94 THE BOOK OF ALFALFA 



that will safely store it greenest will be the best to follow. 

 Handled green the leaves are saved, and these constitute 

 from so to 75 per cent of the whole value. 



PUTTING INTO WINTER QUARTERS. 



When (in regions of much humidity) the hay is 

 safely in cock, covered with hay-caps, and has had a few 

 days of curing, it is ready for permanent quarters. 

 Remembering that the hay after its drying has begun 

 should be handled as little as possible, the cocks have 

 been made small enough so that two men may lift them 

 bodily onto a wagon, if a wagon is used in the stacking. 

 From the wagon, the hay is lifted by a hayfork to the 

 stack. Or, more careful still, the farmer will use three 

 slings to each wagon, which are lifted by a hook to the 

 stack or mow. A sling is a heavy sheet the size of the 

 wagon hayrack. One is spread on the bottom of the 

 rack, another on top of the first one-third of the load, 

 and the other on top of the second third. These slings 

 are banded at the ends ; the ends are drawn together and 

 a third of the load lifted to the stack or mow, thus saving 

 in some instances a third more leaves than by any other 

 method. 



In arid and semi-arid territory, where conditions are 

 so entirely dijEFerent, and where the product of large 

 areas must be handled in a wholesale way within a short 

 time, cocking and loading on or off wagons are dis- 

 pensed with by dragging the rapidly dried hay directly 

 to stacks built in the fields, where the lifting into place 

 is done with great expedition by horse implements. 

 Where these conditions prevail and untimely rains in 

 the haying season are rare exceptions, a wheel-rake or 



