Vol. LXVI. No. 3006. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 7, 1907. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PElt YEAR. 
BALING HAY DIRECT FROM FIELD. 
How It Is Done In Kentucky . 
In a recent number of The R. N.-Y., you give the 
opinions of hay growers as to the practicability of 
baling hay from the field—now the consensus of these 
men would indicate that this method would be im¬ 
proper; at least in their respective sections of country; 
that the hay would not keep well, and that it would 
be entirely too much cured to suit them were it dry 
enough to bale. 
Now excuse me for being a bit personal but it is 
necessary in order to correct this impression. In the 
first place you will notice these men have had no 
experience, only give their opinion. It is probable I 
put up annually more hay than all these men put 
together, and as I bale it all from the field, I think 
that probably my experience is worth as much or more 
than all their opinions; especially, as this section has 
quite as much rainfall during the haying season as 
New York, Connecticut, 
etc. The annual rainfall 
of Central Kentucky runs 
from 48 to 52 inches, and 
extends most liberally 
from April to August, by 
which time our hay crop 
is entirely over. 
I will give in some de¬ 
tail just how hay is 
handled at Highland Place 
and readers can judge as 
to whether our method is 
a success or not. Our 
acreage runs from 225 to 
250, and our yield from 
300 to 300 tons. With a 
smaller acreage we could 
produce more hay per 
acre, but as we use no 
manure or fertilizer of 
any kind except on the 
thin spots of upland we 
are reasonably well satis¬ 
fied with our annual yield. 
Our tools consist of four 
wagons, two mowers (six- 
foot cut), one side de¬ 
livery rake, two dump 
rakes for gleaning, a hay 
loader, power baling press 
and eight-horse gasoline 
engine. A dozen or more 
pitchforks complete our 
equipment the cost of 
these tools being a little 
less than $1,000 aside from the wagons. We use about 
five mule teams and 12 men and boys. We cut about 
30 tons per day and the amount of land that will 
produce that is calculated the best we can. In drying 
sun and wind one day is sufficient to cure the hay 
the last of June and early July, to go direct into the 
bale. When the sun does not shine warm we wait 
somewhat longer. During the middle half of July, six 
hours sun is usually sufficient—but we are not governed 
by time—I ride around the cut land and if at every 
point I examine the hay it will rattle, it is ready. We 
start the side delivery rake through two rows together, 
and in 15 minutes, if the sun is shining, start the hay 
loader with two picked men on the wagon to take 
care of the hay as it comes. With the hay loader work¬ 
ing to its full capacity—no lazy or light man is needed 
on this wagon. 
The baler and engine are set in the field quite close 
to the center of the day’s work cut out for us. Every¬ 
thing is usually in motion by 9 A. M., sometimes 8.30. I 
stand where the bales eome out, and handle every one 
of them to know and see that the hay is dry, and the 
bales not too heavy. Usually I make them 65 pounds 
in the morning, 75 pounds about noon and the after¬ 
noon about S5 pounds; 16x18 bales using 9j/j-ft. wire. 
When night comes we have a square rick of bales 
from 330 to 450. They are covered with large water¬ 
proof tarpaulins. In the morning, at 5.30, all are in 
the field hauling these bales to the barn, moving to 
a new set for the day, and the mowers running. By 
8.30 to 9 A. M., if the weather is bright, hay baling 
begins again. Thus, from 15 to 25 days we bale the 
entire crop. During damp days the men are in the 
tobacco patch if it is not actually raining, or loading 
a car for this.hay is often sold direct from the field 
and shipped to Tennessee, Georgia, local points in 
Kentucky, and Lexington, Ky., a most discriminating 
market, gets quite a lot of it, always the top of the 
market, for I guarantee every bale. But it is after all 
the man behind the gun, and while I don’t take any 
particular credit to myself, I do know when hay is 
dry and will not bale it when it is not. If you cannot 
put a lead pencil into a bale at any point and pull it 
out, look out for that hay, whether it is baled from 
the windrow stack or barn. Hay is drier on the out¬ 
side from the windrow than it is at any time or place 
until the following Summer. 
I once made a large lot of slides and bought hay 
cock covers thinking that if the hay did not rest on 
the ground and was absolutely protected from rain or 
dew it would be a sure crop, and I could hitch a 
horse to these slides and pull them to the baler after 
the hay had cured—but after keeping the hay on these 
slides 10 days and finding it still moist I have had no 
further use for slides or cock covers. Make hay when 
the sun shines and make it fast that is my rule. I 
have some large hay barns and sometimes we run bales 
and also put the loose hay in the barn to be baled out 
later, but only do this when I see the hay getting 
too ripe, for it is entirely to costly to handle it twice. 
I once sold a man 100 tons to be fed to race horses 
and he afterward told me not a bale but that was 
sound and good. The wire loosens up on these bales 
and for that reason it does not handle quite as well 
but that is the only trouble and it is not a very material 
one. The hay in the bale goes through a sweat but 
if the bale is not made too tight comes out quite as 
well or better than when put in the hay loft. I should 
say from three to four hours more sun is needed to 
bale hay from the field than to put it in the barn. In 
all this talk I am speaking of Timothy hay. Clover 
hay may be handled in the same way but with still 
more care for the hay does not cure so rapidly and 
June is not as good hay weather nor is the ground so 
dry then as in July. We begin our Timothy about 
June 20th, the early cut hay being the brightest and 
in best demand, though at a sacrifice of weight. 
Woodford Co., Ky. j. m. garrett. 
WHEN TO PUT FERTILIZERS IN ORCHARDS 
Referring to “Fertilizer Questions from Florida,” on 
page 572, I wish to make 
some comments, and also 
suggest that there may be 
something in the opinions 
held by some, that the 
roots that make the fruit 
are near the body, while 
the roots that make for 
wood growth are the long 
ranging roots. Trees in 
a nursery will bear young¬ 
er than when set in grove 
form. The best paying 
orange grove I know of 
has trees set 10 or 12 feet 
apart, and there is room 
only for cultivating once 
each way. This grove has 
been cultivated the year 
around, and it had practi¬ 
cally no humus in the soil 
when set, and evidently 
less now. It is on deep 
sand 20 feet to water and 
sand all the way. People 
say orange trees will not 
bear until the roots grow 
together in the middles. 
May not the true explana¬ 
tion be that the trees 
naturally grow their limbs 
in a dense mass close to 
the ground? People scat¬ 
ter the fertilizer outside 
the branches, when it can 
be readily cultivated in 
and is also much easier of application. In the 
nursery and the grove mentioned the fertilizer was 
necessarily applied close to the trunks, where the 
fruiting roots are. As very few use any but chemicals 
for orange trees, as a general proposition it is not 
..necessary to plow them in, the only waste will be from 
heavy winds. Through the great drought that has 
recently prevailed throughout the West Indies, Mexico, 
Central America and also Florida, the average growers 
on pure sand without any clay or permanent water 
within 20 feet, stood the dry weather better than 
growers on the flat woods and those with clay subsoil. 
As for humus, I worked for years for humus in my 
grove, and got few oranges and plenty of weeds and 
grass. Now I cultivate the year around and get plenty 
of fruit. Of course, I speak of sandy land. It does 
not pay to buy expensive chemical fertilizers to make 
humus; better haul it in. f. h. 
The culture of Citrus fruits in the poor, sandy soils 
of Florida and the West Indies is something that H 
indeed complex. It often taxes the best efforts Of the 
MAGNOLIA BUNKER, A JERSEY TWO-YEAR-OLD. Fig. 326. 
