PRACTICAL PAPERS—MIXED HUSBANDRY. 
145 
we know of (except lucerne, which is a kind of clover), that 
will yield two or more crops of hay in one year. 
A few remarks here on cutting and curing hay may not be 
out of place, not that we think our ideas or practices new, or 
better than those of many farmers, but as much valuable grass 
is yearly spoiled by poor management, what we say may 
effect some good, even though it be but a repetition of old 
methods. In the first place, grass should be cut early. Late 
cutting may produce-a greater bulk of hay, but it weighs less 
to a given volume, and is less nutritious, the saccharine juices 
having been converted into woody fibre just in proportion as 
the grass was more nearly ripe.- Clover, especially, has little 
value as fodder when ripe; neither cattle nor sheep will eat its 
long, tough stems. A late cutting also prevents the possibili¬ 
ty of a second crop. 
Never cut in the forenoon a larger area than you can rake 
and cock up the same afternoon. Large quantities of hay are 
yearly spoiled from this practice. Shake and turn over the 
grass cut before the dew was off. Clover requires longer 
curing than other grasses. It should be raked up about four 
o’clock in the afternoon, in the same order as it was cut, and all 
put up in cocks before night. The next day these cocks, if 
small, are to be turned completely over about ten o’clock; if 
/ 
large, they are to be opened into four or five forkfuls; the bot¬ 
tom must be completely turned and lifted up. Clover should 
never be left spread out over night: the dew is almost as fatal 
to its good qualities as the rain, turning the leaves black and 
also making them drop off. When your hay cocks get wet, do 
not touch them, unless you lift them up to prevent fermenta¬ 
tion ; as soon as better weather permits; spread them out com¬ 
pletely, and draw as soon as cured. Timothy may generally 
be drawn to the barn the same day that it is cut. 
Do not stack hay If you have barn room. Better stack the 
grain and store the hay in the barn. If compelled to stack a 
portion of your hay, top out the stacks completely with prairie 
or marsh grass, to shed the rain. Clover stacks cannot be saved 
10— Ag. Tr. 
