1168 APPENDIX B. 



winter forage should differ from it as little as may be, that it should 

 not suffer in feeding value, and that it should be very nearly as pal- 

 atable as the grass was at the time of cutting it. When the sum- 

 mer's sun is hot enough and not too hot, when the grass is cut at 

 the right stage of growth, when the hay is carefully and intelli- 

 gently made, and when there is no rain about, all the valuable prop- 

 erties of the grass are secured in .the hay, and water only is given 

 off in the drying. Even the color, the sweet taste, and the pleasant 

 smell are retained, the two latter improved, and the former not 

 much reduced ; and the solid constituents remain in much the same 

 state of combination as they were in the grass. 



Time of Cutting. — A high authority on, this subject says : — 

 "The time to cut meadow grass is when the complexion of the 

 field begins to wear a brownish tinge. At this stage the bulk of the 

 grasses are flowering, and some of the earliest ones have gone to 

 seed. Very heavy crops should be cut earlier than this, particularly 

 sewage grass, or they will become laid and rotten in the bottom. 

 Clover should be cut when the majority of the heads are in blossom ; 

 for if it stands till it has done flowering, , the woody fiber increases, 

 and the nutritive qualities decrease in proportion. All grass and 

 clover should, in fact, be cut a little under rather than over ripe, as 

 at this stage they contain a considerable quantity of sugar, gum, 

 mucilage, albuminous and other soluble compounds, which are all 

 liable to be washed out by repeated or long-continued showers of 

 rain, and particularly so after the hay is partly made. While the 

 grass is still newly cut and fresh, a coating of waxy or oily matter 

 is found on the epidermis, giving it a water-proof covering, and pro- 

 tecting it from injury by rain ; this protection remains so long as 

 the grass is fresh and unbruised ; but when it has been turned and 

 knocked about repeatedly, the fibers are more or less bruised or 

 broken, the cell-walls are lacerated, and the juices containing the 

 soluble constituents begin to ooze out and escape, unless the drying 

 proceeds pretty rapidly, sealing them up in the stems and leaves. 

 If rain falls Wt this period, the drying is checked, the escape df the 

 compounds is promoted, and fermentation sets in, during which the x 

 two most valuable, properties of the hay are destroyed, viz., albu- 

 men and sugar ; " so that in — 



Cutting and curing hay, except when grown specially for seed, 

 grass should be cut before the seed has matured. As stated above, 

 grass is, as a rule, at its best when in the blossom. If cut much 

 sooner, it is- very watery' and innutritious. If allowed to stand 



