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The Country Gcntlcjiiaus Magazine 



curiously suggestive circumstance, that our 

 Societies, almost without exception, give the 

 most of their attention and distribute the 

 largest amount of their prizes to stock, while 

 no attention and no money is given, or if 

 given, given only at rare intervals and with 

 a gnidging hand, to the food and the modes 

 of juoducing it with which the stock are fed. 

 A i^w words as to the mode by which the 

 grdsses are cut when ready. Up to a com- 

 paratively recent date, the scythe was the only 

 implement employed ; but now, mowing 

 machines compete, and compete successfully, 

 with it. So superior indeed is the mowdng 

 machine, not only in view of the work which 

 it does, but also wath respect to the rapidity 

 with which it does that work, that we have no 

 hesitation in saying that it will be worth the 

 best consideration of the farmer who now uses 

 the scythe to allow it, and at once, to be super- 

 seded by the mowing machine, only bearing in 

 mind this word of warning — let the machine 

 be a good one. 



But to return to the subject, if the grasses are 

 cut too late, and the seeds allowed thoroughly 

 to ripen, then the fibres become of a woody 

 character, and the hay w-ill be found compara- 

 tively valueless as a truly nourishing food ; 

 hence, as above stated, the middle point be- 

 tween these two extremes will be found to be 

 the best. Although it may be said, and said 

 tndy enough, that there is not the same in- 

 ducement to obtain the finest quality of 

 hay as there is to obtain the finest quality of 

 other crops of the farm, inasmuch as there is 

 not the same difference between the price of 

 good and comparatively bad hay as there is 

 between good and bad corn; still, as the 

 principle holds good in this department as in 

 other departments, that which is worth doing 

 at all is worth doing well, it is, or ought to 

 be, the aim of the farmer to get his hay saved 

 in the best possible manner. To judge, how- 

 ever, from the slovenl}-, careless, happy-go- 

 lucky wa}' in which haymaking is carried on 

 in some districts, we would be very apt to 

 believe that this is not the aim of the farmer 

 at all. It is an axiom in haymaking, that 

 the quicker the hay is made the better, con- 

 sistent widi certain results which must be 



attained, these results being indicated by the 

 clear green colour — pale rather than dark — 

 and the glossy texture of the stalks, and a cer- 

 tain condition of dryness, which last point is 

 perhaps best ascertained by taking a handful 

 of the hay and applying it to the face. This 

 test we have found enables one to ascertain 

 with considerable accuracy its hygrometric 

 condition, and to know w^hether the hay is 

 dry enough. Now, let us contrast the axiom 

 named above, and the conditions of the hay 

 which shew that the points indicated by it 

 have been attained, with the mode in which, 

 in many districts, hay is made. In place of 

 being made as quickly as possible, the 

 grass is cut, and when cut, allowed to lie 

 for a considerable time in swathe, exposed 

 either to the effects of the rain or of the sun, 

 or rotted by the grass springing, perhaps, up 

 from beneath. The grass thus treated or 

 rather maltreated, is put up with little or no 

 winnowing or air-drying into "cocks," which 

 are allowed to stand, occupying much space 

 which should be groAving a fresh crop for the 

 foggage or aftermath, and the cuticles of which 

 are bleached by the sun and washed by the 

 rain. 



In making hay under proper conditions, 

 one essential condition is that plenty of hands 

 be engaged in the work. It is the most mis- 

 taken economy to forego abundance of assist- 

 ance in the field. We have known a capital 

 crop of grass lost as hay entirely through a 

 lack of hands, the fine weather being allowed 

 to pass away, and the rain to come on, while the 

 loss could easily have been avoided by having 

 hands sufficient to work the grass while the 

 good weather lasted. The sajing is in no 

 way so appropriate — and, indeed, cannot well 

 be otherwise — "Make hay while the sun 

 shines," and to do this have plenty of hands 

 to make it. From the time the grass is cut 

 let it be in almost continual movement, so 

 that the air and sun can have access to every 

 stalk. We do not here, of course, refer to 

 clover hay, which has to be treated in a dif- 

 ferent Avay, and merely turned over — not tossed 

 and tedded. As soon as the grass is cut, 

 which should be done early in the morning, 

 not only because time is thus saved, but be- 



