SAITO et al. reported in the previous papr that the dreing time rezuired for hay making was very influentialon the hay quality, and the surface defacing method (plant materials were rubbed between two rollers and surface tissues of plants were mechanically crashed before drying) was effective in shortening the drying time, consequently this method improved the hay quality. HIROTANI and NOMURA, some years later, designed a special machine which was very convenient to deface the surface of plant bodies. Since the previous experiment had been undertaken with only a few crops, applicability to many other feed crops was still remained to be studied. In this experiment the authors found that the surface defacing method was very effective to improve hay making of 18 feed crops, such as, alfalfa, ladino clover, alsike clover, red clover, common vetch, genge (Astragalus sinicus), soybean forage, wild soybean (Glycine soj) forage, orchard grass, Italian ryegrass, Sudan grass, rye fodder, corn fodder, sweet sorghum fodder, potato leaves and stems, sweet potato vine, radish tops and turnip tops. Some materials such as potato leaves and stems, turnip tops, corn fodder or sweet sorghum fodder, were very difficult to be dried unless the surface defacing method was applied. From the practical view point, however, this method is still laborous, and it should be necessary to improve the machine to be adapted for farmers conditions.
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