•i^4 LetUr from a Scots Farmer^ July 



with this giant. Five liorfes are ufually employed in the 

 draught ; and yet, ftrange to tell, the furrow we faw did not 

 exceed four inches in deepnefs ! I have feen land ploughed 

 full deeper witii one horfc. 



I faw an excellent mode of putting up a hay flack, which, 

 I think, deferves to be generally known. I need hardly tell 

 vou, that they beflow much more pains, in the vicinity of 

 London, to win hay green, or in the fap, than is cuftomary 

 with us ; and they are right ; for, by letting it remain uncut 

 till the blade is hardened, or the moifture nearly exhaufted, 

 the value of the herbage is leflcned, and the land injured. 

 To preferve the juices, it is cut very early, perhaps a fort- 

 night fooner than we would think it ready for the fcythe ; it 

 is put into fmall cocks as fall as pofTible, and flacked with 

 all convenient fpeed. The mode of (lacking which I faw, 

 was this. — Two large pofts were perpendicularly erected, at 

 a diftance from each other, equal to the length of the intended 

 ftack ; a crofs beam was laid, ftretching from the one pod 

 to the other, upon which a large fail or canvas was hung, in- 

 tended as a covering to the ftack during the time of building; 

 and the hay was brought in fmall quantities, according to the 

 ftate of the weather, or the degree of winning it had received. 

 By this m^ans, whenever any part was got into condition for 

 keeping, it was inftantly fecured, while the ftack was pre- 

 ferved from injury, by the cover or umbrella which hung 

 above it. Another important circumftance was, that very 

 little treading was required, as the ftack fettled gradually, 

 and by this means was net cxpofed to an over-Jweaty which 

 is highly deftru^livc to all grailes, particularly thofe of the 

 meadow or natural kind. In lliort, this mode appeared to 

 me one of the beft that could be devifcd for winning and pre- 

 ferving hay, in our variable and unfettled climate. 



You may believe, that Smithfield and Marklane would 

 engage my attention in a particular manner. Such a number 

 of beafts, fheep, lambs, calves, and fwine, were prefented in 

 the former for fale, that the firll thought which occurred to the 

 mind was, Where will people be found to eat you all? The 

 market is conducted with furprifmg regularity ; there not 

 being one half of the confufion ufually attendant upon our 

 petty county fairs, where the fiftieth part of the bufinefs is 

 not tranfacled. The be«fts are all tied up by the head to 

 ftrong rails, and arranged in a line according to their fize, 

 and, in many inftances, according to their refpedlive breeds; 

 which facilitates bufinefs very much. The Iheep, &c. are 



all 



