1886 



GLEANINGS Ii\ UEE CULTUKE. 



397 



EXTRACT TROM TERRYS NEW BOOK. 



SOMETHING ABOUT HAV; THE DIKFERENCK BE- 

 TWEEN HAY JSIADK ON DRAINED AND UNDRAIN- 

 ED I.AND, AND SOME KINDRED MATTERS. 



fE aiP SO mucli pleased Avitli llie new 

 book mentioned above, tliat we liave 

 decided to give our readers a single 

 chapter as a sample, and in connec- 

 tion with it we submit a picture ot 

 Terry's barn and tool-house, shown on the 

 opposite page. The tool-house was illustrat- 

 ed and described last fall, on page 7:20. 

 Gi.EAXiN(iS for Oct. 15. The description of 

 the barn is almost too lengthy for our col- 

 umns; but it is so intimately connected 

 witli t!ie sidiject-matter of the book that the 

 book is built up in and around the barn, as 

 it were. The t'oUowing chapter, you will no- 

 tice, comes in just abreast of the haying 

 season: 



WHAT KIND OF HAY?— DRIED GRASS, RAISED ON 

 FERTILE DR.\INED LAND. 



If the reader has decided to keep his stock 

 in a warm comfortable stable, and to feed 

 and watar them properly, the next question 

 which naturally arises is, What shall I feed 

 themV We will discuss this question rath- 

 er fully in this and following cliapteis, and 

 perhaps get a little off from our text now 

 and then, as it is a very important subject. 



On many farms the answer to this (pies- 

 tion may be such as to give the owner an oj)- 

 portunity for a grand success or a bare liv- 

 ing. These are pretty strong words, but 

 they shall be made good before these chap- 

 ters are finished, by facts that no one can 

 gainsay. 



First, in regard to the hay fed, let it be 

 earlj'-cut or dried grass, and a good share of 

 it clover, if clover can be made to grow on 

 your soil. To this, my friend Mr. J). E. 

 Fenn. of Tallmadge, at our farmers' insti- 

 tute, held in Cuyahoga Falls, added, '' Let 

 the grass be I'aised on well-drained land "' 

 He thought. that tile-draining would pay for 

 grass and clover, as the hay is of better 

 quality. There is no doubt but that he is 

 right. The hay should be raised on fertile, 

 well-drained land. Hay isn't hay, any more 

 than butter is butter. I saw a merchant 

 buying butter of a farmer for 12 cts per lb., 

 the other day ; and if any one. I think the 

 merchant got cheated. I bought a crock of 

 my neighbor, and paid 2S cts. per lb., ar.d it 

 was wortli it. Now. I have seen hay grown 

 on rich drained land that would yield four 

 tons or more, in two or three cuttings, dur- 

 ing the season, and hay grown on land so 

 poor, and tilled with stagnant water, that it 

 would not think of making more than one 

 crop in a season, and that, perhaps, half a 

 ton to the acre, or three-fourths ; and there 

 was as much ditference in the feeding value 

 of those two lots of hay as in the value of 

 the two lots of butter spoken of. In the 

 case of the butter, possibly analysis would 

 not show much ditference In the comi)on( nt 

 parts of the two sorts; but our senses of 

 taste and smell are not governed by analysif. 

 We like a tine flavor and aroma ; so do our 

 anima,ls. I liave never known of any analy- 

 sis of the two kinds of hay mentioned above- 

 but from experience in "feeding I should 



think there must be a decided difference'in 

 their component parts ; at anv rate, the catJ- 

 tle know which is most to their liking. 



A friend was once rather hiaking fun of 

 my rank, coarse hay, grown on rich drained 

 laud. lie said the cattle would take his 

 liner hay. grown on laud that produced only 

 about a third as much per acre, first, every 

 time; that all stock liked such hay better ; 

 that mine was too coarse and woody. After 

 some dispute we agreed to leave the matter 

 to be decided by a lot of cattle I was feeding 

 in the stable. We ])ut samples of his hay 

 and mine along in the manger, so the ani- 

 mals could take their choice, and. mucb to 

 my friend's di.sgust, they took my "■ woOdy, 

 coarse" hay every time. No need of analy- 

 sis to tell them which was the better. It 

 doesn't follow, of course, necessarily, that 

 they would not gain as much flesh on a ton 

 of my friend's hay as on a ton of mine, al- 

 though it was not as well relished ; but from 

 other experiences I feel sure they would not. 

 The matter of relish alone goes'a good way. 

 When hay is, as one farmer expressed it to 

 me, '■'■ medicine " to one's cows, the best re- 

 suits can not be ol)tained. 



Wiien [ first bought my farm, which had 

 been lented and abused till no one wanted 

 to rent it at any price, we mowed over a 

 good many acres "to get a few tons of hay; 

 and although it was cut reasonal)ly early, the 

 (piality was so poor it would hardly keep the 

 bieath of life in the stock during the winter. 

 Grain was bought and fed with it, and thus, 

 we managed to get along. Since that time, 

 cattle have been sold for beef in the spring 

 —not very fat. of course, but good fair beef, 

 that l)ad not had a pound of grain during 

 the winter. This has been done as an- ex- 

 periment, to s?e what could be done witli 

 choice hay alone ; but it is not, of course, 

 the wisest way. Cows have been milked 

 twice a day all winter, giving a good mess of 

 milk, on diied grass alone. Horses have 

 drawn heavy loads of potatoes and wheat to 

 Akron to market, some twelve miles, fed on 

 hay alo)ie, week after week and month after 

 month, some years, and kept in fair order. 

 These horses would have given out in one 

 week, if fed on the hay we first raised, be- 

 fore the wet land was tile-drained, and till- 

 age with a little manure and clover hael 

 made our land fertile. So" they would have 

 given out in a short time if the hay had not 

 been cut early, when at its best, anel if a 

 part of it had not been clover. I am not ad- 

 vising any one to keep his horses on hay 

 alone, but am merely using my success in 

 this line to illustrate what can be done with 

 prime hay. My work-horses are kept this 

 way because I can keep them healthy, and 

 ready for business, on such -feed, cheaper 

 than on any other. One needs, however, the 

 rigfht kind "of horses — not of the slim race- 

 horse breeds — and they need the right kinel 

 of driving. 



When I began farming, hardly any one in 

 this vicinity thouglit of cutting any hay un- 

 til along about the last of July, and many 

 were still later. I was new at the business, 

 but common sense told me to cut the grass 

 when it -was green, and relished l)y stock, 

 and not let it stand until it was so ripe as to 



