140 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



which is generally the case in about a week or ten 

 days. It is then thatched, a sufficiency of straw 

 being used, and care being taken that the roof is 

 dry, or, in either case, the hay will be mouldy at top. 

 Hay may be put together in a barn a day sooner 

 than it would be safe to stack it in the open. 



Barns once erected are a great saving even in dry 

 seasons : in wet seasons, the ready assistance they 

 afford is most valuable. The quality of the hay, 

 when fairly dealt with, suffers not in the least, as 

 many have supposed it would. With wind and 

 weather favouring, I have never failed to carry on 

 the third day hitherto, nor have we as yet made 

 "toffy," as our men term the mow-burnt, brown- 

 sugar-tinted stuff that some over-eager farmers build. 



The great thing is to make sure of the continuance 

 of a few fine days, which always come periodically in 

 unmistakeable parcels. Have the hay ready early 

 in the season, and you may choose your time for 

 cutting, provided you are the ow r ner of a mowing- 

 machine. If you depend upon a gang of itinerant 

 mowers, clearly you have a precious time before you, 

 what with broken promises, a strike for higher wages 

 just as the weather threatens, &c. I know from 

 experience how wretched a farmer feels under such 

 circumstances. The independence, and consequent 

 comfort that the possession of a machine gives, is 

 worth a nugget. The only disadvantage attending 

 the use of it is, that, if unfortunately rain catch you, 

 then the grass being spread about is not so safe as 

 when left in swathe. Against this you have to set 

 the rate at which you can progress, which should, 



