I^i CLOVERS 



I 



serves the bright green color, the aroma and the tint 



of the blossoms, it is less liable to heat in the mow 



or stack and is greatly relished by live stock when 



fed to them. 



To cure it thvis, it is usually tedded once or twice 

 after it has lost some of its moisture. It is then 

 raked as soon as it is dried enough to rake easily, and 

 put up into cocks. When the quantity to be cured is 

 not large caps are sometimes used to cover the cocks 

 to shed the rain when the weather is showery. These 

 are simply square strips of some kind of material 

 that will shed rain, weighted at the corners to keep 

 them from blowing away. The clover remains in 

 the cocks for two or three days, or until it has gone 

 through the "sweating" process. Exposure to two 

 or three showers of rain falling at intervals while 

 partially cured in the swath or winrow will greatly 

 injure clover hay. 



When the area to be harvested is large, clover is 

 sometimes cured in the swath. When thus cured it 

 is stirred with the tedder often enough to aid in cur- 

 ing the hay quickly. It is then raked into winrows 

 and drawn from these to the place of storage. In 

 good weather clover may be cured thus so as to make 

 fairly good hay, but not so good as is made by the 

 other method of curing. It is much more expedi- 

 tiously made, but there is some loss in leaves, in color 

 and in palatability. i 



Some farmers cure clover by allowing it to wilt 

 a little after it is cut, and then drawing and storing 

 it in a large mow. They claim that it must be en- 

 tirely free from rain or dew when thus stored. This 



