342 PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 



ther, two crops may be cut the same season, one for hay and 

 the other for seed, or both for hay. 



The methods of making clover into hay are variously de- 

 scribed by different practical farmers. The following seems 

 to accord best, both with theory and the experience of the 

 best farmers. After the swaths are turned, they should be 

 spread just so that the heat of the sun will wilt and partially 

 dry the leaves ; the clover may then be placed in grass-cocks, 

 about 6 feet high, using a fork instead of a rake. By this 

 means the cocks may be formed with the straws all inclining 

 downward, so as to carry off the rain. The rake may then 

 pass over the ground to gather up the remainder. The cocks 

 should always be formed before the leaves begin to crumble, 

 and before the dew begins to fall. The cocks may now stand 

 from 36 to 48 hours, until they grow quite warm. They 

 should be opened after the dew is off, spread out G inches 

 thick, turned between 12 and 2, and, if the day is good, 

 gathered into the barn one or two hours afterwards. A small 

 quantity of salt, 3 or 4 quarts to a load, should be mingled in 

 the mow. 



The advantages of this course have been tested by the 

 experience of the best farmers. The reasons for it are found 

 in the size of the stalk compared with the leaf. When spread, 

 and exposed to a hot sun, the leaves dry up to a crisp, and 

 fall off before the stalks are sufficiently dried to be placed in 

 the mow, without the danger of heating. In the cock, the 

 heating process commences, and all parts of the plant are 

 dried alike ; if fermentation is arrested at the proper time, it 

 will not be so liable to heat in the mow, and hence will con- 

 tinue green, fresh and sweet until used. 



2. The C020 grass or southern clover {trifolium medium 

 or trifolium Pcnnsylvanicum) is a perennial, resembling the 

 red clover, but shorter and with paler flowers. It is a fort- 

 night earlier than the preceding. Hence two crops may be 

 cut the same season, even if fed until the 20th of June; or if 



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