34° OFTHECULTURE Part III. 



while the fun fhines in the middle of the day. The beft manner 

 of doing this, is to have a large llieet pegg'd down to .the ground, 

 for two men with their flails to threlh on, whilft two other men 

 bring them frefli fupplies in a fmall fheet, and two others clear away 

 the hay that is threflied. The feed is emptied out of the great iheet,, 

 and riddled through a large fieve, to feparate it from the chaft and 

 broken fialks, after \\hich it is put into facks, and carried into the 

 barn to be winnowed. Care ihould be taken not to let the hay be 

 wet» becaufe it would be fpoiled. 



A very important, and at the fame time very difficult article, is- 

 the keeping of the feed which is threflied in the field, without having 

 ever been wetted. If it be immediately winnowed, and only a little 

 of it laid amidft a great heap, or put into a fack, it will, in a few 

 days, ferment to fuch a degree, that the greateft part of it will lofe 

 its vegetative quality. During that fermentation, it will be very hot, 

 and fmell four. Spreading it upon a barn-floor, only feven or eight 

 inches thick, will anfwer no end, unlefs it be frequently and regu- 

 larly turned both day and night, until the heating is over : but even 

 this will not make its colour keep fo bright as that which is well 

 houfed, well dried, and threflied in the winter. This laft, laid up 

 unthreflied, will keep without any danger of fpoiling, becaufe it 

 does not lie clofe enough to heat. The beft way to preferve the feed 

 threflied in the field, is to lay a layer of ftraw upon a barn floor, and 

 upon that a thin layer of feed, then another layer of ftraw,. and an- 

 other layer of feed, and fo on alternately. By this means, the feed, 

 mixing with the ftraw, will be kept cool, and come out in the fpring 

 with as green a colour as when it was put in : or it may be pre- 

 ferved in a ventilated granary, as hereafter directed. 



The greateft part of the fainfoin that is fown, is fpoiled by being 

 indifcreetly fed by cattle. Mr. Tull is againft feeding it at all the firft 

 and fecond year, or any other year in the fpring. He fays he has 

 recovered worn-out pieces of lainfoin, by plowing them in alleys 

 three feet wide, and leaving beds of fainfoin of the fame breadth 

 alternately between them. The plants, by extending their roots in 

 thefe new plowed alleys, have recovered their vigor, and yielded good 

 crops of hay. He adds, that fainfoin is obferved to enrich whatever 

 ground it is planted on, even tho' a crop be taken oft' it yearly. 



This is confirmed by the author of the New Syjiem of agriculture , 



who fays ; "' There is a foreign grafs much properer for light lands, 



" than clover : 'tis generally known by the name of St. Foyne ; but 



2 " that 



