530 7'ifAysACTwys of the American Institute. 



I have heard of a barn near Mount Holly, owned by a man named 

 Cole, in -which the liay took iire from spontaneous combustion ; that 

 the hay settled where combustion commenced, and was extinguished 

 •by playing water on with an engine. How true it is I will not say. 

 I forward to-day, by express or mail, a small block of hay cut out of 

 the middle of the mow, where Franklin lives, which you may see has 

 become very much discolored by the heat, which was so great for a 

 long time that one could not bear his hands or feet on it, and it is 

 warm yet ; more than six months since it was housed. The hay was 

 not put into the mow very green. Can some members of the 

 American Institute Farmers' Club account for this ? You may per- 

 •ceive the h»y is not musty, but damp yet, smells like tobacco ; tlie 

 horses eat it, though it has a peculiar strong taste." 



Mr, T. C. Peters. — I found, when I was actively engaged in farm- 

 ing, that I could mow away my hay quite green, if there was no rain 

 or dew on it. The natural juices of the grass will not thus play the 

 mischief with it ; but if half cured or dried hay is wet and then 

 piled away it will sweat and heat, and become greatly damaged, as 

 this has. It is an excellent j^lan to throw dry straw over damp or 

 imperfectly cured hay. 



Mr. J. A. Whitney. — As to combustion, it cannot take place if the 

 air is excluded. Hence, for damp or greenish hay, tight barns are the 

 best. The ferment through which this clover has passed has robbed it 

 of its strength-giving qualities, but the starchy parts are not so much 

 affected ; it w^ill be eaten by stock exposed to the cold, and by young 

 animals, but would be almost worthless for working beasts or milch 

 cows. 



Mr. W. S. Carpenter, — Farmers are getting more and more into 

 the way of putting what they cut into the barn the same day ; except 

 in rainy weather, it can be done. Greenish hay should be forked 

 into a tight bay, well trampled, salted a little, and have the loads as 

 they come in, sandwiched with a few bundles of dry straw. The straw 

 absorbs the moisture that would work mischief, and in mid-winter 

 that hay comes out so bright and sweet-smelling and hearty that the 

 cows laugh when they get it. 



Mr. S. Edwards Todd said he used to cut after noon, with the 

 mower, all that he could rake and cart the next day. lied clover he 

 always cut when the majority of the blossoms were blown. He 

 mowed after noon and after the dew or rain had .been dried out of 

 the standing crops. This clover was raked the next day, while yet 



