

 which the hay had to be passed, and of course 

 the most expensive. He never permitted his 

 hay to take a dew when it had sun enough 

 to wilt it considerably, if he could help it. 

 The dew discoloured it, and he had never 

 been able to restore the fine fresh colour af- 

 terwards. He preferred letting his hay stand 

 over night in the cock. He could then bet- 

 ter tell of its fitness to be housed. It is very 

 easy to break up the cocks and give it more 

 sun, if necessary ; and the slight fermenta- 

 tion or sweating in the cock, which is check- 

 ed and dried off in carting, is a great pre- 

 ventative against heating in the mow. Hay 

 heated in the mow is sure to be discoloured. 

 Some people insist that it is not injured for 

 feeding, especially to cattle. It may be so. 

 I know that flour, corn, or oats, which have 

 been heated until they are musty, are thought 

 not so good. I do not know why hay should 

 be. 



On the approach of rain, I always put all 

 the hay that has had any sun of consequence 

 into the cock. If the storm is a long one, it 

 may turn yellow, so that it cannot be re- 

 stored, but it will retain most of its nutritive 

 matter and weight; whereas if letl spread 

 out to take the rain, it loses both, and is much 

 worse discoloured. I never use salt upon my 

 hay, but upon compulsion. When the wea- 

 ther is good, I dry my hay sufficiently to 

 keep, and as soon as I can, I house it ; but 

 sooner than leave it out to take a storm, 

 even in the cock, I would put it in a little 

 short dried, and apply salt to save it, as I 

 would sooner have it salted than musty. 



The river counties tnake hay for the New 

 York and Southern markets. 



On bottom lands, which are occasionally 

 overflowed by turbid water, and where the 

 meadows are not grazed, this is not bad hus- 

 bandry, especially where the hay brings fair 

 prices; butvery few of the upland farms will 

 bear to have hay taken from them for any 

 lengthof time without impoverishment. For 

 the last two or three years, it has been bad 

 husbandry to sell hay even from the bottom 

 lands. During the last season there were 

 hundreds of tons of hay, of fair quality, sold 

 in New York from 30 to 35 cents per hun- 

 dred. On most of it, the owner paid from 

 14 to 16s. per ton freight, besides commis- 

 sion and other charges. If he hired it press- 

 ed, and hoops and slats found, it cost him 



from 12 to 14s. per ton more. If he owned 

 his press, and found his own horse power, he 

 pressed it a trifle under these rates, which 

 left him for his hay in the barn, and for cart- 

 ing it to the vessel, from $2 to $2 75 per 

 ton. With the present price of wool, or 

 when good fair Merino wool will fetch 3s. 

 per lb., hay is worth, at the barn of any 

 farmer in this State, $6 to $8 per ton to feed 

 to sheep, besides the value of the manure; 

 which manure, to one who rightly values the 

 improvement of his farm, is worth $2 more. 



As a general rule, it is safe to calculate 

 that store sheep will fetch one dollar more 

 in the spring than in the fall ; and a ton of 

 hay, fed to sheep that are well shelter- 

 ed, will carry eight through an ordinary 

 winter. 



Dr. Lee thought timothy exhausted the 

 soil much more tlian clover. From scientific 

 investigations, it has been well ascertained 

 that timothy exhausted the soil three times 

 as much as clover. He thought grasses 

 should be cut before the seed is filled. It 

 was correct, as had been stated, that the 

 nutriment of the stems was exhausted in 

 forming seed. He thought some of the plans 

 which had been mentioned for making hay, 

 required too much labour. He thought it 

 the best way to mow grass after the dew was 

 ofl^ — spread it, dry it as much as possible, and 

 rake it into winrow. If it was dried enough, 

 and it would frequently be so, he would load 

 from the winrow, and save the labour of 

 cocking it up. He had had some experience 

 in irrigation, and thought its advantages 

 were considerable. As to top-dressing for 

 grass lands, he was much in favor of ashes. 

 Charcoal dust, or charcoal pulverized, had 

 proved very excellent for this purpose. The 

 coal might be crushed in a bark mill. He 

 would apply ashes or coal in the spring. — 

 Albany Argus. 



A Fact for the Curious. — A. W. Palm- 

 er, of Cheam, in Surry, Englatid, tried a 

 very striking experiment respecting the pro- 

 duction of wheat. In July, 1841, he put one 

 grain of wheat into a common garden pot — 

 in August he divided it into four plants, and 

 in three weeks again divided these into 

 twelve plants — in September these twelve 

 were divided into thirty-two, which in No- 

 vember wjere divided into fifty — and he then 

 placed them in the open ground. In July, 

 1842, twelve of them had failed, but the re- 

 mainder of them were healthy. On the 19th 

 of August they were cut down, and counted 

 2,197 stems, with an average of 50 grains to 

 the stem, giving thus the increase of 97,000 

 grains. — South Western Farmer. 



