One of the greatest difficulties in curing sweet clover is the fact
that the plants usually are ready to be cut for hay at a time of
the year when weather conditions are likely to be unfavorable for
haymaking. Little trouble is experienced in curing this crop in the
drier sections of the country where the methods used for alfalfa are
employed. The curing of sweet clover is more difficult than the curing
of either red clover or alfalfa, as the leaves are very apt to shatter
before the stems are cured. Every possible means should be employed to
save the leaves, as these constitute the best part of the hay. (See
Table II.)
Table II.--Average analyses of the leaves of four samples of well-cured
white sweet-clover hay.
[Analyses made by the Bureau of Chemistry.]
--------+-------------------------------------------------------------
| Constituents (per cent).
+----------+-------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
Samples.| Moisture.| Ash. | Ether | Protein.| Crude | Nitrogen-free
| | | extract.| | fiber.| extract.
--------+----------+-------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
| | | | | |
Leaves. | 8.70 | 10.92 | 3.09 | 28.20 | 9.28 | 39.78
Stems. | 8.70 | 8.08 | .70 | 10.16 | 39.45 | 33.06
| | | | | |
--------+----------+-------+---------+---------+-------+--------------
The hay collected for the above analyses represented the first cutting
the second season. The plants had made a 30 to 36 inch growth at the
time of cutting. It will be seen that the protein content of the leaves
is almost three times as great as that of the stems.
In the drier sections of the country or when the first crop of the year
of seeding is cut for hay in the North-Central States the mower may be
started in the morning as soon as the dew is off. The hay should remain
in the swath until the following day, or until it is well wilted, when
it should be raked into small windrows. After remaining in the windrows
for a day it may be placed in small cocks to cure. Cocks made from hay
which has dried to this stage will not shed water well and therefore
should be covered if it is likely to rain. It is important that the
cocks be made small enough to be thrown on the rack entire, as many
leaves will be lost if it is necessary to tear them apart.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--Sweat clover curing in the cock.]
When sweet clover is permitted to dry in the swath, a large percentage
of the leaves will be lost in windrowing and loading unless handled
with the utmost care. Hay in this condition should never be raked while
perfectly dry and brittle, but should be raked into the windrow in the
early morning or in the evening, when it is slightly damp from dew. It
may then be hauled to the barn or stack after remaining in the windrow
for a day.
One of the most successful methods for handling sweet-clover hay,
especially in regions where rains are likely to occur at haying time,
is to permit the plants to remain in the swath until they are well
wilted or just before the leaves begin to cure. The hay should then
be raked into windrows and cocked at once (fig. 8). The cocks should
be made as high and as narrow as possible, as this will permit better
ventilation. In curing, the cocks will shrink from one-third to
one-half of their original size. It may take from 10 days to 2 weeks to
cure sweet clover by this method, but when well cured all the leaves
will be intact and the hay will have an excellent color and aroma. When
sweet clover is cocked at this time the leaves will cure flat and in
such a manner that the cocks will readily shed water during heavy rains
(fig. 9).
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--A cock of sweet-clover hay which has cured in
excellent condition and retained all of its leaves.]
When sweet-clover hay is to be stacked it is highly desirable that some
sort of foundation be made for the stack, so as to prevent the loss
of the hay which otherwise would be on the ground. Several feet of
straw or grass are often used for this purpose, but still better is a
foundation of rails, posts, or boards placed in such a manner that air
may circulate under the stack.
A cover should be provided for the stacks, either in the form of
a roof, a canvas, or long green grass. If none of these means is
practicable a topping of perfectly green sweet clover will cure with
the leaves flat and will turn water nicely.
It is well known that hay made from either red clover or alfalfa will
often undergo spontaneous combustion if put into the barn with too
much external moisture upon it. No instances of spontaneous combustion
in sweet-clover hay have been noted, but this may be due to the fact
that comparatively little sweet-clover hay is stored in barns. The same
precautions, therefore, should be taken with sweet-clover hay as with
red clover or alfalfa.