32 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



A. Yes, I had over half my hay this year on the 4th of July, let me tell 

 you, Mr. Buell that is more theory than fact about good weather after the 

 4th of July, for we had the best haying weather last season in the month of 

 June, that we had the whole summer. I had more cured in one week before 

 the 4th, than I did iu two afterwards. 



Q. Do you think the second crop of clover is as good in value as the first? 



A. I think it is greater, that is, if you cut it in the proper time, it is of 

 equal value certainly. 



Q. I thought that my cows liked the first crop of hay very much better 

 than the second ? 



A. I never found it so,unless I let the second crop grow too long until it 

 gets woody. I have frequently had my cows fall off in the flow of milk in 

 changing from the second crop to the first. The second crop would be on 

 top of the mow and be fed first of course. 



Q. In what stage of dryness do you put your hay in the barn ? 



A. Well, I don't want the clover cured enough so that the leaves will 

 break and drop off the stalks, neither do I want it put in green. I want it 

 dry so it won't go through a process of fermentation and come out black. 



Q. Do you want a tight barn or an open barn ? 



A. My barn is boarded and battened. 



Q. Do you salt your hay ? 



A. Once in a while if we get caught with some bad weather we put on a 

 little salt. 



Q. Do you consider a ton of clover equal to a ton of timothy for feed ? 



A. I cannot argue as to the nutriment, but I can say there is more profit 

 in feeding a ton of clover than of timothy, as a matter of money, and that is 

 the point we are working for . 



Q. I wish you would impress upon the minds of the people in this coun- 

 try that it pays to manure your meadows well ? 



A. My manure really all goes onto my meadows. I don't like to ma- 

 nure new seeding the first year, I wait till the next year. The first crop will 

 generally grow as well as we want. I think three years is plenty long to 

 leave the land seeded. I don't remember that I ever manured on stubble 

 ground . 



Q. What would you do to insure a good catch of seed ? 



A. Thorough cultivation and sowing plenty of seed; even then you 

 might miss catching with plenty of seed, if your ground was all lumpy on 

 the surface. 



Q. At what season of the year did you sow the seed ? 



A. I sow in the spring with our spring crops. I have seeded with tim 

 othy in the fall and got a good crop in the next season. 



Q. Do you seed your spring crops altogether ? 



A. Yes . I now do not sow any crops of small grain without seeding, for 

 the reason that I don't sow any more small grain than what I need in order 

 to get the rotation. I don't grow winter grain. The timothy that I speak of 

 seeding in the fall, is on ground that has usually been seeded with clover in 

 the spring and I have failed to get a stand on account of drought, or my grain 

 lodging and smothering it. I have lost from that cause more than others. 



