Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1892 — Shrinkage of Hay. [ARTICLE]

Shrinkage of Hay.

There is no fixed or established amount of water in hay, but the quantity varies with circumstances. Farmers, deciding according to theii judgment, differ in the amount ol drying to which they would subject the drying grass. The more nearly the grass ripens, the freer from water it commonly becomes. In a dry. hot summer it is usually found dryer than in a wet season. If made quite dry it would not lose much, if any, in weight the next spring. Where weighing has been frequently practiced it has been found actually to increase in weight as the weather becomes more moist in autumn after a dry summer. The amount of loss ol water would vary with the mode ol stowing it away. If, in small and loose masses it would dry or become heavier faster than when placed in ■a large and solid stack, or if packed away solid in a large barn. Farmers who have weighing scales (which every farmer should possess) may easily settle such questions accurately by weighing single loads when the hay is made, and the mass again in autumn, or during the following winter or spring. As a general rule it may be laid down that the same quantity of hay is lighter in April than in the previous August; and although the weight is subject to various fluctuations, on the whole it becomes lighter in time, hut less sc than many farmers suppose,—Country Gentleman.