NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



373 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1823. 



The Farmei\^ and Gardener''s Remembrancer. 



JUNE. 

 Hay-Making. — The bfist time to cut grass for 

 lay is when the seeds are forming, but before 

 hey become t'ully ripe. It should not be cut 

 oo early before it has got its proper growth, 

 ecause, in such case, it will shrink much in 

 rying, and atTord a less solid and nutritious 

 ubstance. Neither should it be sutlered to 

 land too late, or till the seed be quite ripe, 

 t will not only be harder to cut, but the ripe- 

 less of the seed will cause it to shatter out 

 vhile drying, which will be a loss of some con- 

 equenco, as the seed is the richest and most 

 lourishing part ; and the soil will be the more 

 xhausted by nourishing the seed till if comes 

 maturity. The only advantage in mowing 

 ate arises from the thickening of the grass roots 

 ly scattering some ol' the seeds. But this is a 

 lear mode of sowing grass seeds. 



If it is proposed to mow a piece of grass land 

 wice in a season, the first crop should be cut 

 sarlier than when it is mowed but once, not 

 inly to give a longer time tor the growth of the 

 'Ccond crop, but to prevent the roots of the 

 jrass from being too much exhausted in pro- 

 lucing the first crop. AVhen it is proposed !o 

 iave the seeds of red clover it is particularly 

 mportant to cut the first crop early, so that the 

 econd, from which the seeds are procured, 

 may be the sooner ready for cutting in autumn. 

 <D common cases clovee should not be mowed 

 ill it begins to turn brown ; but as the farmer 

 vho has many acres in grass cannot cut it all 

 ixactly in the best season, he mav begin first 

 in that clover from which he expects to gather 

 eed on cutting the second crop, and not wail 

 ill it has changed from red to brown. In other 

 .ases he should cut the thickest grass, that which 

 B lijdged or is in danger of lodging, in the first 

 )l.u o. The thinnest should be cut nest; aw' 

 ■ast of ail that which is on a medium between 

 Ihick and thin. 



Some regard must be had to the weather in 

 letting grass tor hay, especially if thai grass is 

 dover, which requires much attention and fa- 

 vorable circumstances to preserve. If the wea- 

 "her is wet and improper for haying, clover 

 vill, we are told, remain standing a fortnight, 

 •vithout sustaining any material injury by the 

 ihedding the leaf or the blossom ; for the same 

 •veather which renders it improper to mow this 

 »rass, continues it in a growing state, and pre- 

 vents the bloom from fading or dying away. 



There are various modes of making hay de- 

 scribed by authors on husbandry, some of which 

 .ire too troublesome and expensive to be adopt- 

 ed in this country where labor is scarce. We 

 shall state several methods, and leave it to our 

 readers, either to take their choice of those, or 

 to give the preference to something different of 

 their own invention. The Farmer's Assistant 

 says, " The best plan is, for the farmer to be 

 at his mowing betimes in tlie morning ; cut down 

 as much as possible by nine or ten o'clock, by 

 which time the dew will be oiT; then spread 

 the mowed grass evealy, and about twelve turn 

 it over where it lies thick ; in the afternoon 

 rake it into winrows, shake it up lightly that it 

 may be the belter exposed to the air; towards 

 sun down make it into neat small cocks, and let 



it remain so a day or two. If it be not them 

 sufficiently dry, shake it out again on a small 

 space of ground, and turn it over till it is dried; 

 then cock it again, if necessary, and as soon af- 

 terwards as possible draw it in. 



" Dut in order to save much trouble in drying 

 hay, the application of from four to eight quarts 

 of salt to the ton is recommended. It is found 

 that hay, thus salted, can be well saved in a 

 much greener state, and at the same time the 

 '• enefit which the hay derives from the salt is 

 more than four-fold its value." 



It is observed by Dr. Deane, that, " Were it 

 not for the labor and cost, a good way of hay- 

 making would be, for the hay-makers to follow 

 at the heels of the mowers, at least as soon as 

 the dew is off, and spread the swarths evenly ; 

 turn the grass about the middle of the same day ; 

 make it up into cocks before night ; open the 

 hay, and turn it the next day ; and so on till it 

 be sulliciently dried, doubling the cocks if signs 

 of rain appear. It will not commonly take more 

 than two or three days to dry it, unless it be 

 very green, or uncommonly thick and rank." 



The practice of the best English, Flemish 

 and r>ench farmers, is to expose the hay as 

 little as possible to the sun. It is carried in 

 dry, but preserves its green color ; and hay of 

 two or three years old appears so bright that 

 you would scarcely conceive it to be cured. 

