114 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



For the New England Farmer. 

 RETROSPECTIVE NOTES. 



Salting Hay.— In .a previous communication 

 upon this subject which appeared in the weekly 

 N. E. Farmer of Nov.. 7tjh., and in the December 

 number of the Monthly., after noticing some of 

 the various opinions and practices to be found 

 among farmers in relation to ,the application of 

 salt to hay, I proceeded to remark that certain 

 articles which had appeared in the issues of this 

 journal of Sept. 12th and Oct. -3d, -were, of them- 

 selves, a sufficient specimen of the .contradictory 



of positive knowledge, and be left to grope our 

 way in the dark, and that, consequently, there is 

 an urgent need of such facts and experiments, 

 we asked, "Who will give us any?" 



In reply to this call for such experiments and 

 facts as we then indicated we have as yet had no 

 response. Indeed, we feel very confident that, 

 as yet, no such experiments as we have described 

 have been made, and, of course, there are none 

 to be reported. 



In saying that we have had as yet, no response 

 to our call for accurate experiments and facts to 



opinions which prevail as to the effe&t of apply- t . ne point, we have not overlooked a communica 



ing salt to hay, and that, though these diverse 

 opinions were often advocated with a positiveness 

 which was amusing no less than surprising, it is, 

 nevertheless, true that there is no room for jposi- 

 tiveness as to any of the opinions, inasmuch as 

 there is nothing known with certainty upon the 

 subject. There have been no accurate observa- 

 tions or experiments sufficient to support any one 

 of the various opinions, or strictly speaking, mere 

 suppositions, which are found to be entertained 

 upon this subject ; none, at least, that have been 

 reported to the public. It would, indeed, very 

 obviously be a difficult matter to determine by 

 experience or observations of sufficient accuracy, 

 what are the effects upon hay of applying this or 

 that quantity of salt to it, when mowed away or 

 put into stack in a condition of more or less damp- 

 ness, as also what are, or would be, the usual ef- 

 fects of applying this or that amount of salt to a 

 ton or other quantity of hay upon the appetite, 

 the thriving, the general health and good condi- 

 tion of animals fed, either regularly or occasion- 

 ally, upon such hay. 



When this difficulty of making any very accu- 

 rate experiments or observations, such as we have 

 named, is duly considered, it need not surprise 

 any one that none such have been made, or, at 

 least, that none 6uch have been reported to the 

 public. But whether it has been this difficulty 

 or something else which has prevented our being 

 in possession of any such facts as would be quite 

 desirable in reference to the effect of the applica- 

 tion of salt to hay in a rather too damp condition, 

 the important fact remains that the public is not 

 in possession of any knowledge as to the points 

 named whieh can strictly be called positive knowl- 

 edge, and towards carrying us out of the region 

 of guess-work and uncertain opinion. But no 

 one has ever, so far as we have been able to learn, 

 made any such accurately conducted experiment ; 

 and of course we are still in the region of twilight 

 or darkness which surrounds the region which has 

 the benefit of the sun of positive knowledge. 

 Without the facts or results which such experi- 

 ments might furnish, we have no basis on which 

 to build any valid belief or proposition upon the 

 subject and there is nothing that can be done but 

 to form suppositions, that is, in other words, opin- 

 ions based on probability, not on positive knowl- 

 edge. Accordingly, we have upon the subject of 

 applying salt to hay quite a variety of opinions — 

 suppositions which seem probable to those who 

 have adopted them ; but as there can be no cer- 

 tainty it is obvious that we very much need facts 

 and experiments upon this subject. 



Having shown that until we shall obtain accu- 

 rately conducted experiments and facts that are 

 reliable we must remain in our present destitution 



tion headed "Salting H^y" in the N. E. Farmer 

 of Dec. 12th, in which the writer gives in a few 

 items of his experience, but not anything from 

 which we can gather any positive knowledge of the 

 kind so much needed. His experiences are not, 

 however, without some value, as the first one nar- 

 rated shows some of the evil effects of applying 

 too muchsalt to hay ; though the writer has neg- 

 lected to inform us how much was used in the case 

 he mentions, and, of course, left us quite in the 

 dark as to what would be "too much." His other 

 case amounts to this, that he put a peck of salt, 

 say 20 lbs., on a large load of northern clover 

 which was in a state of decay here and there from 

 being lodged, and which he put into a shed while 

 yet the hay was only about half-dry. Afraid, 

 probably, that a peck of salt, say 20 lbs., to a large 

 load of clover, say 1500 lbs., or three-fourths of 

 a ton, would be "too much" to be fed out contin- 

 uously, he fed out only one foddering of it about 

 twice a week, the craving for salt leading his stock 

 to eat it up clean, butts, decayed portions and all; 

 indeed, as he says, there was not 5 lbs. of the load 

 not eaten. If the decayed portions of the lodged 

 clover were eaten up for the sake of the salt we 

 would question the policy of the proceeding on 

 the same grounds on which we have often con- 

 demned the practice of putting brine on musty or 

 otherwise injured hay for the purpose of making 

 ca«.tle eat what could be little short of poison for 

 the sake of the salt left on it by the brine. 



Finding myself near the end of my sheet in my 

 former communication I briefly indicated the 

 practice I had adopted, after more than thirty 

 years of trying this and that mode of manage- 

 ment as to salting hay and stock, as the only way 

 my limits would allow of answering a natural cu- 

 riosity of some of my readers. I had practiced 

 putting salt upon all my hay — from about one 

 quart and a half up to four quarts to a ton ac- 

 cording to the dryness or dampness thereof — for 

 several years, always having a boy or third hand 

 to put a sprinkling of salt upon each forkful of 

 hay as it was mowed away. At length the boy 

 had better employment at schools and other nur- 

 series of mind, and the difficulty of getting a 

 third hand always at the busy time of haying, 

 which seemed an absolute necessity for getting 

 the salt properly distributed, (as putting the whole 

 quantity of salt on at once after the whole was 

 mowed away never seemed a proper way,) led me 

 to consider what plan I should adopt next as a 

 substitute for that one I had practiced while I had 

 boys' help convenient. I had become pretty well 

 satisfied that salt applied in the way described did 

 very little, if anything, towards preventing heat- 

 ing, musting, &c, and I had continued it mainly 

 because it was the most convenient way I had yet 



