206 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
Hay Making. 
This is a subject often talked and read about— 
tolerably understood by many farmers, but prac¬ 
ticed less well, in general, than understood. 
There are several different modes of liay-making 
as well as different opinions about the proper time 
in its growth to cut grass. They can not all be 
right, of course ; and as the exactly proper time 
can not be hit by any farmer who has a large 
hay crop to secure, he must make the best aver¬ 
age time that he can, trusting weather, and other 
casualties as they may occur. Timothy is the 
great hay grass of the United States. Orchard- 
grass, red-top, blue-grass, and the red and white 
clovers furnish the balance chiefly, excepting some 
of the wild, or indigenous grasses local to peculiar 
soils and climates. 
Long experience, we believe, has settled the 
fact that pretty much all grasses are most nutri¬ 
tious iu hay when cut at the point of time that the 
blossom is passing off, and the seeds fully charged 
with pulp. The stalk, leaf, and head are then full 
of matured sap, and possess the greatest amount 
of nutriment. Such, indeed, is our own experi¬ 
ence, after many years’ practice in both cutting, 
curing, and feeding hay; and as timothy is the 
bulk of our Northern hay crop, we take that as a 
rule to govern other grasses in their cutting. 
We consider then, the grass as exactly right for 
cutting when going from the “ blue,” into the 
“ white ” stage of blossom, and introduce the 
scythe, or machine as we are supplied with them. 
A mowing machine is best, of course, where a 
smooth bottom is found, and it should not go into 
the field until the dew is off the grass in the 
morning. If cut then, it rapidly dries and is usu¬ 
ally fit to go into windrows, or cocks in the after¬ 
noon. We believe decidedly in curing hay in the 
windrow, or cock, according to its condition. If 
possible, hay should never lie in the swath over 
night.. Better let it stand in the cock three days, 
than lie in swath with one dew upon it. Hay, even 
damp and green, thrown lightly into cocks will 
cure sweet and well; while in the swath, or spread 
until quite dry, it loses half its freshness, and 
more than half its sweetness to the taste, or smell. 
It should go into the barn, even, not perfectly 
dry. Discretion is to be used in this, but a farm¬ 
er who has once made his hay right need never 
be at a loss about the proper condition to house 
it. After many seasons of trial, we always pre¬ 
fer to store our hay when it has a slightly damp 
feeling to the hand. Hay will cure in the mow, 
or stack, as well as in the cock, or swath, and if 
not stored positively green, comes out fresh, and 
aromatic. 
Yet, as all can not wait until the very moment 
arrives when grass should be cut, some must be 
commenced too early to avoid a part of it being 
ioo late. Timothy seed should never shell in the 
held, if possible to prevent it, although ripened 
grass will cure in a few hours after cutting, and 
may be taken directly to the barn afterwards, in 
clear, dry weather. It also depends somewhat on 
what kind of stock are to eat the hay we cut. 
Calves, young cattle, milch-cows and sheep, like 
early cut hay best, and no doubt it is best for 
them—they eat it clean ; while horses, working 
oxen, and young bullocks like it equally well if 
matured so that most of the seed is ripe 
enough in the course of cutting, to grow. 
In fields of mixed grasses, as where timothy, 
red-clover, white clover, red-top, and blue grass 
grow together, the prevailing grasses in them 
should govern the time of cutting. The earliest 
of all is the blue, or June grass— good when in 
blow, bqt wprth much less tyhen gone to seed. 
The clovers should be going into their brown 
heads, while the leaves and stalks are yet fresh 
and succulent. Timothy follows the clovers about 
a week, while the red-top is latest of all, and 
remaining long in bloom, may be in season a fort¬ 
night or three weeks after timothy. 
Early cutting in the morning is only necessary 
for scythe mowing; and that only to save time, 
and labor. Grass cuts easiest when damp with 
dew or rain. It takes it several hours longer to 
dry, when cut in the dew than when dry, and for 
this only, if for no other purpose, the machine is 
preferable. The great object with the farmer 
should be, to get his hay housed as soon after 
cutting as its condition will permit. 
- f -»ia O i - - 
Mode of Curing and Time of Cutting 
Clover and Other Hay. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
The value of the grass-crop, and the import¬ 
ance of curing and preserving it in the best pos¬ 
sible manner, will justify my offering a line upon 
the subject. There is a variety of opinion as to 
the best mode of curing hay. Some persons fol¬ 
lowing, to the letter, the old adage, of “ making hay 
while the sun shines,” seem to think it can be 
made at no other time, and that the more the sun 
shines upon it the better. But is this really sol 
In storing up hay for our domestic animals in 
Winter, do we want to save merely the dry fibers 
of the plant ? If so, we might as well wait until 
the grass and clover are fully ripe, before cutting 
them, and the more we dry them the better. The 
fact is, however, that we wish to save as much 
of the natural juices of these plants as possible. 
