.. —.... _,- 1...,‘.~......__..._ ~.-Wv- ‘V—vsw,w~x‘*..\~\,~‘~4vw'~' r“~MA~—A-\b- ,. : I l VOL. CLVlIl. No. 23 - . ' Whole Number 4204 . ,1.» DETROIT, MICH., SATURDAY, IUNE 10, 1922 ONE YEAR FIVE YEARS $1.00 83.00 Some Of the Hay Maker’ 8 Troubles \ HEN I think of haying I almost W invariably call to mind Sam Cruthers. One day, while driv- ing, I saw a man in a field grabbing handfuls of hay and momentarily hold- ing each against his cheek.' I later learned‘ that this man was Sam Cruth- ers. I could not understand just what the performance meant, so I stopped, climbed the fence and made .myself acquainted. “Just seeing whether the hay was dry enough to go in the barn," was Sam’s reply toany greeting. “An old Englishman once told me,” continued Sam, “to hold a bunch of hay against my cheek. If it felt warm the hay was in condition to be put in the barn; but if cool, then it was not sufficiently cured.” ‘ ,My method of determining the con- dition of the hay, as I told Sam, was to shake it gently and if it rattled I felt pretty certain that it was suflie ciently cured. I usually supplemented this test by taking a small handful and giving it a firm twist. If the stems broke thenI concluded that no chances would be taken by putting the hay into the mow immediately. With modern machinery, ample barn room and good drying weather, haying on the average farmis not a bad job. But when the weather 'is “catchy,” then even with the best equipment the farmer is more or ‘Iess on nettles until the last load is brought under cover. There is, however, a general lack of appreciation of the amount of loss sus- tained through the exposure of the hay to rain and dew. What do we consider a prime hay? The qualities sought by the best hay makers are an agreeable fragrance, that is agreeable to all excepting the hay fever“ patient, freedom from dust, a bright green color and, if a legume, the retention of the leaves upon the stems. Tests have been made at different experiment stations to determine how much the farmer loses when rain or ‘ -dew falls upon a partly cured hay crop. These tests show that the loss is large, particularly in the case of alfalfa and other legume hay. About one-half of the original weight of an alfalfa crop is to be found in the leaves, they ,weighing from forty to sixty per cent of the portion removed in cutting. Chemistsshave found that one- -half of the fat and nitrogen-free extract, and four-fifths of the. crude proteincontain— ed in alfalfa hay is to‘ be found in the leaves. From these facts, it at once becomes apparent that to lose 'any cen- siderable portion of 'the leaves means amlarge’Joss in the feeding value of the resulting bay. The plant food is concentrated in the leaves, while the 55 stems have a higher percentage of in- " Co“ sequently; By Burt Wcrmuth woody 'fiber' increases, while that of the digestible parts decrease. In the absence of rains, with a south- west or westerly wind blowing,.and with clouds to prevent the scorching rays of a hot summer sun from bleach- ing the crap, but little care is neces- sary to secure a prime grade of hay. The green color of the original plant can be largely retained. The rich aroma will be there and the food ele— ments will not have been wasted. Un- der such, conditions the ordinary farm- er will be able to serve his stock with the finest forage salad during the win- ter months. But the case is different when the days are muggy and wet. It is then that all the trials and tribulations of the hay maker are visited upon him. If he has been observing, he knows too well that hay which has been weath~ ered will not be relished by the ani- time. There is comparatively little that he can do to save himself from much of the loss that is bound to come through bad weather. It is a fact, however, that the good farmer will in the long run make better hay under adverse conditions than will the care- less man. The few things which can be done to maintain the desirable qual- ities of the hay crop are highly im- portant and when properly done bring large returns for the energy required. The first suggestion that we have to make is in regard to the time of day that the hay should be cut. When the farmer finds that the weather is ’going bad the common practice has ‘been to wait until the rain has sub- sided and the sun has had a chance to dry off the surface of things before the mower is started. A Yankee farmer of my acquaint- ance follows rather successfully at dif- be Bower Outfit Assembled by Michigan Farm Boy for Belt and Traction Duty. mals, nor will it keep them slick of coat and high in flesh. The moisture dissolves and