*4 4 Bulletin 57. 
F —MOISTURE IN GREEN ALFALFA. 
The actual amount of water in alfalfa at the moment 
the mower knife cuts it, we have tested but little, as this has 
hardly any practical bearing, but we have made several tests 
of how much moisture it holds about an hour later, that is, 
in the condition it would be if put in the silo. One test the 
last week in May gave 76.8 per cent ot water, or 23.2 per 
cent of dry matter. Four tests the third week in June gave 
69.7, 67.0, 75.6, 72.8 with an average of 71.3 per cent of water, 
which is just about right for the best results in the silo. 
A sample cut in September, in bright drying weather, 
was dried to 62.0 per cent water in an hour, too dry to be 
put in the silo, while a sample as actually put in the silo in 
•October during cloudy weather was 74.0 per cent water. 
G—MOISTURE IN ALFALFA HAY. 
Few farmers realize how much water there is in what 
they call dry hay. 
It is impossible to dry out all the water from hay with¬ 
out resorting to artificial heat. Hay spread out in a thin 
layer in direct sunlight and sheltered from all rain and dew 
will finally dry out until a hundred pounds of hay contains 
only five pounds of water. This is as dry as it can be gotten 
without the use of a regular drying oven. 
In Colorado “air dry” means with about ten per cent of 
water; that is, if hay is stored in a barn and sweats and drys 
out thoroughly, a hundred pounds will contain about ten 
pounds of water. Oats and wheat in the bin late in the win¬ 
ter contain about the same amount of water, while corn in 
the crib will contain by the next spring about the same ten 
per cent of water. 
But the “well cured” hay, as usually put in the stack or 
the barn, is far from these conditions. In the course of our 
experiments we have had occasion to test the moisture of 
thirty-five samples of hay taken in different years and rep¬ 
resenting the three cuttings. 
Three samples taken in June tested 23.2, 30.0 and 26.3 
per cent of water, with an average of 26.5 per cent and they 
heated quite badly, becoming dusty and a little darkened. 
Seventeen samples that kept well tested 14.0, 13.0,9.3, 11.2, 
20.6, 22.7, 22.9, 17.1, 19.4, 17.8, 15.2, 23.1, 11.0, 10.8, 10.4, 18.4, 
11.7 per cent with an average of 15.2 per cent of water. 
The dryest of these with 9.3 per cent of water is too dry, 
