and in the Stack in Haymaking. 35 



useless, but positively injurious, to knock about lialf-made hay, 

 for it tends to bruise it and to render it more liable to be 

 attacked by the rain of which the barometer, or more decidedly 

 the hygrometer, has given previous warning. Frequent turnings 

 of half-made hay should be avoided, especially in the case of 

 clover, when the finer and more nutritious parts, the small 

 leaves, are particularly liable to be knocked off by clumsy 

 handling. 



It is further well known that hay, when badly made in the 

 field, loses subsequently in the stack both in weight and in 

 quality ; but the nature of the changes which it undergoes when 

 it heats or ferments in the stack are not so well understood ; 

 it may, therefore, not be amiss to describe them as briefly as 

 possible. Let me direct attention to a second analysis of good 

 clover or meadow-hay, drawn up more in detail by Professor 

 Way: — 



Average Composition of Clover-hay. 



Dried at 212° Fahr. 



Moisture 16-60 



Fatty matters 3-18 .... 3-81 



*Albumen and similar nitrogenous compounds) -,-qi iqop 



(flesh-forming matters) J io bi .... 1»-Jb 



Gum, sugar, mucilage and carbon hydrates readily j 04.4,9 4.-1 .97 



convertible into sugar j "■ •'" ~ 



Indigestible woody fibre (cellulose) 22-47 .... 26-95 



Mineral matter (ash) 7*52 .... 9-01 



100-00 100-00 



* Containing nitrogen ,. 2'53 .... 3'03 



The preceding analysis represents the average of 75 varieties 

 of clover, and a few other plants which are usually found amongst 

 clover-seeds. Since these varieties differ much amongst them- 

 selves, corresponding differences in composition must be looked 

 for in clover-hay, according as one species or another prevailed in 

 the field on which it grew ; the time of cutting will also much affect 

 the result. The above figures, therefore, admit only of a general 

 application. Clover-hay generally absorbs and retains a little 

 more water than common meadow-hay under the same circum- 

 stances, and when in good condition contains more sugar, gum, 

 and analogous compounds than meadow-hay, from which, more- 

 over, it is chiefly distinguished by a much larger proportion of 

 nitrogenous or fleshforming matters. 



Taking the mean of twenty-five analyses of common meadow- 

 hay, we obtain the following : — 



D 2 