 Yet they preserve it for years, and value it the 

 more for its age. In Scotland " the best mana- 

 gers disapprove of spreading out clover or rye 

 grass hay. The more the Swarth is kept un- 

 broken, the hay is the greener and more frag- 

 rant."* 



When the grass is thin, and somewhat dried 

 before it is mowed, it may be cut in the fore- 

 noon, and raked in the afternoon of the same 

 day, and by standing two or three days in the 

 cock, will be sufficiently dry, without any fur- 

 ther trouble. If ra;n fall in any considerable 

 quantity, these cocks will require to be opened 

 and exposed to the sun for a few hours. If a 

 -mall quantity of rain has fallen, it may be 

 enough to pull out some of the hay round the 

 bottoms of the cocks, or only on that side which 

 was to the windward when the rain fell, and lay 

 It on the tops. If the cocks are so situated that 

 the water has run much under their bottoms, 

 they should be turned bottom upwards, and 

 trimmed at least ; but it will most commonly be 

 necessary to spread them abroad. When hay 

 becomes too dry it should be carted either in 

 the evening or morning, and when the air is 

 damp. 



" A very ingenious gentleman of my acquaint- 

 ance does not permit his grass to lie in swarth 

 but for an hour or two after it is cut, or no 

 longer than till its wetness be gone, and it just 

 begins to appear withered. He then gathers it 

 into very small parcels, which he calls grass 

 cocks, not more than a good forkful! in each ; 

 turns them over once in a while, about sun set 

 is the best time ; doubles them as they grow 

 drier ; and when the hay is almost dry enough, 

 makes up the whole into large cocks. Grass 

 which is thus dried will not waste at all by 

 crumbling ; nor will much of its juices evapo- 

 rate. I have seen his hay, the flavor of which 

 excelled almost any other that I have met with. 

 The color of it, indeed, was rather yellowish 

 than green, but that is a matter of no conse- 



quence to the fanner, who docs not send his 

 hay to inarkff. 1 cannot but think that in dry 

 settled weather, this is an excelknit method of 

 hay-making ; but in catching weather, perhaps 

 a method which takes less time is to be prefer- 

 red."* From the above Dr. Anderson's method 

 is not much diti'ercnf. " Instead," says he, " ol 

 allowing the hay to lie, as usual in most places, 

 for some days in the swarth, alter it is cut, and 

 afterwards putting it up into cocks, and spread- 

 ing it out, and drying it in the sun, which tends 

 greatly to bleach the hay, exhales its natural 

 juices, and subjects it very much to the danger 

 of getting rain, and thus runs a great risk of 

 being good for little, I make it a general rule, 

 if possible, never to cut my hay but when the 

 grass is quite dry, and then make the gatherers 

 follow close upon the cutters, putting it up im- 

 mediately into small cocks, about three feet 

 high each when newly put up, always giving 

 each of them a slight kind of thatching, by 

 drawing a few handfuls of hay from the bottom 

 of the cock all around, and laying it lightly on 

 the top, with one of the ends hanging down- 

 wards. This is done with the utmost ease and 

 expedition ; and when it is once in thai state, I 

 consider my hay as in a great measure out of 

 danger ; for unless a violent wind should arise 

 immediately after the cocks are made, so as to 

 overturn them, nothing else can hurt the hay ; 

 as I have often experienced that no rain, how- 

 ever violent, ever penetrates into these cocks 

 but a very little way. And if they are dry put 

 up they never sit together so closely as to heat, 

 although they acquire in a day or two such a 

 degree of firmness, as to be in no danger of 

 being overturned by wind after that time, un- 

 less it blows a hurricane. 



" In these cocks I allow the hay to remain 

 until, upon inspection, I judge that it will keep 

 in pretty large tramp cocks, &,c. The advan- 

 tages that attend this method are that it greatly 

 abridges the labor, that it allows the hay to con- 

 tinue almost as green as when it is cut, and pre- 

 serves it in its natural juices in the greatest 

 perfection ; for it is dried in the most slow and 

 equal manner that can be desired. Lastly, that 

 it is thus in a great measure secured from al- 

 most the possibility of being damaged by the 

 rain." — Essays on Agriculture. 



The Farmer's Manual says, " Whenever your 

 clover has sweat and cured in the cock, so that 

 you can select the largest stalks, and twist them 

 like a string, without their emitting any mois- 

 ture on the surface when twisted, you may then 

 house your clover in its most perfect state. If 

 you sow timothy or herd's grass with your clo- 

 ver, ycu may manage in this way for the first 

 year with safety — the second year it will be- 

 come about one half timothy, or herd's grass, 

 and must be spread and turned gently, to pre- 

 serve as much as possible the heads and leaves 

 of your clover — the third year your clover will 

 disappear, and the herd's grass must be cut and 

 spread in the common mode ; I say the common 

 mode, for I presume that every farmer spreads 

 his hay into three swarth winrows, (unless it be 

 heavy English grass, of two or three tons to the 

 acre, which will occupy all the surface of the 

 field on which it grew to cure it ;) this saves 

 the expense and trouble of one raking, and that 

 he spreads in the forenoon all the swarths cut 

 before 12 o'clock, (leaving the swarths cut after 



* Agricultural Report of Scotlancl'. 



•■ Deane's Nevr England Farmer. 



