38 



Curing the Hay. 



The first point to be considered in connection with this topic is the 

 proper degree of maturity. Clover is often allowed to stand too late. 

 If it be suffered to remain until a consideral)le proportion of the heads 

 are brown and the seed ripe, there will be but little rowen, while there 

 is much danger that the roots of the clover will die after the crop is 

 cut. Relatively eai'ly cutting, then, — before many of the heads are 

 brown, — is desirable, both because a better rowen crop will be secured 

 and because the clover will persist in the mowing longer. 



Good weather is essential for the satisfactory making of clover hay, 

 as it is, indeed, for the satisfactory making of any hay, but it is far 

 more important in the case of the clovers than for timothy, on account 

 of the fact that the clovers need much more drying. The best hour 

 in the day for cutting, as it ai)pears to me, is late in the afternoon. 

 Whatever the hour, it is essential to keep in mind the fact that in the 

 curing of clover hay it should be handled but little after it begins to dry. 

 It is generally well understood that too much handling as the crop dries 

 results in the breaking off of the leaves and heads, which are the most 

 valuable portion of the crop. Whatever the hour of cutting, then, the 

 fact should be kept in mind that this crop should be tedded but little 

 in curing. If cut late in the afternoon, the crop may be tedded once 

 the following forenoon. If the weather is particularly fine, it will then 

 be ready to rake and put into cocks late in the afternoon of the same 

 day. If the clover is curing more slowly, it may be best to leave it in 

 windrows over one night and to turn these carefully with the fork the 

 next forenoon, and to cock on the afternoon of the second day after 

 cutting. The use of hay caps in curing clover hay should be more gen- 

 eral. It is desirable to leave the clover in the cock for a number of 

 days, sometimes as long as a week. The hay is coarse, and if exposed 

 to rain it is badly damaged unless the cocks are protected by caps. 

 When examination shows that the clover in the cock is apparently 

 cured, it should be slightly opened and turned up from the bottom 

 on the forenoon of a good day. It will then be ready to jjut in in the 

 afternoon. Clover hay cured in this manner should hold substantially 

 all its leaves and heads and should (^ure of a bright green color. Such 

 clover is one of the most valuable foi'age cro]is, whether for cattle, 

 sheep or horses. Well-cured clover hay, popular opinion to the con- 

 trary, notwithstanding, is a safe and valuable food for horses, which 

 will need much less grain when fed such hay than when timothy hay 

 is used. 



