“to improve the soil and the mind.” 
New Series. ALBANY, JULY, 1850. Vol. VII.— No. 7. 
THE HAY CROP. 
The hay crop is the most important of any produ¬ 
ced in the Northern and New-England states; but 
a large proportion of our farmers fail to derive the 
full benefit of it, from the want of proper manage¬ 
ment. Too many evince a carelessness in reference 
to making hay, which they would not think of al¬ 
lowing with grain, or any other crop of equal value. 
The contrast in the condition of the stock of differ¬ 
ent farmers, through the winter and spring, is very 
striking. The stock of one man is seen to thrive 
and even fatten, during the time they are kept on 
hay, while that of another constantly pines from the 
time it leaves the pastures, and in spring is poor and 
feeble. It is not uncommon that this difference is 
seen where there were equal opportunities for hav¬ 
ing good hay, and sometimes when the greatest 
quantity has been fed out to the herd which is in the 
worst condition. 
The difference alluded to, arises chiefly from the 
quality of the hay; and the quality of the hay de¬ 
pends on the herbage of which it is composed, on 
the stage in which it is cut, and on the process of 
making. The amount which would be actually 
gained by having hay made in the best manner, 
would be incalculable. It is practicable to have it 
of such a quality, that a given quantity will produce 
nearly as many pounds of meat, butter or cheese, as 
the grass itself would have produced, if it had been 
eaten in a green state. 
We have spoken above, of animals being fattened 
on hay. This is an idea, which, if generally un¬ 
derstood and practiced upon, would be of great be¬ 
nefit to farmers. A few are already aware of its 
importance, and their practice should constitute ex¬ 
amples for others. Many do not seem to realize 
that hay can be made to serve any other purpose than 
barely to carry their animals through the winter— 
to keep them from starvation. Yet they, rely on 
grass for the chief growth of their stock, for their 
beef and mutton, and dairy products; apparently 
overlooking the fact that hay is but dried grass, 
and that, if the drying was effected in the most per¬ 
fect manner, there would be no loss of nutrient pro¬ 
perties. 
In deciding on the course to be pursued in curing 
hay, we should in the first place, understand what 
are the properties in grass which it is wished to se¬ 
cure, and which afford sustenance to animals. 
These may be said to be chiefly starch or sugar, gum, 
and wax, and oil. The following extracts from the 
report of Dr. Thomson, in reference to researches 
and experiments on the food of animals, undertaken 
by order of the British government, show the im¬ 
portance of these substances in grass, and furnish 
useful ideas in regard to the general subject: 
“When grass first springs above the surface of 
the earth, the principal constituent of its blades is 
water, the amount of solid matter being compara¬ 
tively trifling; as it rises higher into the day, the 
deposition of a more indurated form of carbon gra¬ 
dually becomes more considerable; the sugar and 
soluble matter at first increasing, then gradually 
diminishing, to give way to the deposition of woody 
substance. 
11 If, as we have endeavored to show, the sugar 
be an important element of^he food of animals, then 
it should be an object with the farmer to cut grass 
for the purpose of haymaking at that period when 
the largest amount of this substance is contained in 
it. This is assuredly at an earlier period of its 
growth than when it has shot into seed, for it is 
then that woody matter predominates; a substance 
totally insoluble in water, and therefore less calcu¬ 
lated to serve as food for animals than substances 
capable of assuming a soluble condition. This is 
the first point for consideration in the production of 
hay, since it ought to be the object of the farmer 
to preserve the hay for winter use, in the condition 
most resembling the grass in its highest state of 
perfection. The second consideration in haymaking 
is to dry the grass under such circumstances as to 
retain the soluble portion in perfect integrity. 
“ The great cause of the deterioration of hay, is 
the water which may be present, either from the in¬ 
complete removal of the natural amount of water 
in the grass by drying, or by the absorption of this 
fluid from the atmosphere. Water when existing in 
hay from either of these sources, will induce fer¬ 
mentation, a process by which one of the most im¬ 
portant constituents of the grass, viz., the sugar, 
will be destroyed. The action necessary for decom¬ 
posing the sugar, is induced by the presence of the 
albuminous matter of the grass; the elements of 
the sugar are made to re-act on each other in the 
moist state in which they exist, in consequence of 
the presence of the water and oil, and are converted 
into alcohol and carbonic acid. 
“ That alcohol is produced in a heated haystack, 
in many cases, may be detected by the similarity of 
the odor disengaged to that perceptible in a brew¬ 
ery. We use this comparison because it has been 
more than once suggested to us by agriculturists. 
“ The amount of soluble matter taken up by cold 
water is, according to actual trials, as much as five 
per cent., or a third of the whole soluble matter in 
hay. We may therefore form some notion of the in¬ 
jury liable to be produced by every shower of rain 
which drenches the fields during hay harvest. It is 
not only, however, the loss which it sustains in re¬ 
gard to the sugar and soluble salts, that renders hay 
so much less acceptable than grass to the appetite 
of cattle. The bleaching which it undergoes in the 
sun, deprives it of the only peculiarity which distin¬ 
guishes the one form of fodder from the other; grass 
