1865.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
211 
Sharp Mowing-Machine Knives, 
The cutting edge of all kinds of knives is 
composed of numerous small saw-tooth like 
scratches made by the file, grindstone or whet- 
stone. The same exists on the edge of a razor, 
but there they are exceedingly fine. The cutting 
edge of a gi'ain sickle consists of vciy fine teeth 
made as a file is cut, with a sharp cold chisel, 
cutting creases sloping obliquely backward on 
the under side of the blade, extending quite to 
the edge. When tlie serratures thus formed 
become battered, or bent over, the tool is dull ; 
but so long as they are kept sharp-pointed and 
erect, which is done by grinding on the smooth 
side, the edge is sliarp. 
For cutting straw, hay, or comstnllvs, when 
knives are worked with a drawing stroke, they 
are usually most effective if their cutting edges 
are made of coarse serratures, as when ground 
on a rather coarse stone. On the contrary, 
when knives operate witli a direct stroke, the 
finer the edges are ground, the easier they will 
cut. Tliis is particularly true of knives of mow- 
ing machines. If ground to an edge on a stone 
of fine grit, and then whetted with a fine whet- 
stone, even the momentum of the cam which 
works the knives will be almost sufficient to cut 
an even swath througli heavy grass. "Where 
the ground is smooth and hard, and the grass 
not very thick at the bottom, and the knives of 
a mower are sharpened with a fine-gritted whet- 
stone, no difference can be perceived in the ex- 
ertion of the team, whether the mower cuts a 
full swath, half of one, or none at all. Dull 
knives, however, or those having a coarse edge, 
will require sometimes twice as much power to 
mow heavy grass, as if they had been put in 
order with a fine whetstone. Knives of mow- 
ing machines are often filed to an edge. If 
they were operated with a drawing stroke, they 
would cut grain better than if shari^ened with a 
fine stone. But, as the cut is a direct or crush- 
ing one, they should always be rubbed afler 
filing, with a fine stone. Great efficiency in 
such knives depends almost entirely on the per- 
fection of the cutting edge. 
Suggestions about Summer Fallows. 
— • — • 
A few years ago, most farmers in our wheat- 
growing regions, thouglit that in order to raise 
a good crop of winter wheat, the ground must 
be well summer fallowed. The ground was 
plowed usually about the first of June, and then 
harrowed and plowed alternately until Septem- 
ber. In some instances, it was plowed six, but 
usually tliree times ; and those who did so, fan- 
cied tliat tliey received ample remuneration in 
an increased amount of grain for every addition- 
al plowing. But, wlien the ground was broken 
up late in June, or the former part of July, and 
plowed only twice, as a small number of culti- 
vators were accustomed to do, tlie worlv was 
pronounced as " only half done;" and tlie dif- 
ference between the crops wlicre the soil was 
plowed five or six limes and only twice, would 
often justify such a remark. Thus it will be 
perceived, that the soil yielded only one crop in 
two years, or as it was then termed, " two crops 
in three years," as oats, or Indian corn, follow- 
ed by wheat, and then a summer fallow, or 
grass. In some instances, three crops of win- 
ter wheat were raised in succession. As only a 
limited quantity of manure of a very inferior 
quality was made, summer fallowing seemed to 
be essential to the wheat crop. There was not 
that demand for pork, beef and mutton that now 
exists. Consequently, only a small portion of 
the coarse grain of the farm ftirnished any fer- 
tilizing matter by making manure while fatten- 
ing stocl^ The great bulk of the manure was 
of a strawy character, and only increased the 
already too large growth of straw. There was 
but little grain-producing material in it. The 
good effects of summer fallowing began to fail. 
The straw was often large enougli to yield forty 
or fifty bushels of excellent wheat per acre ; 
while there would sometimes be not more than 
ten or twelve. Every year the heads were grow- 
ing lighter and shorter, and the kernels small- 
er and smaller. Consequently those who were 
accustomed to rely on the wheat crop for their 
revenue, were in a srievons dilemma. Tliis was 
clean farming, but low culture; while scientific, 
progressive agriculture requires higli cultivation 
and fertilization in close connection witli clenn 
farniing. This is the certain tendency of sum- 
mer fallowing. It is good for wheat, temporar- 
ily; but bad for the farm, and worse still for 
the firmer, permanently. Summer fallowing 
in the way alluded to, will produce a greater 
yield of wheat, for a year or two, than any oth- 
er system of management; but, at the same 
time, the productiveness of the soil will be im- 
paired in a greater degree than by some otlier 
system of management, which will always keep 
the soil good, and at the same time, produce 
remunerating crops from year to year. 
. •-< — ■■» I » ■ 
Prevention of the Hoove. 
