l8oo. A Plan for maVir.g Hay from Heath. 2")"] 



growth, and the ftems have become hard and thick, thnt 

 inftrument will not be fo very proper, as it is liable to bend, 

 and get out of fliape, and little work can be done with it in 

 a given time. Other inflruments have been piopofed, and 

 certainly might be employed with advantage; but farmers, 

 who are not in polTefiion of thefe, may make very fatisfa£lory 

 experiments, by cutting it with a common hedge-bill, an in- 

 ftrument with which a labourer can cut a confiderable quantity 

 in the courfe of a day. 



With regard to the time of cutting, that fliould be deter- 

 mined by the feafon, and othc- circumftances. Experience, 

 which, in every cafe where it can be reforted to, ought to be 

 the ftandard, both of opinion and pradlice, eftablifnes the 

 fa£t, that cutting at an early period of the feafon is the moft 

 certain way of obtaining a valuable and nourifning herbage. 

 "When we fay early, no particular month, or period of any 

 month, is meant ; earlinefs depending entirely upon the 

 feafon, which, in an infular fituation like that of Britain, is 

 very variable. The moft certain criterion is, the progrefs 

 the plants have made in their growth ; as, at a certain ftage, 

 they poflefs properties, which are either impaired, or entirely 

 loft, if they are fufFered to ftand longer. Perhaps, when 

 the flowers are fully expanded, the heath will be found moll 

 nourifhing. Indeed, fhepherds and others, who have paid 

 much attention to the fubjeft, think the pafture moft valu- 

 able during the time it continues in bloom. If poflible, it 

 fhould always be cut during dry weather, and immediately 

 thrown into cocks or heaps, wliere it may remain for a week 

 or ten days ; after which, it may be put into large ricks, and 

 allowed to ftand, till it is found convenient to carry it to the 

 fituations, where there is a chance of its being ufed through 

 the Winter. 



In recommending a praftice, which in Britain Is entirely 

 new, much diffidence and circumfpectlon are required ; and, 

 could no inftance be quoted of the beneficial efFe£ls refulting 

 therefrom, lefs would have been faid upon the fubjed. Th;; 

 example of Sweden, however, where both foil and cliniate 

 are inferior to ours, holds out to the ftore-farmers ot Britain 

 a tolerable profpedl of fuccefs. To thofe immediately con- 

 cerned, the matter is of confiderable importance ; and, as 

 very fatisfa£lory trials can be made, at a tniiing expence, we 

 indulge a hope, that the hints now thrown out wiil not be 

 altogether ufelefs to fociety. A. Z. 



C c 3 TO 



