Dairy Management. 183 



rows, the under side of which, and the ground on which they 

 have laid, are completely wet from checked evaporation. This 

 operation of turning is easily performed, and well repays the 

 labour. When the ground is dry the tedding-machine is set to 

 work, and the turning and drying are repeated. When the 

 ■weather is at all doubtful we resort to the lap or shake cock, in 

 making which the haymaker gathers up an armful, say 8 to 10 lbs. 

 of partly dried grass, and lets it fall lightly on a heap. He then 

 thrusts his hands under the heap, lifts and folds it without press- 

 ing, and sets the heap quite lightly on the ground with the end. 

 towards the wind : in appearance it is not unlike a lady's muff 

 of large size. It is a common saying, that well made lap-cocks 

 will stand a fortnight's rain free from damage. Without sub- 

 scribing to this, I have no hesitation in stating, that in no form 

 does partly-dried grass keep so well as in lap-cock. The rain 

 falling on a lap-cock is thrown oif in a somewhat similar manner 

 as from an umbrella. 1 never recollect finding a well-made 

 lap-cock thoroughly wetted. 



By the mode I have described I accelerate the process of hay- 

 making ; and it is by no means uncommon for me to secure my 

 crop in less than half the time required by my neighbours. On 

 the hay becoming sufiiciently dry, it is formed into wind-rows 

 and then drawn together by a sweej:) into large pikes of about 

 three loads each, with conical tops which are slightly thatched with 

 straw.* When the pikes have undergone a partial sweating, they are 

 carted away and well intermixed in stacking. This pikeing before 

 stacking I find quite necessary with my rich quick-grown grass 

 to prevent over-heating. Early in the mornings, and at other 

 intervals, when not occupied with haymaking, the men lioe and. 

 clean turnips, &c. Though this district is high and the climate 

 rather wet, yet from 1847 up to the present time I have suc- 

 ceeded in carrying the whole of each crop in good condition. 



In stating the produce per acre I give the ascertained weight 

 of a great portion of the first crop, and the whole of the second' 

 crop, as weighed out of the pikes. The price of Q>cl. per stone, 

 or 4d. per ton, is lower than the average value for a series of 

 years in this district : — 



Average weight of first crop, gathered in June, 1856, 2^ tons. 

 Second, or aftermath, gathered first week in Sept. „ 1^ „ 



4 tons = £10 

 Pasturage from March to April, and in October and Kovember .. 15 



Gross produce of one acre of grass-land .. .. £17 5 



Estimating 1 ton of hay as equal to 6 tons of Swedish turnips, 



* Thatching the pikes is unnecessary except in a district -where more than an 

 average fall of rain occurs. — Ed. 



