228 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



when spread over a barn, and more than half the la- 

 bour will be saved. Mr. B. thinks clover hay made 

 in the shade is much better than that made in the 

 sun. " '/he next way of curing this green clover," 

 says the writer, "is with wheat-straw that has 

 been kept in the barn for that purpose, by laying a 

 course of hay and then of straw, and so on until 

 you have it all secured." The importance of mow- 

 ing the first crop early is illustrated by the fact that 

 ous of Mr. B.'s neighbours, who had been persuaded 

 to cut his first crop some days earlier than usual, 

 acknowledged that he should obtain thirty bushels 

 more clover-seed than usual in consequence of it. 



The seed-crop is gathered with care and brought 

 to the barn as soon as it is fit, that rain upon it, or 

 unnecessary exposure to the weather, may be avoid- 

 ed, both of which materially impair the value of the 

 butts or straw for fodder. The heads are separated 

 with a flail, and the seed extracted by Robert Ritten- 

 house & Go's, patent clover machine. The average 

 product in seed is from four to five bushels the acre ; 

 which, at present prices, is worth sixty to seventy 

 dollars : a tolerable acreable profit for a second crop. 

 In regard to his clover machine, Mr. B. has cleaned 

 four hundred bushels of seed with it, without a dol- 

 lar of expense in repairs. It is portable ; and, 

 " when there is once a machine in a neighbourhood," 

 says Mr. B., "I think the farmers will then raise 



in cocks some time, in order to equalize the moisture, to sweat ; 

 that is, that the moisture contained in the thick stems may have 

 time to disseminate itself upon the surface, and into the thin 

 leaves ami blossoms. If a slight fermentation takes place in 

 the cocks, so much the better ; as the hay, in that case, is not 

 likely to undergo a second fermentation in the barn. 2dly. 

 1'bat the curing process should be carried on, as much as pos- 

 sible, without the aid of the direct rays of the sun, which cer- 

 tain!) imp.tir the nutritive propeities of the hay. Kxpose a 

 lock ol clover two days to the direct influence of the run's rays, 

 and il becuiuw blanched and valueless, and cattle will reject it. 

 -Corn*. Cult. 



