208 



ON HAYMAKING. 



HAVING observed that in a season when 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 quan- 

 tity was destroyed and injured, by being over- 

 heated and burnt, than in a catching irregular 

 season ; that when hay had not heated in the 

 stack it was frequently mouldy; that as hay lost 

 its native green colour and approached a 

 brown, it lost its nutritive qualities; and that alto- 

 gether, the making of hay, as usually conducted, 

 was a very precarious and teasing operation : 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 ex- 

 pense of labour. And considering such a pro- 

 cess not only of importance, as it ensures a 

 more perfect quality; but as it affords a more 

 certain protection against the injuries usually 

 consequent on the uncertainty of the weather, 



