THE HORSE 109 



is, and as it should be conducted, to shoAV how the 

 value of liay may be influenced by the cutting. 

 The average farmer often delays cutting his hay 

 in the hope of getting greater bulk of under-grass. 

 It is a common sight to see fields of standing 

 brown herbage so dry that when it is cut it needs 

 no making. The gi^eater part of the nutriment of 

 all crops passes into the seeds and is exhausted in 

 their production — for instance, the feeding value 

 of straw is comparatively small because the greater 

 part of the nutrient properties has passed into the 

 grains of wheat, oats, etc., as the case may be, and 

 the same principle applies to grass. If, therefore, 

 grass is cut after the seeds are formed and have 

 fallen out (as they immediately do when ripe), the 

 most nutritious part of the crop is lost, and all that 

 is left for the horse to eat is that portion which 

 has been robbed of its most valuable constituents. 

 For this reason we should prefer to buy, at equal 

 prices, a ton of despised water-meadow hay which 

 was early cut, while all the grasses were yet in 

 flower, to a ton of upland hay from the best land 

 which was cut late. Consequently it is almost im- 

 possible to lay do^vn any hard-and-fast rules for 

 the guidance of the novice in the purchase of hay, 

 for in certain cases coarse hay, containing a 



