178 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
June, 
Proper Time for Cutting Grass. 
Mr. Luther Tucker— For more than thirty years 
it has been a common saying among farmers, that timo¬ 
thy hay should not be cut until ripe—that is, until the 
heads were plump and full'of seed. I was raised in a 
country where grass was thought ready to cut as soon 
as it was large enough ; and after I came here, I fol¬ 
lowed the same practice, although in opposition to the 
opinion and practice of many of my good neighbors. 
I followed the practice so long, and had so many op¬ 
portunities to prove it, that I know to a certainty that 
my practice is right. For some 8 or 10 years past, I 
have used mostly timothy hay. Previous to that I 
used more clover. Very often I have not been able to 
get it all cut before harvest; and having several cattle 
and sheep yards, some one lot of cattle had to eat the 
ripe hay, and I am perfectly sure that it is a great 
loss to let timothy hay get any thing near ripe ; in 
fact whenever it begins to come in blossom, it is time 
to begin cutting. If there is much to cut, and not 
plenty of hands, some will then get too ripe. I would 
prefer good wheat straw, cut before it is too ripe, to 
ripe timothy hay for either sheep or cattle. 
A number of years ago, I built a cow house, and 
that-season I had cut my timothy hay rather earlier 
than usual. I stabled my cows for the first time that 
year; fed them the early cut timothy hay, and 
took every possible care of the cattle, but they became 
poor, would eat but little of my green hay, and by 
spring the cows and young cattle were overrun with 
lice, and poorer by far than ever I had cattle. I con¬ 
cluded I had cut my timothy too green, and that my 
neighbors were partly right. Next season I let it get 
near ripe, but my cows did no better. I then conclud¬ 
ed it must be stabling, and took out my stalls, and 
turned my stables into sheds. After that, my cows 
would get fat on green hay. After I began to fatten 
cattle extensively, I found out that my cow stables 
were not thoroughly ventilated, and this was the only 
reason why they did not do well in their stables. 
The loss farmers sustain by letting their hay get too 
ripe, is immense. I would rather have four quarts of 
meal per day, with good green timothy hay, than to 
have a peck with ripe hay, to fat a steer with. Cut 
grass or clover green, cure in swath or cock, and it will 
make either sheep or steers fat in five months without 
grain, if they are properly attended to, but still it is 
more profitable to feed part grain. 
I have wintered this season, about 200 sheep on 
wheat straw, with one bushel of oil cake meal to the 
100 sheep per day, and they are now fat, although but 
thin when I bought them. Your truly, John Johns¬ 
ton. New Geneva , April 3, 1854. 
We believe, with our correspondent, that the loss 
sustained by our farmers, by too long delay in cutting 
their grass, is immense. It is a subject to which we 
have frequently called the attention of our readers for 
years past. Both science and experience demonstrate 
that the proper time for cutting grass, is when it is in 
blossom. A writer on the scientific principles involved 
in the process of hay making, lays down the following 
rules:— 
1. Crass must be fully developed before it is mown; 
if not, it will be found in its early stages to contain so 
much water as to be reduced, on drying, into so sma 1 
a compass, that it will in quantity much disappoint the 
haymaker. 
2. It must not be permitted to stand until its seeds 
are formed, much less ripe. All plants in arriving at 
maturity have their starch and sugar and gum in large 
quantities converted into woody fibre—a wise provision 
of Providence for enabling the stem to bear the ma¬ 
tured seeds—and as sugar, gum and starch, are nutri¬ 
tive elements, it is desirable that these should be pre¬ 
served, and hence the point for successful grass-cutting 
is that between the full development of the plant and 
before the formation of their seeds, in other words 
when they are in flower. 
A. government report, published in the Edinburgh 
Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, on the “chemical 
nature of grass and hay as food for cattle,” says—“ If, 
as we have endeavored to show, the sugar is an im¬ 
portant element of the food of animals, then it should 
be an object with the farmer to cut grass for the pur¬ 
pose of hay-making, at that period when the larger 
amount of matter 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 the woody matter pre¬ 
dominates—a substance totally insoluble in water, and 
therefore less calculated to serve as food to animals 
than substances capable of assuming a soluble condi¬ 
tion. It ought to be the object of the farmer to pre¬ 
serve his hay for winter use in the condition most re¬ 
sembling the grass in its highest state of perfection.” 
We add to the above, the testimony of several care¬ 
ful and observing farmers, heretofore published in the 
Cultivator:—• 
C. N. Bement —Was formerly in the habit of cut¬ 
ting his timothy quite late, because it was easier cured 
after it got pretty ripe; but he ascertained, from care¬ 
ful experiment in using hay thus cut that it wanted 
substance, and that the best time for cutting was when 
the grass was in blossom. 
Sanford Howard —The stems of grasses were filled 
just before the formation of the seed, with a starchy 
or saccharine substance. In perfecting the seed, the - 
stems were exhausted of this substance, it being con¬ 
sumed in forming seed. The plant should be cut be¬ 
fore the nutriment has passed from the stems. 
W. H. Sotham —Would as soon have good bright 
straw for cows or sheep, as timothy hay cut after it 
has gone to seed. Cuts all his hay early. There was 
another great advantage in cutting early—the roots 
retained their life and strength better, and the after 
feed and future crops were made more abundant. 
J. Pratt —Commences cutting his hay generally 
before any one else thinks of it, or as soon as it begins 
to blossom, and gets help enough to cut it all as soon 
as possible. He has kept a dairy of sixty cows for nine 
years, and attributes his success with his cows, and the 
fine healthy appearance of his other stock, mainly to 
early cut hay. 
Since the above was in type, we have received an 
interesting paper from a correspondent at Mechanics- 
ville, on the proper time for cutting, and the best mode 
of curing hay, which shall have a place soon, and for 
which the writer will please accept our thanks 