"When neat cattle and sheep e.at too much red 
clover, tlieir stomachs soon become so much 
inflated with gas, that without immediate re- 
lief they often die in a few hours. "We have 
known neat cattle to be hoven and die, in defi- 
ance of all efforts to save them, even after they 
had been grazing in a clover field more than 
two weeks. "Where they can have access to 
other grass, they will seldom eat enough clover 
to make them bloat ; but, as soon as they are 
required to subsist entirely on red clover, unless 
they have free access to an abundance of salt, 
there is great danger that they will eat too 
much. "We Iiave always been accustomed to 
keep salt in a tub in tlie field, where the stock 
were grazing on red clover; and the animals 
would eat freely of it many times a day ; and 
we never had an animal affected with the hoove, 
as long as the salt tub contained a good supply. 
Check Reins, for Draught Horses. 
— • — 
The head and neck of a horse assist in bal- 
ancing his bod}', when not restrained by a taut 
check rein ; just as the arms of a man enable 
him to walk with more ease when they are un- 
confined. AVlien a check rein is so short as to 
hold the head of a horse higher than he is ac- 
customed to carry it, it is impossible for him to 
travel or draw easil)'. A man can walk or run 
much more advantageously with his arms free, 
and his head and shoulders thrown a little for- 
ward, because they are important balances for 
his body. If draught liorses have check reins, 
they should always be unhitched when they are 
hauling a heavy draft, especially up hill. If one 
watches llie movements of a horse's head when 
he slips on ice, or a pavement, he will soon be 
satisfied that draught horses should not be 
checked up much. Carriage horses may be made 
to hold their heads high ; but those wliich have 
hard pulling should bo allowed to do it in the 
easiest manner, witli their heads lield naturally. 
Hay Cured without Drying. 
SUGGESTIONS FOR EXPERIMENTS. 
"With us all it is a great object to make hay 
of good quality with little labor. We all have 
our notions and prejudices, some well formed 
and otliers simply prejudices. The Agricul- 
tural papers have of late contained several arti- 
cles on curing hay witli very little drying, 
packing it away so as to exclude all the air 
possible, and have given statements of the 
great excellence of the cattle feed thus prepar- 
ed. When vegetable substances containing as 
considerable a proportion of water as recently 
cut grass does, are closely packed and left to 
themselves, they will ferment. The result of 
the fermentation is heat, throwing off water and 
carbonic acid, a softening of the material, and 
certain changes in its chemical constitution. 
These changes of character, if not carried too 
far, are in no way deleterious, but in fact render 
a portion of the woody fibre digestible, which 
before was not so. 
An article called "Brown Hay" is made in 
Europe in several ways, all dependent on the 
same principle. When tlie grass is cut it is 
left a while to wilt, a day or two, according to 
the weather, then laid up in heaps of the size of 
ordinary hay cocks, which, after standing a 
day or two longer are lifted without stirring, 
and laid together in large heaps or stacks and 
well trodden down as they are laid up. The 
stacks are formed to shed the rain, and some- 
times a little salt is sprinkled in as they are 
made. The wilted grass is often liauled to 
barns, or rather buildings for the purpose, and 
these are packed full, each forkful being thor- 
oughly trodden. When the fermentation comes 
on in the buildings or the stacks, it will heat 
and steam powerfully, and there may even be 
some danger of spontaneous combustion, if diy 
matters are in close proximity. As the heat 
subsides, it is trodden again in order to keep 
all tight when the Iiay settles, as it does very 
much, the bulk being reduced fully one half 
If the air gains access by cracks or otherwise, 
mildew will follow. Cattle of all kinds are 
very fond of this food. It is hard and com- 
pressed, like pressed haj' — all in a mat — of a 
brown color, and a sweet, somewliat hay-like 
odor. In the stack or mow it may be cut with 
the hay knife or a hatchet, and it is easily bro- 
ken up to feed out. This article, therefore, 
however produced, is nothing new, but has an 
established reputation, and is, no doubt, a very 
good way to make hay, especially when the 
grass is very full of weeds; for all these disap- 
pear in the softening process which the Iiay 
undergoes (unless they are coarse, or of an 
acrid, or very hard character). 
It is said that well wilted grass may be 
billed up in tlie field, and thus cured without 
further care, except to pile the bales together 
and protect them from rain by a covering of 
hay or straw. 
A man writing to the Boston Cultivator, says 
he packs wilted grass in air-tight casks or hex- 
es and heading them up, keeps the hay any 
length of time. The editor of that paper goes 
into ecstasies over the perfume of the sample 
box sent to him. 
On page 151, (May No.) we published an 
account of the manner in which a most excel- 
lent quality of clover hay was produced by 
housing wilted grass, putting it in layers be- 
tween dry salt hay. All these methods we 
commend to the ingenious, as worthy subjects 
of experiment during llie present haying season. 
