Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1869 — Coring Hay. [ARTICLE]

Coring Hay.

Experience proves that grasses should be cut for hay when the stalks are in bloom. The best time of all, both for clover and other grasses, is j ust when in full bloom, and the earliest blossoms are beginning to fade. If not too heavy it can then be cut in the morning, and, if carefully scattered, can- be hauled into the barn In the afternoon of the same day. This makes the beet quality of hay. It retains more of the nutriment of grass than -if it is left exposed to dews and rains for a few days, and goes milch further both for fattening stock and producing milk. But when the grass' is very heavy and is cut .with a mowing scythe and thrown into heavy swaths or rows, it will not cure thoroughly under two days, and is not so good for food as that cured and put away in one day. Dew and moisture always eftect the fibre of ent grass, and weaken the strength of the hay. They also injure and destroy the sugary matter contained in the stems, and render them dry and tasteless. When a branch of hay can be twisted tight without showing moisture or juice it is dry enough to be stowed away. A little salt scattered over hay which has been caught in showers will improve it, and render it more plata* ble to stock.—Akpmmentai <Zu«r»al.