Book VI. GRASS LANDS. 837 



moiety of the people in his hay-field will be of no material use to him ; and if he should 

 be absent for an hour or more, during that time, little or nothing will be done. The 

 farmers of Middlesex engage many hay-makers; some of them have been known to 

 employ two or three hundred ; such men find it necessary to be on horseback, and the 

 work-people find them sufficient employment. A man of energy will make the most of 

 every hour, and secure his hay while the sun shines : one of an opposite description 

 lounges liis time away, and suffers his hay to be caught in the rain, by which it is fre- 

 quently half spoiled. Or if the latter should have the good fortune of a continuance 

 of dry weather, his hay will be a week longer in the field than his neighbor's, and the 

 sap of it dried up by the sun. 



5228. The waste of grass, on being dried into hay, is supposed to be three parts in four by 

 the time it is laid on the stack ; it is then further reduced, by heat and evaporation, in 

 about a month, perhaps one-twentieth more, or 600 lb. of grass are reduced to 95 lb. of 

 hay; and between that and 90, it continues through the winter. From the middle 

 of March till September, the operations of trussing and marketing, expose it so much 

 to the sun and wind, as to render it considerably lighter, probably 80 ; that is, hay 

 which would weigh 90 the instant it is sejKirated from the stack, would waste to 80 

 (in trussing, exposure on the road, and at market for about 24 hours), by the time it ig 

 usually delivered to a purchaser. During the following winter, the waste will be little 

 or nothing. It is nearly obvious, that the same hay will weigh on delivery 80 in sum- 

 mer, and 90 in winter. From this circumstance, and others which relate to price, a 

 farmer may determine what season of the year is the most advisable for him to sell his hay. 



5229. In mnking the hay of bog meadows, considerable care is requisite both from the 

 inferiority of the climates where such bogs abound, and from the nature of the grasses 

 they produce. In some cases, the grass is of so soft a quality, that it is difficult to 

 convert it into hay. To prevent its being consolidated in the cocks, it must be frequently 

 opened up, and when the weather permits, completely exposed to the sun and wind ; this 

 sort of grass being only capable of sustaining a very moderate degree of fermenta- 

 tion. 



5230. When the natural herbage is of a coarser description, it may be put into small 

 cocks, in rather a green or damp state, so as to go through the progress of " a sweating," 

 or slight fermentation. The woody fibres in coarse hay, are thus rendered more palata- 

 ble and nutritious, while its condition for becoming fodder, is considerably improved : 

 but when any warmth becomes perceptible, if the weather will permit it, the hay should 

 be spread out, and put into large cocks the moment it is in a dried state. 



5231. In the moister pastoral districts, in the north-west parts of Scotland, hay-barns 

 are necessary, the construction of which is as open as possible, for the purpose of drying, 

 as well as preserving the hay. In some of these districts, a curious device has been 

 fallen upon, of making the hay, when dried, into ropes of two fathoms in length, and 

 then twisted twofold. Being thus compressed, less room is required in the barn, and in 

 this shape, it is carried, with greater facility, to distant glens, for the use of cattle 

 during stormy weather. 



5232. In making fiorin hay (if hay it may be called, which is never dried) it is 

 merely cut and put into small cocks, from which it is commonly taken as wanted. 

 When it is to be put into larger cocks, it must be proportionally better dried. The 

 stolones of this grass being remarkably vivacious, cannot easily be so dried as to admit 

 of stacking in large bodies. 



5233. The salting of hay, at the time of stacking, has been practised in Derbyshire 

 and in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The salt, particularly when applied to the crop 

 of rouen, or when the first crop has received much rain, checks the fermentation, and 

 prevents moulding. If straw be mixed with the hay, the heating of the stack is still 

 further prevented, by the straw imbibing the moisture. Cattle will eat, not only such 

 salted hay, but even the straw mixed with it, more eagerly than better hay not salted, 

 and also thrive as well upon it. The quantity recommended is, a peck of ground rock 

 salt to a ton of hay. By this application, hay that had been flooded, was preferred by 

 cattle to the best hay that had not been salted. 



52.34. To make hay-tea. Boil at the rate of a handful of hay to three gallons of water, or if the water 

 be poured boiling hot on the hay, it will answer nearly as well. Give it to the cattle and horses to drink 

 when cold ; or if the cattle and horses are anyways ill, and under cover, give it them blood warm. This 

 drink is so extremely nutritive, that it nourislies the cattle astonishingly, rei)lcnishes the udders of the 

 cow with a prodigious quantity of milk, makes the horse stale plentifully, and keeps him healthy and 

 strong ; and by this method one tniss or hundred of hay will go as far as eight or ten otherwise would do. 

 The cattle and horses do not seem to like it at tirst ; but if they are kept till tliey are very thirsty, they 

 will drink freely of it ever afterwards. The hay after being used as before-mentioned and dried, may be 

 used as litter for horses and cattle ; it will make very good manure, and save straw, which is a consider- 

 able advantage, especially where there is a scarcity of that article. {Davis's Hep. of Wilts.) 



5235. The after-grass on allmeadou'S is generally fed off; on firm lands, and in the dry 

 season, by either sheep or heavy cattle ; but in the winter only by sheep, unless the soU 

 is so dry as not to be injured by the feet of cows or horses. The. feet of the latter are 



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