132 PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY PASTURES 



beginning is ready for turning again, and it is a mistake to 

 suppose that because scorched grass makes bad hay, therefore 

 quickly made hay resembles scorched grass. These remarks 

 are intended to apply exclusively to meadow hay. Clovers, 

 Sainfoin, &c., should be turned in the swath by hand, and with 

 the utmost care, to avoid breaking off the leaves. 



When a particular field is ready, the whole strength ot 

 the farm should be concentrated on the labour of gathering 

 and carting the hay to the rick. I have known a crop of grass 

 cut one morning and stacked at night ; but the crop was light, 

 the heat unusual, and the desiccation of the plant had consider- 

 ably advanced before the mower was used. Although it is 

 seldom done, 1 am persuaded that in hot weather grass might 

 often with advantage be put into windrows on the day it is cut. 

 Dew is well-nigh as injurious to half-made hay as rain, and grass 

 which has parted with much of its water on a hot summer day 

 is in a condition to reabsorb moisture from the atmosphere at 

 night. This process goes on much more rapidly when the hay 

 lies scattered on the ground than when it is raked together. 

 The cocks should not be opened too early in the morning, and 

 if the sun prove hot it will spoil the colour to scatter the grass 

 very much. Greenness is one of the indications of well-made 

 hay, while a brown shade, whether resulting from rain or sun- 

 burning, is a certain sign of deteriorated condition. Three 

 days ought to make good hay in fair weather from an ordinary 

 crop. Grass which is cut one day, tedded repeatedly the next, 

 cocked that night, and opened out again on the following 

 morning, may be fit to carry in the afternoon of that — the 

 third — day. A very heavy crop, however, or a crop in which 

 there is an unusual proportion of clover, must not be ricked so 

 quickly, nor must it be left too thin on the ground. Succulent 

 grass with large solid stems, full of moisture, is least easy to 

 turn into hay, and is most liable to fire when ricked. This 

 danger is often increased by fine weather, because the leaves 

 and smaller shoots become ready to carry more quickly than 



