422 TEAxsACTioys of the American Institute. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — That is just what we Avant to know, and we 

 can find out only by a number of trials on different soils artd crops. 



The Chairman. — If Mr. Lyman -will be one of a committee and 

 Mr. Qninn another, I am sure the invention]will be well tested. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — It should be used Jnot only by men with 

 brains but by common, bungling fellows, such as we have to depend 

 upon for day labor, in order to find out whetlier it will generally 

 reduce the amount and severity of garden work. 



Hay-making. 



The regular paper of the day was read by Mr. S. Edwards Todd, as 

 follows : 



The process of making haj' consists in evaporating the moisture 

 from the juices of the grass, which, if not driven out of the stems and 

 leaves, would sooner or later heat in the mow, and thus injure the 

 hay. When apples, pears, peaches, or any other fruit is dried, the 

 object is simply to evaporate the moisture, which Avould hasten the 

 decay of the fruit. If we spread a small quantity of green grass on a 

 floor beneath a roof that wnll protect it from rain and dew, the mois- 

 ture will disappear in a few days, and the leaves and stems will be as 

 sweet as grass to the taste of the animal, and it will emit an agree- 

 able fragrance, and no smell of must or dust will be perceived when 

 the hay is moved. These facts furnish an important clue to the pro- 

 cess of making hay. "We often hear it said that farmers should make 

 hay while the sun shines, which is a sound precept. But it is quite 

 as important to understand how to make hay in cloudy weather 

 as when the scorching sunbeams are poured upon the meadows 

 like the heat of a vast furnace. There is quite as much danger of 

 injuring the quality of hay by allytwing the grass to be cured too 

 much in the burning sun as there is of baking bread, or pies, or cakea 

 too much. Suppose, for example, that our domestics were to leave 

 the bread, pies, and cake in the oven for two or more hours after 

 everything had been thoroughly baked. A loaf or a pie would weigh 

 about the same, after having been heated and dried for several hours 

 after the baking is finished, as such things would weigh when baked 

 just enough to taste tlfe best. But who likes double-baked, scwohed, 

 and dried-up bread ? 



Now, then, if grass be allowed to lie for hours, and in many instan- 

 ces for two or three days, exposed to the hot sun, the hay will appear 

 quite as unpalatable to domestic animals as scorched and dried-up 



