Clover Hay 
of most men, for infinite care and pains, there is no 
more treasured possession on a farm than a big mow 
full of pure clover hay. There is no more desolate 
sight in the eyes of a farmer than a field of clover 
in the swath, blackened and spoiled by a long and 
unexpected rain. The average man will continue to 
handle his crop in a conscientious fashion. This will 
be expensive, but it eliminate losses. 
TIME TO CUT.—The usual rule followed as to the 
time to cut clover is to mow if just when the first 
blossoms are beginning to turn brown. Probably this 
rule is based partly on the real reason that the 
clover has reached the crest of its development at 
that time, and partly on the fact that the condition 
of the blossoms furnishes an easy sign to note. Cer¬ 
tain it is that modern tendencies in dairy farms are 
to cut all hay much earlier than in former years. A 
good many of the best farmers now begin to mow 
their clover as soon as it is in full bloom. The best 
practice would therefore seem to be to have the crop 
all down before any considerable number of heads 
have turned brown. 
HANDLING IN THE SWATH.—With the haying 
The Best Way to Handle 
A N IMPORTANT CROP.—A surprisingly large 
number of dairymen can be found today who 
will say that they prefer well-cured Red or Alsike 
clover hay to Alfalfa when it comes to making milk. 
Quite likely some of these men are speaking from 
a “sour grapes” frame of mind, because they have 
failed to grow Alfalfa successfully. Some of them, 
however, have Alfalfa and still take the same posi¬ 
tion. Without going into a discussion of the relative 
merits of clover and Alfalfa hay, which is not the 
purpose of this article,, it is safe to assume that 
clover hay constitutes the very best bet. of a dairy¬ 
man for milk production, and it. follows that such a 
valuable crop deserves the most careful and intelli¬ 
gent care and handling. 
TWO POINTS OF VIEW—At the outset, we may 
as well recognize that there are two quite different 
points of view in regard to all farm management. 
One group of farmers believes in doing a large busi¬ 
ness even at the sacrifice of such things as quality, 
large yields per acre, etc. They try to make up by 
volume of business and cheapness of operation what 
they lose through lack of careful attention. Particu- 
there is no water in the stems, and that he likes to 
rake it just as soon as the leaves are wilted and hold 
it in the windrows from then on. so that the leaves 
will not dry up and break off. 
SAVING TIME.—An analysis of this man's meth¬ 
ods—and he is one of the most successful farmers in 
the East, from a money-making point of view— 
shows that what he really depends on, though he 
may not himself recognize it. in handling his clover 
crop, is his own ability to handle an enormous quan¬ 
tity of hay in a short time. He makes the best of 
every hour of sunshine that he gets. 11 is crew of 
teams mow a field quickly. His large fields probably 
do not give quite as heavy a yield as some smaller 
fields more intensively handled. Taking advantage 
of a day or two of clear weather, he can mow a big 
acreage, cure it according to his method, and have it 
in the barn while a farmer with himself and one or 
two helpers and one or two teams to do the mowing, 
raking and drawing, is getting a crop down, raked 
and cocked. Of course, if this big farmer miscalcu¬ 
lates on the weather he gets a lot of hay wet in the 
swath or windrow. But here again his system of 
Lunch Time for the Pet Lam It. Fig. ,120 
larly since the war has developed a big shortage of 
farm labor, more and more money-making farmers 
are found in this class. The other group operates 
smaller farms, does more handwork, gets, as a rule, 
better yields per acre, of better quality, and wastes 
nothing. Among them are found a large group of 
middle-aged to old men, who are operating the 75 to 
200-acre dairy and general-puritose farms, in line 
"'ith their different conceptions of farm manage¬ 
ment, the methods pursued by these two groups vary 
as widely as do their fundamental ideals. Between 
them come all gradations. 
A WHOLESALE METHOD.—One of the big farm¬ 
ers briefly outlines his method as follows: lit' mows 
his clover and lets it lie seven or eight hours in the 
sun. Then he rakes it into light windrows with a 
side-delivery rake. After three or four hours in the 
sunshine lie takes a rake and turns these windrows 
over. The hay is then loaded direct from the wind¬ 
row with a hayloader. He puts it in mows holding 
troiu 40 to 00 tons. Handled in this way. he says 
that the mows will heat a lot. but that he very sel¬ 
dom has moldy hay. He says that lie is not afraid 
to put in clover that still appears green, provided 
farm management comes to his rescue: for the loss 
of enough hay to put an average farmer out of busi¬ 
ness does not make much of a dent in his haymow. 
Perhaps the farmer of small or average acreage will 
at once say that there is nothing for him in such 
methods, laterally speaking, he is right: and in giv¬ 
ing them here there is no thought of setting them up 
as an example. On the other hand, even the average 
sized farm is getting more and more labor-saving 
haying machinery on it each year, and no doubt if a 
man is watching his opportunity weather conditions 
will often break right, so that with perhaps the 
help of some neighbors a very close approximation 
of the big farmer's methods given can lie made, and 
a valuable crop of clover hay harvested in short 
order. 
THE MORE USEFUL METHODS.—Much more 
conservative methods than those outlined above will 
no doubt always prevail in handling the bulk of the 
clover acreage in the Eastern States. The crop is 
valuable. It must be harvested during a period of 
usually rainy weather. The chief food value is in 
tin* leaves. These easily break off when too dry. 
Although the handling of the crop calls, in the minds 
season on. the problem of when to mow. with its de¬ 
pendence upon weather signs, furnishes an ever¬ 
present problem. Many farmers like best to mow 
the clover in the late afternoon when the weather 
signs point to fine weather the next day. By the 
time the dew is off the next morning they can get 
busy with a tedder, and by stirring it a couple of 
times in the forenoon, have it ready to rake right 
after dinner. Handled this way it is important that 
the tedder be used: otherwise the clover on top will 
cure out too dry and that underneath remain as 
green as when cut. 
RAKING AND COCKING.—The hay can be raked 
as soon as most of the water is dried out of it. It 
should be raked before it is too dry: otherwise the 
leaves will break off. In handling clover the wind¬ 
rows should be made small. After the windrows 
have lain for an hour or so in the sun it is a good 
practice to run over them with the rake and flop 
them over. This follows out the general practice in 
curing clover hay. which must be so to handle it at 
all times that all of the water is dried out of it with¬ 
out letting any part of it become excessively dry, so 
that the leaves will break off. After the windrows 
