1851 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
201 
the soil in both eases, was pretty good to start with, it 
will do much more. It has been aptly stated that ma¬ 
nure is the farmer’s gold dust. Here, then, is a mine 
entirely too much neglected. I cannot, however, 
agree with Mr. Turner, that summer watering exhausts 
the land by pushing it beyond its natural strength. In 
the long experience alluded to, there has, certainly, been 
no such results, and we have practiced summer watering 
for that length of time. On the contrary, the after¬ 
growth has been uniformly most luxuriant. The only 
danger apprehended, is the over-growth of the grass in¬ 
tended for mowing, causing it to fall prematurely, thus 
injuring the quality of the hay. 
It is said that the Chinese laugh at the idea of the 
u earth growing tired like an animal.” But although 
she may not want rest, she does want food while she is 
producing a crop. And the water of brooks, passing 
along much travelled highways, and beneath farm build¬ 
ings, does furnish in large quantities, the ncessary food 
for grass. I believe the soil is more improved by sum¬ 
mer than by winter watering, because, owing to the heavy 
rains of that season, the streams are enabled to carry and 
deposit among the grass roots, a greater amount of sedi¬ 
ment than the winter freshets; and the roots being ac¬ 
tive and hungry, receive and appropriate more of the so¬ 
luble matter suited to their use, than could be done in 
their torpid winter state. Thus they frequently get a 
hearty meal without calling on mother earth. Still, I 
am more in favor of winter, than of long continued sum¬ 
mer irrigation. There is less danger in the former than 
the latter season. The ground may be submerged for a 
considerable time in winter, without injury, while in 
warm weather, such treatment, by excluding the atmos¬ 
phere, would be ruinous. For the successful application 
of water at that season, the ground must have sufficient 
declivity to permit the water to pass off freely. Flats, 
with tenacious subsoils, will alwaj^s receive injury. Ti¬ 
mothy will bear more water, and longer continued on it, 
than any good grass that we cultivate. W. P. Unity , 
Jan. 6 , 1851. 
Cutting and Curing Hay. 
Eds. Cultivator —1 take it for granted, that one of 
the principal objects of your journal is to benefit the far¬ 
mer. Through this medium they can exchange views 
on the various subjects connected with their own imme- 
deate interest, and can avail themselves of the improve¬ 
ments, experiments, and success of others, in the diver¬ 
sified operations of the farm. Theorists may, and often 
have, suggested many valuable hints and improvements, 
but practical knowledge is the current coin, and is an in- 
dispensible requisite in the successful management of the 
farm. 
Experimental and systematic detail on any one branch 
of farm management, may benefit many, by enabling 
them to appropriate the experience of others, and turn 
it to their own account 5 and while I would urge upon 
others the utility of giving their various systems of man¬ 
agement, I feel willing, in my own humble way, to con¬ 
tribute my mite to the general fund. In the following 
remarks, I propose to make a few suggestions in regard 
to cutting and putting up hay.. 
I cut and put up about one hundred tons of hay annu¬ 
ally. The first point here, and in every other neighbor¬ 
hood where laborers are scarce, is to secure a good se¬ 
lection of hands, and notwithstanding this point may be 
attained, yet from the commencement to the close, much, 
very much, depends on the employer himself for suc¬ 
cess. If he is kind, courteous, sympathetic, and happy 
himself, making all about him to feel contented and at 
home, thus inducing a general interest in his efforts, he 
will go on well; but if he fails in these matters, small as 
they may appear, he had better abandon his business at 
once. 
The haying season is a severe tax on the physical pow¬ 
ers of the laborer. The employer should be careful not 
to place any obstacles in the way. A good and willing 
horse should never feel the lash; many a good team has 
been ruined by bad driving. If there be a sufficiency 
of hands to carry on the business, three or four should 
be put to the scythe. If they are honest men, they will 
make a fair day’s work, whether they are paid by the day 
or acre; that is, if fifty cents be a fair price for mowing 
one acre, and seventy-five cents be the price of a day’s 
labor, an honest man will feel himself bound to mow one 
and a half acres. It will, however, generally be found 
better for both parties to have the grass cut by the acre. 
Mowing by the day, especially when the weather is very 
warm, the scythes are apt to become so dull, that many 
a poor fellow has been nearly exhausted by his incessant 
whetting; but when mowing by the acre, the scythe al¬ 
most invariably retains a sharper edge, and he who 
swings it shows no more sympathy or pity for the falling 
grass, or the grasshoppers perched upon it, than an 
energetic farmer, with a deadly weapon, would do in the 
midst of a patch of Canada thistles. 
My clover is carefully scattered immediately after the 
scythe, and when sufficiently wilted is put up into neat 
cocks, and permitted to stand one, two, or three days, 
according to the weather. Previous to storing, it is 
opened to the sun a short time and then finally disposed 
of. I consider clover hay cured in the cock, worth al¬ 
most double that cured in the sun. My timothy hay 
is cured in the sun, and is never cocked up unless it is 
not sufficiently dry, and rain is approaching. The prin¬ 
cipal part of my hay, is fed to sheep in the meadows 
during winter. Where barns are not erected for the re¬ 
ception of the hay, it is thrown up into stacks or ricks, 
in the meadow. It is the business of one man to manage 
the horse-rake; another follows with a fork, commencing 
at the end of the windrow, and rolls the hay before him 
as far as he can conveniently do so. He then advances 
along the windrow, and when far enough to equal his 
first deposit, he faces about and rolls before him to the 
former deposit; he then places the fork under the hay 
and the last roll is flapped on top. In this motion a 
slight pressure is given to the hay with the hands and 
breast. It is true these are rough bunches, but they 
answer for the purpose of hauling, which is all that is 
intended. A boy follows with the hand rake which 
completes the operation. Then comes the hauling, and 
where the distance does not exceed twenty or thirty 
rods, hauling with the rope is far the most expeditious 
method. I do not deem it necessary to advert to the 
manner of pitching and hauling in this way, as its su¬ 
periority has no doubt rendered its adoption almost 
