FARMERS' REGISTER. 



287 



ed through the piomachs of the animalR. (t is 

 frequently mixed with earth and the scourings of 

 ditches, and is always carried to the mowing 

 fijround in the beginninjr of winter — in the time of 

 a frost, if possible, that the turi'may not be injured 

 by the hauling of it over the ground. 



The land which is pastured by cows is never 

 manured, manure imparting a rankness to the 

 grass, which not only gives a rank flavor to the 

 cheese, but also makes it ' heave' or ferment, which 

 is injurious to its quality. 



There being a great deal of dung collected on 

 this farm, the mowing ground is generally manured 

 once in two years. The dung being spread over 

 the ground with hay forks, is brushed into the 

 ground, the first fine weather in February or March, 

 with a brush-harrow, made of a heavy gate, 

 between the rails of which thorns are fixed, and 

 which is generally loaded with a log of wood. 

 This brush-harrow is drawn over the ground by 

 a horse, going at a very quick rale; and after it 

 has done its work, all the stones and stricks are 

 picked offthe ground, which is then rolled and har- 

 rowed up for mowing. 



Dressing or cleaning up the ground. — About 

 the first of March, or earlier, if the weather is dry, 

 they begin on this farm to clean up the pasture 

 as well as the mowing grounds, and to ' hain' or 

 shut them up, either for mowing or lor the dairy- 

 cows to be turned into in the end of April or first 

 week in May. This operation is performed by 

 men, women, or boys, with the common hay-fork, 

 which with the back downwards, is swung right 

 and left upon the dung, which the beasts have 

 dropped during the time they were foddered in the 

 field, and also upon the molehills, which by this 

 operation are beat into small pieces, and at the 

 same time, scattered over the ground, or rather 

 rubbed into it. The waste hay, all straw, stones, 

 sticks, &c., are picked up and carried oft the 

 ground, before it is rolled, in the end of March or 

 beginning of April. The fields, when thus 

 cleaned, are shut up. whether they are for mowing 

 or pasture; and those grounds that are to be the 

 latest mown are the last that are cleaned and shutup. 



All the rough grass, which, the cows do not eat, 

 is mown of!', and the weeds cut up once or twice 

 a year. The rank grass produced on those spots 

 on which dung has been dropped in the spring the 

 cows do not eat, and it is ' skimmed over' or mown, 

 and made into hay lor young stock in the winter. 

 From these spots, alter being mown, there springs 

 a new crop in autumn. If they were not mown, 

 the long grass would decay and gel rotten at the 

 bottom. These tufis of rank grass are, however, 

 sometimes left, and eaten up by store stock in winter. 



Hay. — The age or state of ripeness, at which a 

 crop of grass is cut for haj', is of great importance, 

 Jbron it depends the quality of the hay. The 

 earlier it. is cut, the better will be the quality of 

 the hay, and the greater will be tlie quantity of the 

 afler-grass ; and the longer it stands before it is 

 cut, the greater will be the quantity of the hay, 

 but it will be of an inferior quality, and the after- 

 grass will be diminished in a much greater propor- 

 tion than that in which the hay is increased. 

 Early mowing, therefore, is always practised on 

 this farm. The mowins: begins the last week of 

 May or the first week of June, when the grasses 

 are in blossom, and when they are seldom more 

 than six weeks old. 



The mowing should be so performed, that nei- 

 ther the strokes of the scythe nor the junction of 

 the swaths can be discerned. This is easily ac- 

 complished by fixing the scyihe to the handle, so 

 as to have it level with the ground during the ope- 

 ration of mowing, by not taking on too wide a 

 swath, and by making the scythe come out a lit- 

 tle beyond the standing grass every time. 



The more expeditiously grass is converted into 

 hay, and the more of the natural juices of the 

 grass the hay retains, the better is its quality. It 

 cannot be too often tedded or shaken abroad, while 

 passing from a stale of grass to a state of hay, 

 particularly in the first stages of the process. 

 The hay-machine, therefore, is of great advantage 

 in the work ; for besides that a boy and a horse 

 can, with it, do as much work as eight men, it 

 does the work with more expedition and much, 

 more perfectly, all the grass being completely se- 

 parated and spread regularly over the ground to 

 dry ; and the hay, in consequence, is at least ten 

 per cent, better in quality than that which is made 

 by the hand. 



The hay, in three or four days after mowiog, if 

 the weather is favorable, is either put into wind 

 cocks or carried to the rick. The ricks of hay are 

 made in those fields which are dry, and in which 

 it is intended to fodder some of the stock during 

 winter. The best hay is taken to the homestead, 

 and either ricked m the yard or put into the large 

 barn formerly mentioned, in which several hun- 

 dred tons of hay can be secured. 



[ Stock. 



Mr. Drinkwater S. Hay ward has rented this 

 farm for thirty, and his family for many years. He 

 keeps a pack of a hundred cows, composed of 

 the best milkers, or those fi-om whose milk the 

 greatest quantity of cheese is made ; and in select- 

 ing calves for weaning to keep up his stock, he 

 takes those of the best milkers. His stock is of a 

 mixed breed ; and that which he prefers is a cross 

 of the Gloucester and the Alderney with a Dur- 

 ham bull, producing a stock half Durham, one- 

 Iburth Gloucester, and one-fourih Alderney. Hav- 

 ing had the good fortune to get an excellent milk- 

 er of the true Hereford breed, a very uncommon 

 ihing, he is proceeding in the same way witli this 

 cow, crossing first with an Alderney and then 

 with a Durham bull. This stock of course is one- 

 half Durham, one-fourth Alderney, and one- 

 fburtli Herelbrd ; he expects it lo be ol' a very su- 

 perior kind, and not only excellent milkers, but of 

 the finest symmetry and with high feeding proper- 

 ties ; and fi-om the present appearance of the 

 stock, there is every reason to liiink this will be 

 the case. 



To keep up his stock of dairy-cows, Mr. Hay- 

 ward weans thirty heiler-calves every year. Some 

 of those that are weaned before March produce 

 calves when two years and a quarter old, and all 

 the others come in at three years old. Mr. H. 

 has, therelbre, a hundred cows, thirty heifer- 

 calves, thirty year-old heilers, thirty two-year-old 

 heiliirs, and thirty three-year-old heiftjrs; which 

 last take the place of thirty cows that are yearly 

 drawn from the stock, and disposed of. These 

 thirty cows consist of such heilers as have slipped 

 their calves, or have proved "empty" or barren, 

 and of aged cows, which are sold to graziers, 



