326 
THE l^URAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 26 
will cut 10 or 12 tons of ensilage to the acre. We can 
plow the stubble and use manure or fertilizer with it 
to grow another crop of tomatoes or a crop of ensilage 
corn. We can let the seed mature, cut and hull that, 
and plow the stubble under for the same crops, or we 
can plow it all down for green manure. In our farm¬ 
ing we seldom do the latter, except in small fruits 
and orchards. Thus you see the crop interferes with 
no other, and provides a heavier growth than the 
Red clover.” 
This difference in the growth of the two clovers is 
well illustrated in the picture shown on the first page. 
It is reprinted from a last year’s issue. These specimens 
were grown in southern New Jersey. Roth clovers 
were sown August 1, and these plants were taken 
April 19. See how much larger and stronger the Scar¬ 
let clover is? The difference was very plainly shown 
by examining the fields of Red clover near Mr. Ran- 
croft’s farm. All with whom I talked were positive 
that, planted side by side, with the same soil and gen¬ 
eral conditions, the Scarlet clover will be surer to 
make a “ catch ” and a good growth. 
What the Silo Does for the Farm. 
The day before my visit, Mr. Rancroft had finished 
filling a large silo with Scarlet clover—putting in 80 
tons in one day. The mowers are started in the 
morning, and cut down enough to run through the 
cutter after dinner. The clover is cut to about inch 
pieces, though Mr. R. believes he could with safety 
put it in whole. This clover ensilage provides summer 
feed for the cows. Ry fall it is generally all fed out, 
and the silos are filled again with corn. The total 
capacity of the silos is 400 tons. The cows eat 
ensilage all the year around. 
“What hay crops do you raise ? ” I asked. 
“ Nothing but Alfalfa, of which we have, including 
this year’s seeding, about 10 acres. Where it will 
thrive, Alfalfa is the greatest of all forage plants, be¬ 
cause it will give three cuttings per year, and con¬ 
tinue to do so for 15 years or more. Nothing will give 
us more tons of fodder per acre, year after year. We 
cure it for hay, though it would make excellent en¬ 
silage.” 
“Do you sow anything with the Scarlet clover that 
is to be used in the silo ? ” 
“I have tried sowing half a bushel of rye to the 
acre with it to hold up the clover. It worked very 
well. I have also a piece in which Italian Rye grass 
was sown with the clover, and that looks well.” 
“ What else do you put in the silo besides corn ? ” 
“ This year I shall use cow peas with the corn in 
the silo. There is the field on which they will grow. 
We have just cut from it a crop of Scarlet clover for 
the silo. We will put on a mixture of muriate of 
potash and acid rock and sow the peas. These will 
be mixed in the silo with the corn—running alternate 
loads of each through the cutter, and simply leveling 
off the surface of the ensilage. After the peas are 
off, the land can be again sowed to Scarlet clover. 
Thus we have two nitrogenous crops in one year, and 
another started.” 
Teams were at work hauling manure from the barn¬ 
yard on the day of my visit. With a Kemp spreader, 
this manure was quickly put on a field of Scarlet 
clover cut the day before, and at once three teams 
were put at work plowing it in. On this field, last 
year, a heavy crop of ensilage corn was grown. At 
the last working. Scarlet clover at the rate of 14 
pounds to the acre was sown in the com. After cut¬ 
ting, a mixture of muriate and acid rock was broad¬ 
casted. Now, the field having yielded its crop of 
Scarlet clover, was to be set in tomatoes. Next fall 
it will go into Scarlet clover again, with ensilage corn 
in the spring, and so on, year after year. Some¬ 
times, in very heavy ensilage corn, they do not seed 
the Scarlet clover until the corn has been cut off. Ry 
this system one can readily see how an acre of land is 
made to yield two great crops of fodder each year. 
H. w. c. 
(To be Continued). 
OLD AND NEW IN MAKING HAY. 
TQK OLD WAY. 
When the seeds in the heads of Timothy would 
crackle if ground between the teeth, it was thought 
time to begin haying. With IQO acres to harvest, four 
men would be kept busy four or five weeks, mowing 
with the hand scythe in the forenoon, and drawing in 
in the afternoon, on a high wagon. All the loading 
and unloading was done with the hand fork. On 
lowei.’y days, all hands would mow constantly, leaving 
the cut grass in the swath to be shaken out and dried 
on the return of fair weather. Hay made in this way 
was often badly weather-beaten, and frequently a 
large share of the seeds would disappear from the 
heads of Timothy before it reached the mow. A 
regular part of the chores in winter was carrying orts 
from the manger to the yard, to be picked over by the 
cows in a zero temperature that gave them a sort of 
appetite for such indigestible food. Fed on such hay, 
cows went dry three or four months, and their con¬ 
dition in April was often pitiable, indeed; they were 
“ spring poor.” 
