804 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



case there is a great saving of food, the long, woody, and comparatively naked stems of 

 the plants, with leaves always more or less withered, are perhaps not so valuable in the 

 production of beef on fattening stock, as a much smaller weight of herbage taken in by 

 pasturage. Milk-cows, however, are so iiupatient of heat and insects, that this way of 

 feedino' them, at least for a part of the day, in warm weather, ought to be more generally 

 adopted ; and the convenience of having working horses always at hand, besides that they 

 fill their stomachs speedily, is of not less importance than economy. (See Communications 

 to the JBoard of Jgrictdture, vol. vii. Brown s Treatise on Ruraljffairs, vol. ii. General 

 Heport of Scotland, \o\. ii. and iiu) 



5005. In feeding cattle with green clover, attention must be paid to prevent swelling, or 

 hoving, which is very apt to take place when they are first put on this food, especially if it 

 be wet with rain or dew; and cattle are exposed to this danger, whether they are sent to 

 depasture the clover, or have it cut and brought home to them ; though, if the plants be 

 somewhat luxuriant, the danger is greater in the former case. After being accustomed 

 to this rich food for a few days, during which it should be given rather sparingly, the dan- 

 ger is much diminished; but it is never safe to allow milch cows, in particular, to eat 

 large quantities of wet clover. 



5006. The making herbage plants into hay is a process somewhat different from that of 

 making hay from natural grasses. All the herbage tribe ought to be mown before the seed 

 is formed, and indeed before the plants have fully blossomed, that the full juice and nou- 

 rishment of the herb may be retained in the hay. By the adoption of this system, the hay 

 is cut in a better season, it can be more easily secured, and it is much more valuable. 

 Nor is the strength of the plant lodged in the seed, which is often lost. The great advan- 

 tage of converting under-ripe herbage and grass into hay is now beginning to be known. 

 There is much more saccharine matter in it, and it is consequently greatly more nutri- 

 tious. A crop of clover or saintfoin, when cut in the early part of the season, may be ten 

 per cent, lighter than when it is fully ripe ; but the loss is amply counterbalanced, by ob- 

 taining an earlier, a more valuable, and more nutritious article ; while the next crop will 

 proportionably be more heavy. The hay from old herbage will carry on stock, but it is 

 only hay from young herbage that will fatten them, When the stems of clover become 

 hard and sapless, by being allowed to bring their seeds towards maturity, they are of 

 little more value as provender, than an equal quantity of the finer sort of straw of corn. 



5007. The mode of making clover-hay, and that of all herbage plants, as practised by the 

 best farmers, is as follows. The herbage is cut as close lo the ground and in as uniform 

 and perfect a manner as it is possible to accomplish, by the scythe kept constantly sharp. 

 The surface having been in the preceding spring freed from stones and well rolled, the 

 stubble after the mower ought to be as short and smooth as a well shaven grass 

 lawn. What part of the stems is left by the scythe, is not only lost, but the after- 

 growth is neither so vigorous nor so weighty, as when the first cutting is taken as low as 

 possible. 



5008. 4s soon as the swath or row of cut herbage is thoroughly dry above, it is gently turned over (not 

 tedded or scattered), without breaking it. Sometimes this is done by the hand, or by a small fork ; and 

 some farmers are so anxious to prevent the swath from being broken, that they will not permit the use 

 of the rake shaft. The grass, when turned over, in the morning of a dry day, is put into cocks in the 

 afternoon. The mode of performing this is very simple and expeditious; and none but women, 

 boys, and girls, under the eye of a confidential servant, are usually employed. If the crop is heavy, a row 

 of cocks is placed in the middle ridge of three, and if light of five ridges. A distinct company of carriers 

 and rakers is allotted to every such number of ridges ; and the separate companies proceed each on its 

 own ground, and in the same manner as in reaping grain, which occasions a degree of competition among 

 them for despatch, clean raking, and neat well-built cocks. The carriers gather the hay, and carry it to 

 the ridge where the cock is to be built, by one of the most experienced hands. A raker follows the car- 

 rier, taking up and bringing to the cocks the remains of the swath. There may be, in general, about 

 five people employed about each row of cocks ; a carrier and raker on each side of the ridge on which the 

 cocks are placed, and a person on the ridge, who builds them. But when the crop is not weighty, more 

 rakers are required, as a greater space must be gone over. 



5009. As the cocks are thus placed in a line, it is easy to put two or more into one afterwards ; and the 

 larger cocks may be speedily drawn together, to be put into tramp-ricks, by means of ropes thrown round 

 their bottoms, and dragged along by a horse. It is impossible to lay down any rules for the management 

 of hay, after it is put into cocks ; one thing is, however, always attended to, not to shake out, scatter, or 

 expose the hay oftener than is necessary for its preservation. Sometimes the cocks have been put up so 

 large, that they never require to go to a tramp-rick, but were carted to the stack-yard, without ever 

 being broken, and put up in alternate layers with old hay. But where this is attempted, there must not 

 be much clover. The practice of mixing the new with the old hay is, however, a good one, and saves a 

 great deal of time and labor, at the same time that the old hay is much improved by the mixture. 



5010. The best managers disnTpprove of spreading out the swaths of clover and rye-grass, though this is 

 often necessary with natural grasses, which are cut an# harvested later in the season. The more the swath 

 is kept unbroken, the hay is greener, and the more fragrant, 



5011. Another mode of hay-malcing, said to have been originally practised in Lancashire, has been found 

 to answer well in the moist atmosphere of the west of Scotland. This is called tippling or rippling ; and 

 if the grass be dry, the operation begins as soon as it is mown. " In making a tipple, a person with his 

 right-hand, rolls the swath inwards, until he has a little bundle; then the same is done by the left, until 

 both meet, and form eight to twelve pounds, or nearly so. This bundle is then set up against the legs, or 

 between the feet ; a rope is twisted of the grass, while the bundle is supported in this manner, and tied 

 round it near its top ; and from the top are drawn up a few straggling stems, which are twisted to make 

 the tipple taper to a point, and give it as much a conical shape as possible. If the crop is strong, there is a 

 r^w of tipples placed on each swath ; if light, two of these are put into one row. After standing a few 

 bours, they becoineso ismooth on the outside, that the heaviest rains seldom wet them through ; and when 



