Stiff or clayey pastures should never be over-stocked, 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 greedily eaten. 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 the 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 and nutritive qualities. And so a sensible practical farmer writes me: “The time of cutting grass depends very much upon the use you wish to make of it. If for working oxen and horses, I would let it stand till a little out of the blossom; but if to feed out to new milch cows in the winter, I would prefer to cut it very green. It is then worth for the making of milk in the winter almost double that cut later.” Every farmer knows the milk-producing properties of rowen, which is generally cut before it blossoms. 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 great improvement. The chief object is to preserve the sweetness and succulence of grass in its natural state, so far as it is possible; and this object cannot be gained by exposing it too long to the scorching suns and the drenching rains to which we are liable in this climate. We generally try to make our hay too much.