When the gatherer of herbs is seeking for plants 
to fill his medicine chest, he cuts them just as 
they are fairly bursting into flower. At this stage 
of their growth they have their most useful quali¬ 
ties in perfection. If, however, they are dried in 
the sun, or get soaked and bleached in the rain, 
they lose many of their valuable properties. Dried 
in the shade, they retain nearly all their nourishing 
and healthful juices. Now, let us apply this prin¬ 
ciple to the cutting and curing of hay. If cut¬ 
ting is delayed too long, the stalks and leaves be¬ 
come hard, wiry and tasteless. Such hay must 
be not only less pleasant to the animal’s taste, 
but also less nourishing than if cut at its early 
maturity. With most of the plants used for hay, 
just the right period for gathering, is when 
they have fairly unfolded their flowers. Then, 
there is a large flow of rich, sweet juices in the 
stalk and leaves, and if the hay is properly cured, 
most of these properties can be saved. 
Clover hay, especially, should not be allowed to 
become too mature before gathering it. Its prin¬ 
cipal value lies in its blossoms and leaves, and 
these should be saved in their best condition. 
The New-England Farmer expresses my views 
so perfectly, that I will use his words in prefer¬ 
ence to my own: “ By cutting this grass (clover) 
when the crop is in full blossom, allowing it to 
remain in the swarth the first day after mowing, 
till nearly night, and then turning it carefully with 
a fork so as to expose a fresh and unwilted sur¬ 
face to the night dews, and cocking it in the af¬ 
ternoon of the second day, in small, compact 
cocks, of about eighty pounds unmade hay to the 
cocks, it will make evenly and thoroughly, and 
may be pitched and even trodden down in the 
mow without being deprived of its heads or finer 
leaves. The color will be a most beautiful green, 
and the flowers as fresh in color as when cut. 
After cocking, let the weather be fair or foul, no 
opening or turning of the ‘ grass cocks’ should 
be allowed, unless in case of a protracted 
storm. It is unnecessary, as the hay will cure 
completely through, and the outside, when satu¬ 
rated with water, will soon dry off, and effect no 
harm whatever to the hay.” 
I will here add, that if at any time the farmer 
is obliged to get in hay imperfect 1 / cured, he may 
save it from material injury by throwing it upon 
an open scaffold, or storing it in several places, 
or mixing with it a fewlayers of old hay or straw, 
which will act as ventilators, and absorb the ex¬ 
cess of moisture. Cattle will eat those layers 
with great avidity, because they have taken up 
fresh odors and juices from the new hay. A good 
ventilation of moist hay may be secured, also, by 
making a chimney in the center of the mow, ol 
bundles of straw set on end, one on the top of 
the other. Northern New-York. 
-■*>«— ■ —»—- - — - - 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Origin of the Horse Rake. 
“ Sam, I want you to rake all the hay up to¬ 
day. I am going away, and will not be back be¬ 
fore night,” said farmer Kissam, near fifty years 
ago. “Yes massa, we have 'urn all up right, 
and no mistake.” 
Sam and his sable companions took their rakes 
and proceeded to the hay-field in good earnest; 
but the sun rose higher and shone hotter and hot¬ 
ter, until they essayed just to stop a bit under the 
inviting shade of an apple tree. Here they be- 
guiled the time away so pleasantly, listening to 
Sam’s marvellous stories, that, before they were 
aware, the horn sounded for dinner—and the hay 
not half raked. Here was a dilemma ! If master 
should come home and find the hay not raked, a 
settlement would be the consequence. What was 
to be done 1 
“ I tell you what, Jack, I think we can make a 
big rake like our hand rakes, and hitch de sorrel 
to it, and make him help us. Massa has one straight 
stick, and I will bore him full of holes, and you saw 
some pins about two feet long and put in dese 
holes, and I will put a strong stick in de middle to 
hold him by. Tom, get old sorrel, and tie his 
traces to de end of de stick with a rope, and we’ll 
have de hay up yet afore night.” 
And, sure enough, they did get up a hay-rake, 
and scratched the hay together in a hurry. When 
the boss came home he noticed a singular looking 
contrivance in the lot, and, on examining it, he 
saw at once they had introduced a new idea ; and, 
calling in the aid of a carpenter, he constructed 
the first horse rake in the United States—so the 
story goes. Said horse rake was made in the 
town of Jamaica, Long Island, and lazy negroes 
were the inventors. S, 
Hempstead , L. I., June, 1858. 
Mixture of Grass Seeds. 
We question whether sufficient attention has 
been paid to this subject in our country. In Eng¬ 
land, and on the Continent, farmers mix several 
kinds of seed together, when laying down their 
lands to grass, because some sorts grow better 
than others in different seasons, and as such a 
mixture furnishes a succession of fresh herbage 
in different parts of the same year. We have 
seen the following mixture tried, and are prepared 
to recommend it: Ten pounds of red clover, 
five pounds of white clover, one peck of lierds- 
grass, and half a bushel of red-top. Let this be 
salted down with two bushels of plaster. 
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Let not your tongue cut your throat. 
