240 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



hay, we cut when the first crop is moderately ripe — say 

 nearly in full bloom; the second crop and any later ones 

 are cut when the bloom first shows ; otherwise the lower 

 leaves will drop off. The first crop is generally prefer- 

 able for seed, provided butterflies and other insects have 

 not injured the bloom, as they often do. If the second 

 crop is used for seed, it should ripen longer than the first. 

 The crop for seed is mowed, windrowed as soon as pos- 

 sible, allowed to dry in that state, gathered with a hand 

 fork, loaded on hay wagons, and put in stack as gently 

 as possible. We find a good crop of seed a rare thing, 

 but use the ordinary threshing outfit, and turn out 800 

 to 1000 pounds a day, in rare instances double that quan- 

 tity, with a cost for threshing and cleaning of about 5 

 cents a pound. The hay we never put in barns, but stack 

 in small, narrow ricks, to ?void danger of heating, endeav- 

 oring to get it in the rick as dry as possible, gathering in 

 the forenoons to avoid shelling. When we use our own 

 press and men, the cost of baling does not exceed $1 per 

 ton. The weight of the bale depends on the kind of press 

 used. An average, handy bale weighs about 150 to 175 

 pounds, and we never have any trouble about the hay 

 keeping perfectly in bales of that size. The average price 

 per ton for hay in our San Francisco market is about $8 

 to $10; of seed, by the ton, 8 to 12I/2 cents a pound, 10 

 cents a pound being about the usual average price. For 

 feeding farm animals, good, well-cured alfalfa hay is 

 better than clover. For milch stock, especially, we con- 

 sider it fully as good as any other hay. We find but little 

 difference between the straw and the hay, and while all 

 stock like the straw better, there is no doubt that the hay 