Another Way. 
Clover should be cut when in full bloom and Timothy 
immediately after the blossoms have fallen. With 
the introduction of improved implements, the neces¬ 
sity for cutting grass in lowery or doubtful weather, 
has passed away. Smooth meadows, a good team and 
a wide-cut mower make it possible to secure the hay 
crop in good season without cutting grass while wet 
with dew or rain. I would do the mowing between 8 
o’clock and 12 o’clock in the forenoon of a fair day, 
when the weather promised to be favorable, and 
would rake as soon as good work can be done with 
the horse rake. The windrows should be of fair size, 
care being taken to have them straight and snug. If 
the weather should change and threaten rain, the hay 
must be placed in cocks, but if the time for cutting 
has been well chosen, it may remain in the rows until 
the second day. Sometimes it may be necessary to 
turn the windrows, but as a rule the hay should be 
exposed to sun and wind as little as possible in the 
process of curing. Hay does not require as much dry¬ 
ing as was formerly supposed, and may be put in the 
mow in a comparatively green state if free from 
water. I have never used a hay tedder and do not 
think it would pay for care and storage, to say nothing 
of the cost of the tool. Ry 10 or 11 o’clock of the 
second day, the hay loader may be put to work on the 
windrows. The loader is a useful implement, espe¬ 
cially with light help and for short hay and rakings. 
I have sometimes opened cocks of hay, giving them 
the form of windrows so that the loader might be used 
to advantage. I have had 15 years’ experience with 
the loader, and have cured several hundred tons of 
both clover and Timothy in the windrow as above 
stated. The labor required is less than by any other 
method, and the quality of the hay is satisfactory. 
I would begin haying when Medium clover is m full 
bloom, and would try to secure the crop without ex¬ 
posure to rain or dew. I would use an easily handled 
mowing machine, cutting at least six feet in width, a 
self-dumping rake, that a 12-year-old boy or girl can 
operate, the hay loader, the low wagon with wide 
tires and a double harpoon horse fork. Ry using such 
implements, the farmer controls the situation, and the 
old time drudgery of haying has passed away. 
Lewis County, N. Y. c. s, kick. 
HAYING IN RAINY WEATHER. 
DODOrXG THK DKOI’S. 
Perhaps there is no other single farm operation 
which so tries the patience of the New England farmer 
as the effort to make hay in rainy weather. When 
long continued rains settle over the landscape, and 
the farm hands and teams are enjoying a period of 
enforced idleness, the employer is generally in any¬ 
thing but a happy frame of mind. The fields from 
which his “ best hay ” is to come are, perhaps, just 
cut, or the crop is partially cured and lying in the 
windrow exposed to the beating, washing and leach¬ 
ing of the downpouring rain. The farmer gets a 
chill, and his pocket book and heart shrink and curl 
up, while his temper comes to a keen edge as he real¬ 
izes that the fresh green color and delightful fra¬ 
grance, as well as some of the actual food value of his 
choicest hay, are being steeped out, while the labor of 
finally curing the crop is largely increased. Rut you 
say, the sun and the rain are a part of the husband¬ 
man’s inheritance, and he should accept their pres¬ 
ence with patience and even thankfulness, Jilthough 
the former burn in an unclouded sky while he is set¬ 
ting cabbage and tomato plants, and the latter per¬ 
sist in falling upon the half-cured hay. It is true that 
such conditions may come to that man who plans his 
work with the greatest skill and forethought, and 
uses every opportunity for obtaining information in 
regard to his business ; but in these days of mowing 
machines, wheel rakes and horse forks, hay caps and 
weather predictions, the farmer who is practicing to 
the extent of his knowledge—and how few are?—is 
not so much at the mercy of the elements as the 
farmer of the days gone by. 
In southern Rhode Island, along a portion of our 
400 miles of coast line, besides rain storms and showers, 
there are almost nightly fogs and heavy dews which 
remain for several hours in the morning and shorten 
the “hay day.” Quite a common custom is to mow 
during the latter part of the afternoon, and then the 
dew and fog of the night will do the freshly cut grass 
no harm, while the moisture will dry off more quickly 
in the morning than from standing grass. A good 
day following, with frequent use of the hay tedder if 
the crop is heavy, will put the hay in condition for 
raking. Much of the hay in this section is stacked in 
the field where grown, and is put up in a greener con¬ 
dition than in other parts of the State where most or 
all of the crop is stored in barns. Possibly the “ salt 
air ” has something to do with its curing when so put 
up Hay is almost always “ dragged ” to the stack 
instead of carted. For this purpose, a pair of oxen and 
an inch rope, perhaps 80 feet long, is all sufficient. 
