HINTS ON HAYMAKING.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 115, 7 January 1926, Page 6

HINTS ON HAYMAKING.

WHAT TO DO, AND WHEN. J

In considering the hay crop it. should always be remembered that . nut cake, meal and rye meal, two of A which got, in addition, only ilb. daily - quality is of greater importance than, quantity. Often meadow hay is not;, cut until the grass plants have gone to seed and the hay has lost much of its nutritive value. Quality passeg. away wit,li maturity, and the highest: quality can only be secured by mowing at the proper time—that is, when, the predominant varieties of grasses, are in flower. Haystacks should always be built on a well-drained site, using a good bot»tom of old posts or hedge brushings. The sides should be carried slightly outwards as building proceeds and the heart of the stack kept well i mounded up. A flat roof must be care- ill fully avoided. Care should also be taken that those working on the staett do not stand for long at any one point*. ■ otherwise the roof will settle unevenly and wet places tend to form. The horse-rake is often wrongly used. It is lightly built and easily strained, and, while it may be quite legitimately used for gathering the hay in to windrows, it should never be used for collecting large quantities into cocks or dumps. The sweep will pick up a windrow quite well if the horses move briskly ,and it is as easy to load a dray from a windrow asfrom a dump. With regard to special hay crops, it was noticed last season in a number, of cases that oats and peas were allowed to approach the ripening stagqMß before being cut. If best results to be obtained from this crop a much earlier cutting must take place. The right time is when the peas are well in flower, and at that period the oats will also be at the right stage.—Journal of Agriculture.