CURING HAY,

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1474, 13 December 1881, Page 3

CURING HAY,

A contributor to a leading American agricultural paper says : — A revolution has taken place in curing hay. I well remember how careful we used to be to get every lock thoroughly dried. It must be dried to a crisp, so the stalks would break short and the leaves fall off. So we lost a large portion of the hay, and what wo saved was better fitted for fuel than for feeding stock. Such absurd ideas have nearly become obsolete among farmers ; they havo seen the folly of such a practice, and now it is not often that we find a farmer who requires more than one day's sun to dry his hay. There is little dangGr of getting the hay into the barn too green, if no rain falls on it after it i« cut. If such should be the case it must be dried and turned, and dried and turned until overv particle of tho water has evaporated. Sap in grass is quite a different thing from v ater ; no matter how much it contains it will never injure the quality of the hay, if the grass is properly matured before being cut. English grass needs much more drying than s'vale or meadow graSs. The sugar contained in gra&s may be destroyed by too much drying emitting fci mentation before it has reached the saccharine state, and consequently lessens the fattening quality of the hay. I ha\e practiced putting in my hay very green, always in fair weather getting it in and btowing it away the same day it is cut. I have never had any poor or smoky hay. My cattle always eat it clean, leaving nooits, but I have observed where hay lias had too much drying that the cattle do not like it, always leaving a portion unconsumed, and cattle kept on such hay invariably come out poor in the spring. Never cut your hay until it is fully headed out. Some people begin haying too early, because they fear they shall lose at the last end by its standing too long. This is bad economy. Belter hire more help and cut it at the proper time.