After the hay is raked into windrows, the oxen are 
driven to that part of the field farthest from the stack 
and placed so that the windrow is between them. One 
end of the rope is made fast to the ring in the ox-yoke, 
and the other end fastened in the ring so as to be 
easily untied ; the long locp thus formed is carried 
back over the end of the windrow and held close to 
the ground by one or two men or boys who stand upon 
it and preserve their balance by leaning upon a hay 
fork inserted in the windrow. The oxen are started 
and the rope gradually gathers up the windrow until 
perhaps half a ton of hay is “ dragged ” to the stack, 
when the rope is untied and pulled out hy the oxen 
and the operation repeated. As the stack increases in 
height, forks with longer handles are used, and per¬ 
haps the stack topped off from a load drawn along¬ 
side. An old sail is usually on hand to cover a par¬ 
tially built stack which must be left overnight, or 
which cannot be finished on account of rain. When a 
stack is so protected, the cover should be removed sev¬ 
eral hours before more hay is added to the stack, as 
moisture will inevitably gather under the sail cloth, 
and time should be given for it to dry out by exposure 
to sun and air. If this be not done, there will be a 
layer of “ dusty ” hay in the stack. 
When rains and fogs are frequent, good hay caps 
give a farmer confidence to venture upon cutting 
grass when otherwise he would not do so. Canvas 
caps, or caps made of oiled or painted cotton cloth, 
were formerly used. These were fastened on by 
driving pins attached to cords at the corners into the 
ground, or pushing them into the sides of the heaps of 
hay. This required considerable time, for the pins 
and cords were often getting tangled, and one could 
not work rapidly just before a shower when minutes 
are precious. There is now a pulp waterproof hay 
cap made by the Symmes Hay Cap Company, which 
makes a perfect protection and seldom blows off if the 
cocks are made large enough to fill the cap. A stone 
boat or drag is very convenient in distributing or col¬ 
lecting and transferring these caps from one field to 
another. There is no delay in putting them on— 
simply press them down over the top of the cocks— 
and the hay is perfectly protected from damage by 
rain. In the curing of clover hay, they are especially 
valuable for, as the operation often requires three or 
four days, the risk of being caught by bad weather is 
greater and the farmer feels more confidence with his 
crop protected at night by caps. The daily paper 
with weather predictions, is of much value in haying 
time. “Forewarned is forearmed,” and the predic¬ 
tions are so generally reliable that any one cutting a 
large quantity of hay does well to have the “ predic¬ 
tions” at hand to assist in planning his daily work. 
Improved machinery makes the labor of haying light 
and decreases the risk of damage by bad weather, 
inasmuch as the haying can be more rapidly done and 
the season shortened. Keep all kinds of haying 
machinery in first-class order, and duplicates of parts 
liable to breakage on hand so that there shall be no 
delay during good weather. chas o. flagg. 
Rhode Island Experiment Station. 
HAYMAKING AT THE SOUTH. 
A 8KA80X OF 8EViiN MONTH8’ HAYING. 
Our haymaking season opened this year May 3, with 
Scarlet clover. Next will be the Red clover, then 
successively Timothy, millets, sorghum and other 
forage crops. About August 1, the native crab grass 
and cow pea vine hay will be in season and continue 
until November, when our seven months’ hay season 
will wind up on the rich low lands where the 
“ Cherokee,” a coarse, indigenous annual thrives and 
furnishes a brown nutritious hay. Almost every kind 
of hay crop here requires a little different manage¬ 
ment, even in fair hay weather, and more so in damp 
weather. As a rule, the finer sorts like crab grass, 
Bermuda, and Red Top may be mowed in the morning 
and sometimes, in fair weather, raked and put in the 
barn the same afternoon or at the latest may go in the 
barn in 23^ days without cocking. But the coarser hay 
like millet,pea vines and Cherokee, is best cocked up for 
several days, and turned by hand once each day. Pea 
vines require peculiar management. I have cut them 
with the table rake reaper, dropping the gavels off as 
heavy as the rakes can manage—and let them lie for 
three to five days and then pitch directly into the 
wagon without turning or more handling, which 
would cause loss of the small pods and leaves,, the 
most valuable feed. The general plan for curing pea 
vine hay is to cut it with the mower, make into cocks 
immediately, and simply roll these large cocks over 
by hand once each day for about three days, when the 
