THE SHRINKAGE OF MARKET HAY. 19 



important that the haymaker watch the curing of hay very closely, to 

 note, first, just how long it may lie in the swath without shattering 

 too much when raked into the windrow, and, second, just how soon 

 the water content falls so low that the hay can be stored without 

 danger of spoiling in the sweat. Incidentally another benefit accrues 

 from handling hay at just the proper moment. The hay that has 

 not been allowed to become too dry when stored has the best color. 

 This is an important factor in market hay, for color " sells" hay. 



STAGE AT WHICH HAY IS CUT. 



The stage of maturity at which hay is cut does not affect the amount 

 of water contained in hay after it has gone through the sweat. The 

 Pennsylvania station- 23 conducted experiments for two years to 

 determine the best time for cutting timothy to secure the greatest 

 amount per acre of total nutrients. There was a difference of about 

 16 days between the early cutting and the late cutting. The average 

 shrinkage of early cut hay (in bloom) was 25.7 per cent and of the 

 late cut (nearly ripe) 18.8 per cent. The amount of shrinkage was 

 determined by weighing the hay, and had the exepriment been con- 

 cluded with merely the weighing, as many others have been, the 

 results would have indicated that it is best to cut timothy late, since 

 there is less shrinkage, about 7 per cent in this instance, than there is 

 in early cut hay. However, after the hay had been weighed, a water 

 analysis was made in each case, which showed that the early cut hay 

 contained an average of 8.94 per cent water and the late-cut hay 8.83 

 per cent, indicating that the time of cutting has practically no influ- 

 ence on the water content of thoroughly cured hay. Late-cut tim- 

 othy in reality is inferior to early cut, since the former contains a 

 smaller percentage of total nutrients and is inferior in color to the 

 latter, and hence does not command as good a price on the market. 



At the Maine station 24 two lots of timothy were cut, one in full 

 bloom and the other 18 days later. The early cut hay lost 16.6 per 

 cent of water in 9 months and the later-cut hay lost 18.1. At the 

 end of the experiment the early cut hay contained 10.4 per cent of 

 water and the late-cut hay 9.7, a difference of only 0.7 per cent. 



The results of these experiments indicate that while the percentage 

 of shrinkage of early cut and late-cut hay may vary greatly, the 

 water content of the hay when cured does not vary % appreciably with 

 the stage of maturity at which it is cut. 



« Pennsylvania State College. Report for 1882-86, pp. 271-276. 



s* Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, Annual Report, 1890, p. 55-67. 



