CROPS FOR DAIRY FARMS. 63 



following day. As soon as this is done, cutting is re- 

 sumed until sundown. The next morning cutting be- 

 gins again as before, and the windrows are gathered into 

 cocks holding about 300 pounds each, which will make 

 them about four feet in diameter and six feet high. 

 The cocks are covered with hay caps made of brown 

 sheeting fifty-four inches square, and fastened down at 

 the corners by long thin wooden pins thrust into the hay. 

 The hay is thus safe against the weather until the whole 

 crop is cut and put up in the same manner. It is then 

 taken to the barn or barracks. The cocks are thrown 

 open and aired for an hour, then loaded and put into the 

 mow and trampled down firmly. It will sweat and heat 

 a little, but this improves the quality of the hay and 

 increases its digestibility. 



When there is plenty of straw, clover may be cured 

 in an easy manner by taking it up as it is cut and 

 packing it in a tight mow, in alternate layers of about 

 a foot in thickness, with dry straw. The clover heats 

 slightly, and impregnates the straw with its sweet flavor 

 and odor, thus making the straw more palatable, so that 

 both can be fed together. 



There are several other excellent feeding crops which 

 may be made available for dairy farming, but as these 

 will be referred to in Chapter VII., under the head of 

 '' Soiling," no further mention need be made of them 

 here. 



Millet is a valuable crop for hay as winter feed. It 

 is sown in June or July, and is fit to cut in six weeks. 

 Half a bushel of seed is sown per acre, and the crop is 

 cut when in early blossom, or it becomes hard and un- 

 palatable. 



Root Crops are the main dependence of the dairyman 

 for winter feeding, and are indispensable for complete 

 and profitable success in the business. Winter dairying 

 cannot be carried on without a good supply of root^, 



