Chap. VIII. OF S A I N-F O I N. 339 



dry, will come out of the rick of a green colour : that which has 

 heated much in the rick, will look brown. 



It requires feme experience to know the mofi: proper degree of 

 ripenefs at which the feeded fainfoin ought to be cut; for the feed 

 is never all ripe together ; fome ears bloffom before others : every 

 ear begins bloffoming at the lower part of it, and fo continues gra- 

 dually to do upward for many days ; and before the flower is gone 

 off the top, the bottom of the ear has almoft filled the feeds that 

 grow there ; fo that if we lliould defer cutting till the top feeds are 

 quite ripe, the lower, which are the beft, would fhed, and be loft. 

 The bell time to cut it, is when the greateft part of the feed is 

 well filled, the firfl blown ripe, and the lafl: blown beginning to be 

 full. The unripe feeds will ripen after cutting, and be, in all re- 

 fpedts, as good as thofe that were ripe before. Some, for want of 

 obferving this, have fufiered their feed to ftand till it was all ripe, 

 and then it has fhed, and been loft in cutting. 



Sainfoin fliould never be cut in the heat of the day, while the 

 fun fliines out j for then much, even of the unripe feed, will fhed in 

 mowing. The right time for this work, is in the morning or the 

 evening, when the dew has render'd the plants fupple. 



If the weather is fine and clear, the fainfoin will foon dry fufH- 

 ciently in the fwarths, without turning them : but if any rain has 

 fallen, and there is a necefTity for turning them, it fliould be done 

 very gently, whilft they are moiil:, and not two together, as in the 

 other hay of fainfoin before it has feeded. If the fwarths are- turned 

 with the handle of the rake, it is beft to rau% up the ear-lides firfl, 

 and let the ftub-fide reft on the ground in turning : but if it is 

 done with the teeth of the rake, let the flub-fide be lifted up, and 

 the ears refted on the earth. 



If fainfoin be cocked at all *, the fooner it is done, the better; 

 becaufe if the fwarths are dry, nmch of the feed will be lofl in fe- 

 parating them, the ears being entangled together. When moiff, 

 the feed fticks faft to the ear j but, when dry, it drops out with 

 the leaft touch or fhaking. 



There are two ways of threfhing it : the one in field, the other 

 in the barn. The firfl cannot be done but in very fine weather, and 



X X 2 while 



* Sometimes it is threflied in the field, witfiout being cocked. In tjiat cafe, tl)e 

 fwarths are only juft feparated, in the dew of the moming> into parcels of about twp 

 feet each, by which means it is fooner dried, than when it lies thicker, as it muft do, 

 if made into cocks. 



