76 
THE rARMER'’s MANUAL. 
warm, loose, or light earth, which will readily receive 
the air and moisture, to nourish your corn. The 
manner in which these unite, or combine in produc- 
ing vegetation, 1 have considered under the article 
Oypsum. 
Your corn being dressed and hilled ; watch your 
English meadows critically ; cut your English spire- 
grass when green, as soon as the blossom appears, 
it is then the best of hay ; if you suffer it to stand 
until the seed begins to form, and the stalk turns yel- 
low, it becomes tough and wiry, and from being the 
best, it becomes very soon, in this state, the worst of 
hay ; therefore, 1 repeat, watch it critically, and when 
It comes to perfection, suffer no j)ossible avocation to 
delay your cutting. 
Your timothy claims also alike attention ; this, when 
cut in early blossom, is the best horse, or stock hay, 
next to the English spire-grass, and by some is pre- 
ferred for horses, even to this ; but if you suffer it 
to stand until the blossom falls off, and the seed be- 
gins to form, and the stalk, or even the under leaves, 
begin to turn, the true value of your crop is lost, and 
your hay becomes comparatively bad ; therefore, cut 
your English and timothy when in blossom, and cure, 
by spreading into three swath winrows, all swaths 
cut before noon ; turn it lightly as often as your time 
and hands will permit ; and get into cock by 5 or G 
o’clock, all the hay spread upon your field ; this is 
both safe and profitable, both as to time and expense, 
as well as in the value of your hay. You may take 
a second cutting to advantage from your English 
spire-grass, but never from your timothy, or herds- 
grass, without an injury to the crop the succeeding 
year ; therefore, be content to take the second growth, 
by feeding lightly, and sufler as great a coat to lie on 
the ground over the winter as possible; the next year 
will repay you with interest. 
Your common meadows of mixed, wild and coarse 
!'ra's.cs. will claim your attention in regular succesr 
