FARMERS' REGISTER— HAY MAKING. 



119 



know (lie eflVct which any particular treatment of 

 the fc;oil will jiroducc upon a certain crop, then we 

 should al the same time ascertain what is the etlcct 

 of the soil under ordinary circumstances upon a 

 crop of the same kind. We should not be satisfi- 

 ed with the results of a single experiment, but 

 should repeat it on ditlerent soils and in dillerent 

 situations. 



2. No remaVks that are made during the progress 

 of an experiment should be trusted to the rnemorj', 

 but should always be carefully and scrupulously 

 recorded in wi'iting. 



3. The experimenter shoukl be careful to state 

 his lixcts in such scientific or technical teriiis as 

 may generally be understood, or, if he uses merely 

 local and j)opukir language, he should so explain 

 himseh", as to be clearly intelligible. 



Had attention^ been paid to these rule^^, the re- 

 sults of many important experiments would have 

 been available to science which arc now no better 

 than lost labor. 



De Candolle has particularl}^ alluded to the* fol- 

 lowing experiments, among others, which may be 

 proposed to agriculturists, as Hkely to afford inter- 

 esting results: — 



1. To ascertain whether blue \'itriol (sulphate of 

 copper) is serviceable in preventing the rust, smut, 

 and some other diseases in corn, which depend 

 upon the attacks of minute fungi. 



2. To ascertain the precise effects of gypsum or 

 plaster of Paris (sulphate of lime) in agriculture. 



(a) W-hether it be equally efficacious, calcined 

 or unburnt, in promoting the growth of green 

 forage, as tares, peas, &c. (LegumcnoscB.) 



(b) Whether it be useful as a manure for any 

 other tribes of plants. 



(c) Whether its use hardens the seeds of the 

 Legumenosa? so as to render them difficult to be 

 cooked. 



3. To deteiTuine, by exact and varied experi- 

 ments, whether dilftrent kinds of corn intermixed 

 in the same field will yield a greater or less pro- 

 duce than when gi'own in separate fields. 



4. To prove by experiments on physiological 

 and chemical principles, (as laid down by De Can- 

 dolle,) what rotation of crops may be most advan- 

 tageously adopted on ditlerent soils, and what soils, 

 by a rotation of crops, will peld all the advantages 

 of which the alternate system is capable. 



OIV HAY MAKIXG. 



From Hayward's Science of Agriculture. 



Having observed that in a season Avhen there 

 was no rain whatever, and the hay had been made 

 with rapidity, and carted within a short time after 

 it had been cut, that a greater quantity was de- 

 stroyed and injured, by being overheated and 

 burnt, than incatchingirregularseason: that when 

 hay had not heated in the stalk, it was frecjuently 

 mouldy; that as haj' lost its native green color, and 

 approached a brown, it lost its nutritive qualities; 

 and that altogether the making of hay, as usually 

 conducted, was a ver\" precarious and teasing oper- 

 ation: I determined on trying to arrange a system 

 on some more regular and certain principles, in 

 which I succeeded; and by adopting a certain and 

 regular course of operations,was enabled to make 

 my hay of a uniform good quality; and, let the 

 weather be as it might, at a regular expense of 



labor. And considering such a process not only 

 of importance, as it ensures a more perfect quality; 

 but as it afibi'ds a more certain in'otection against 

 the injuries usually consequent on the uncertainly 

 of the weather, and overheating in the stack, and 

 that it thus removes two great causes of anxiety, 

 it may be well worth the public attention. 



In the first place us to the state of the weather, 

 it generally happens at this season of the year that 

 there are three or four days rain and three or lour 

 days dry; therefore on beginning to cut the giass, 

 as it is well known that during wet weather grass 

 maybe cut, and suffered to remain in the swath 

 for several days without injury; and it being de- 

 sirable, where hands are plenty, to have a good 

 quantity, or so much as will complete a stack in a 

 day in the same state of forwardness; I should 

 prefer beginning to cut during the rainy weather: 

 however be this as it may, the swards should not 

 be opened but on a certain fine day; and when this 

 is done the grass should be well shaken apart and 

 equally spread over the ground. As soon as the 

 upper surface is dry, turn it well over; and in this 

 operation great care should be taken to open and 

 spread any cocks that may not have been divided 

 in the first opening. This being done, commence 

 raking into wind-rows, in time that the whole may 

 be made into small cocks before night. The second 

 day these cocks must remain untouched; let the 

 weather be wet or dry; the third day, if the weather 

 be certain and fine, tlirow the cocks open; but if the 

 weather be wet or threatening, they may remain 

 another day, or until the weather is certain to be 

 fine for the day. The cocks should then be thrown, 

 according to the crop, into beds of two or three 

 rows and afler three or four hours exposure, turned 

 over; and taking time to gather the whole into 

 wind-rows and cocks bef ire nigh+, let this operation 

 commence accordingly, and none be left open: the 

 day after this which "in fine weather will be the 

 fourth; the cocks must again remain untouched, 

 or not be Qj^ened, whether the weather be wet or 

 diy. On the fifth or next day, these cocks will 

 only require to be opened for an hour or two, when 

 they will be fit for the stack.— The novelty of this 

 mode consists only in suffering the hay to remain 

 in the cock the second and third or alternate days; 

 and at first sight it must appear that so much tune 

 in fine weather must be lost, but this is not the 

 case. Whilstthe hay remains in cocks, a slight 

 fermentation, or what is termed sweating, will take 

 place and in consequence, after it has been opene<l 

 on the third and fifih days, it will prove to be just 

 as forward as if it had been worked every day. 

 And the advantages re-suUing from this, are obvi- 

 ously the fiillowing; bv shortening the time of open 

 exposure, the color of the hay is more perfectly 

 preserved, and consequently the quality; and the 

 ftjrmentations or sweatings which take place in the 

 cocks, proves so much ^to have diminishedthat 

 principle, or inclination to prevent its heating inju- 

 riously in stack; and the whole ojieration of making, 

 whether it takes four or eight, requires three days 

 labor only: and the hay being left in that state every 

 night, in which it is the least possibly exposed to 

 the injuries of the weather, and in which it may 

 remain for a day or two in uncertain weather, 

 Avithout injurious exposure; much painfiil anxiety, 

 and useless attendance of laborers are obviated. 



