f or clayey pastures should never be overstocked, but when fed
pretty close the grasses are far sweeter and more nutritious than when
they are allowed to grow up rank and coarse; and if, by a want of
sufficient feeding, they get the start of the stock, and grow into rank
tufts, they should be cut and removed, when a fresh grass will start up,
similar to the aftermath of mowing-lands, which will be eaten with
avidity. Grasses for curing into hay should be cut either at the time of
flowering, or just before, especially if designed for milch cows. They
are then more succulent and juicy, and, if properly cured, form the
sweetest food.

Grass cut in the blossom will make more milk than if allowed to stand
later. Cut a little before the blossoming; it will make more than when
in blossom, and the cows prefer it, which is by no means an unimportant
consideration, since their tastes should always be consulted. Grass cut
somewhat green, and properly cured, is next to fresh, green grass in
palatable, nutritive qualities. Every farmer knows the milk-producing
properties of rowen, or second crop, which is generally cut before it
ripens.

No operation on the farm is of greater importance to the dairyman than
the cutting of his grass and the manner of curing hay; and in this
respect the practice over the country generally is susceptible of very
marked improvement. The chief object is to preserve the sweetness and
succulence of the grass in its natural state, so far as possible; and
this object cannot be attained by exposing it too long to the scorching
suns and drenching rains to which our climate is liable. As a general
thing, farmers try to make their hay too much.

As to the best modes of curing clover, the following, among others, is
adopted by many successful farmers: What is mown in the morning is left
in the swath, to be turned over early in the afternoon. At about four
o'clock, or while it is still warm, it is put into small cocks with a
fork, and, if the weather is favorable, it may be housed on the fourth
or fifth day, the cocks being turned over on the morning of the day in
which it is to be carted. By this method all the heads and leaves are
saved, and these are more valuable than the stems. For new milch cows in
winter scarcely any food is better. It will cause them to give as great
a flow of milk as any hay, unless it be good rowen.

INDIAN CORN makes an exceedingly valuable fodder, both as a means of
carrying a herd