takes out of partly cured plants the most easily digestible elements. It furnishes conditions favorable for the develop- ment of moulds, the spores from which make the hay dusty. Then, too, pro- tracted rains often make it necessary to leave the windrows or bunches in the field so long that the aftermath beneath the piles of hay is killed. The legumes particularly are hard to ban dle under these unfavorable circum- stances, since the larger stems do not dry so readily as do the stems of tim- othy, and besides, the leaves of legume “hay are easily detached by much hand- ling. But the farther is largely at the Qerc of the Weather man at haying. ferent method. This farmer usually had a much larger acreage of hay than his neighbors, yet [in spite of this he was almost certain to get his crop in the barn before the others, especially when the weather was unfavorable. His policy was this: When it started raining, he would don his raincoat, hook the team to the mower and pro- ceed to cut hay. Whenvthe sun came out his hay would immediately start drying off. His neighbors would wait until the grass was fairly well dried out before they began cutting. ‘Conse- quently our Yankee friend would be well started with his haying before the neighbors had made a start. This man, who was a keenobserver, had learned that rains do compara- tively little, if any, damage to a freshly cut plant so far as the feeding value ' , [77 flying to Make Good Hay 172 Bad Muffler. is concerned. The great damage done by rains is after the hay has been part- ly or wholly cured. It is then that the moisture leaches out the nutrients as referred to above. This same idea we have found help- ful when trying to avoid the evil effect of dews. Instead of waiting until the dew is off the grass in the morning we found it possible to start the mower early in the morning or late the pre~ ceding afternoon. This frequently gave an advantage of an hour or two in the drying period of the day, which often meant the difference between getting the hay in the barn that day, or leav- ing it in the field over another night. Then, too, thunder storms often ap« pear at the most unexpected and in- convenient times. These storms not infrequently find the farmer with hay partly cured. Just what the farmer will do will depend, of course, upon the amount of hay he has down and the available help at his disposal. The _- best thing that can be done, under such circumstances, is to rake and bunch. These bunches should be of a size that will eventually dry out and still be large enough so that only a; comparatively small per cent of the hay will be exposed to the rain. The bunches should be built with care, cau- tion being taken to pack the hay thor- oughly and build firmly so that they will not readily blow over. Merely raking hay together into windrows -with an old dump rake to protect the hay against rain is of doubtful value. A brisk rain will drive through such a windrow and reach practically every part of the loose hay. It, therefore, offers little protection and makes much extra work when spreading out to dry. If left in the swath the tedder can be used to ad- vantage, but not so on the heavy windrows. " Generally speaking, it is best not to handle ,the hay when the surface is moist. Stirring the crop at such a time shakes the water down into the dryer hay below, which readily absorbs a portion of this moisture, thus in- creasing the time required to cure and dry the product. To avoid undue loss of leaves from‘ legume hay, the most approved plan bf harvesting consists in allowing the crop to wilt a short time and then rak- ing and bunching. These bunches are then permitted to stand in the field until they are thoroughly cured. ' It occasionally happens that one finds it desirable to put in the mow hay that is not thoroughly cured. In such 'a case alittle salt or lime sprink- led over the hay as it is mowed away in layers will be found beneficial. These materials retard the fermenting processes and prevent the, growth of moulds. The palatability of the prod-s, uct is also improved, particularly by» the salt. ' f Paulina Weekly Established 1843 copyright 1921 The Lawrence Publishlng Co. Editors and Proprietors, 1632 LAFayette Boulevard Detroit. Michigan TELEPHONE CHERRY 3384 ' NEW YORK OFFICF-QS hiadisonA Sfé‘v’igffwwoi‘iiédiniiihfi’fsséfii 3352?. u E PHILADELPHIA OFFICE- 261-263 South Third St. ' ..--.-.... .. President ARTHUR CAPPERu t PAUL LAWRENCE Preslden MARCO oanow ..... mdent J. F. CUNNINGHAM ‘ my 11'. H. ANCE - LR "‘I‘” avgfilkgéITR-I Y .............. ’ 1'? ........ 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