34 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 



HOW TO SUPPLEMENT A SHORT HAY CROP. 



By Prof. Charles 8. Phelps, Superintendent Grasslands Farms, Chapinville, Conn. 



Hay is so important a fodder in wintering all kinds of stock, 

 that the indications of a probable shortage in the crop are always 

 looked upon with considerable apprehension. The indications as 

 to the probable yield are not very strong, however, until the time 

 is past in which some of the best substitutes can be planted. For 

 example, spring-sown oats and peas make a most valuable hay, but 

 this crop should not be sown later than May 15 in Massachusetts. 

 Nevertheless, there are quite a number of substitutes for the first 

 crop of hay, which may be planted in June or July, which will 

 make valuable forage. But, before considering special crops as 

 substitutes for hay, it will be well to consider methods of handling 

 the first crop so as to provide for a heavy second growth. 



It will generally be noticed, on fields where there is any clover, 

 that in dry seasons the proportion of clover is greater than in wet 

 seasons. This is probably due to the fact that clovers will with- 

 stand the effects of drouth better than our common grasses. Fields 

 with much clover on them should be cut early, so as to get the most 

 possible good from the clover, and let the grasses growing with it 

 be of secondary importance. This early cutting will encourage a 

 vigorous second growth of both the clover and the grasses. A 

 large crop of rowen may often be thus obtained. In order to 

 assure a strong second growth, it is wise to apply some quick- 

 acting fertilizer soon after the first crop is removed. The writer 

 has found that 150 pounds of nitrate of soda per acre will give 

 profitable returns in the second crop of hay. Most manufactured 

 fertilizers which contain a large proportion of quick-acting forms 

 of nitrogen should give good results when used in this way. Fine 

 and well-rotted stable manure, while not as active as most chemi- 

 cal fertilizers, will often pay in the increase of rowen, when spread 

 on the grass lands shortly after the first crop is removed. 



