308 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



admisfiible. It arises from the practice of 

 some who keep cows for milk cxchisivclv, and 

 hence want the nearest possible ap])ro:ich to 

 Slice iilent food to secure the j^reatest (juantity 

 of milk. Experiments serve to show that 

 grass cut before it blossoms will give the 

 desired result ; at the same time it is not clear 

 that the loss in the (|uantit_v of hay obtained, 

 and its unfitness for working animals, does not 

 more than counterbalance the gain in the 

 quantity of milk. 



As to the i)ractice of allowing grass to form 

 the seed, it is needless to say much. The 

 advocate.-, for it are fast disappearing, and the 

 practice will soon be among the things that 

 were. There is no doubt that such hay (if 

 it is proper to call it hay) is, as is claimed," less 

 liable to loosen the bowels of working animals 

 in warm weather than early cut grass, but 

 the same may be said of dry' brush and many 

 other things. 



After all, the proper curing of hay is where 

 the greatest interest centres. A Lack of judg- 

 ment or want of thought often results in 

 serious loss to hay makers. When I see 

 statements made by reliable men of their 

 practice in curing hay, each claiming to carry 

 out the same details, .and one rej)orting a sat- 

 isfactory result, and another the reverse, I 

 am satisfied there must have been some radical 

 difference in the conditions under which these 

 varying results were obtained. AVhat these 

 differing circumstances were, becomes an im- 

 portant question, especially to the man who 

 failed to make good hay. When a person says 

 he gets the best of hay from grass cut in full 

 bloom, cured and housed the same day, 1 

 believe him ; for I have done the same, and 

 am knowing to its having been done by many 

 others. A gentleman in New Bedford has 

 practiced this method for more than a score of 

 years with grass yielding over two tons ])er 

 acre, without a single failure, and you, Messrs. 

 Editors, testify to the same results as coining 

 within your knowledge, in remarks appended 

 to an article in last year's monthly, page 405. 



It is a well known fact that rain (especially 

 if it falls copiously) deprives standing grass of 

 much of its good (qualities, for a short time 

 after ; that is, grass cut immediatel\- after a 

 rain will not make as good and sweet hay as 

 it would j)revious to the rain, or as it does 

 after a day's bright sun. To tliis cause is to 

 be attributed the poorer quality of hay in wet 

 seasons. 



The wet condition of the soil operates dis- 

 ailvantageously in curing hay, by reason of 

 the va])prs that arise on the sun's shining after 

 a fall of rain. 



Admitting these statements, have we not a 

 clue to the reason why some fail of saving hay 

 in the manner referred to? One person goes 

 into his field, thinks his grass dry, and cuts it; 

 another waits until he is certain it is so, and 

 gets good hay from it. I think it is just at 



this point that the results diverge, and one has 



damajied, and the other good sweet hay. 



If labor was not so costly, this question of 



I curing hay would be shorn of much of its im- 



j pdrfance. But so long as farmers have to pay 



such large wages, it becomes them, if they 



I hope to succeed in their calling, to seek for, 



j and ])ractice the least costly methods of doing 



their work that are consistent with its being 



well done. 



I am (inite sure it would be profitable to keep 

 (if we have it) each season's straw, and swale 

 hay over to the next season, and mix it through 

 the hay crop in sulhcient quantities to preserve 

 it without wilting it nmch, if any. 1 have 

 saved nnuilted clover by putting an equal 

 quantity of oat straw with it. The cattle eat 

 both greedily. I have also used rye straw 

 that was much broken by the thrasher with 

 like satisfactory results. 



The truth is, farmers as a class are not as 

 persistent in their investigations, nor as per- 

 severing in initiating new modes of doing their 

 work, as are people in most other callings. 

 They either discard entirely new methods, or 

 if they attempt to practice tiiem, too often fail 

 to comply with all the conditions necessary for 

 success, and decide prematurelv against them. 

 March 10, 187 1. ' k. o. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 DKAINING ALWAYS BEZSTEriCIAL. 



Mil. Editou : — I read with much satisfac- 

 tion, in your issue of May 20th, the communi- 

 cation of Royal Smith of MiJiington, on the 

 subject of "Drainage of Wet and Dry Land." 

 Its intelligence and temper are e(jually admi- 

 rable ; and I am inclined to feel not a little 

 gratification that 1 have been instrumental in 

 eliciting such valuable practical information, 

 as the letter alluded to I'omains. It is by the 

 friction of minds such as that of Mr. Smith, 

 that the genuine light of information is pro- 

 duced. 



Your accomplished correspondent takes ex- 

 ce])tion to the breadth of my doctrine of the 

 efficacy of drain.age, and pleasantly expresses 

 doubt that the application of thorouj^i drain- 

 age to what may be generally described as a 

 'I'T' S''ilt.V '^oil, (as 1 understand it,) would 

 be of any possible advantage. If not so, 

 healthy experience and carefully observed re- 

 sults are not to be believed ; otherwise the 

 lapse of thirty years has so changed the effects 

 of circumstances, long time ago recognized as 

 very decided, as to render them utterly effete 

 at the ])resent day. 



Thorough drainage will deepen and consoli- 

 date- a loose or friable soil, and will deepen 

 and render ])t)rous an indurated or heavy one. 

 In either case increased temperaturt! is an ac- 

 companying result ; also increased depth of 

 soil, furnishing ])Iants with those conditions 

 their healthy growth demands. 



A soil saturated with water is semi-inert, 



