66 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



fungus vegetation called mold. It will do this. But it 

 attracts moisture from the atmosphere and renders a cellar 

 damp. If your cellar is very dry and sandy, you may use 

 salt without detriment. But if too damp it will make the 

 matter worse. 



WHEN IS HAYING OVER P 



In a trip through the country last summer we saw seve- 

 ral fields of timothy, out of blossom, which had become dry, 

 seedy, and snuff-colored. Haying was not over, it seems. 

 Cattle that had been hardened to eat iron-weed stems, jimp- 

 sum stalks, and packing straw, would probably be willing to 

 eat this hay. 



We saw another sight. Hay which had been cut and 

 partly cured, was cocked up and had been left, probably for 

 a week or two already ; and, doubtless, was to stand thus 

 much longer, for there is a fashion with some to let their 

 hay lie about the field in little three-feet cocks, until it is 

 convenient to haul it to the stack. This may be in August, 

 or September, and sometimes we have seen a farmer (so 

 called) with a little sled and rope hauling his hay in Octo- 

 ber. Now, hay thus served is good for nothing but for 

 litter. The bottom of each little heap molds ; the sides are, 

 by sun and rain, spoiled, and the little wad in the middle 

 does not, after subtracting the sides and bottom, amount to 

 much. 



I'll venture my head that these are not " book farmers." 

 I have no doubt that "book farmers " do some foolish things, 

 but farmers without books do a great many more. No 

 book farmer, none but a farmer utterly without books, 

 would think of leaving his hay in cocks for six weeks or two 

 months. We see enough of such hay offered for sale every 

 winter, of a dingy, lack-lustre, straw-colored look, without 



