SECRETARY'S REPORT. 215 



To preserve the hay, the treading must be carefully done, so 

 as to get it as firm as possible, and to have it all trodden down 

 uniformly. The firmer it is the better, and this is regarded as 

 of the first importance, since it heats all the more, and the 

 moisture is more completely driven off, till it soon becomes 

 quite dry. 



On the top layer of hay, from six to eight inches of straw is 

 spread, that no mould may attack the hay on the top, and that 

 the evaporating moisture passes into the straw. If the work is 

 well done in building the stack, the hand cannot be pressed 

 into the sides. Within a few days, the heat is so much devel- 

 oped that in thrusting in the hand it is very perceptible. 



After five or six weeks, the heat is entirely gone, and the 

 hay is very fragrant, and ready for feeding out. It is of a 

 brown color when so treated, and hence called brown hay. In 

 using, it is cut down perpendicularly with a knife, so that it 

 comes off in vertical layers. It is a perfectly healthy and 

 sound fodder, and is eaten greedily by stock. 



The advantages of this method of curing hay are — 



1st. That even in rather bad weather, the haying is quickly 

 over. 



2d. That the hay is more nutritious than that cured in the 

 usual way. It is estimated as fifteen per cent, better. The 

 reason of this is that with the wilted grass all the blossoms and 

 flowers of the meadow grasses and the finer leaves are secured, 

 which in working over in dried hay are, to a great extent, lost. 



3d. Tliat much less space is required to preserve it, because 

 it is trodden so solid. For these reasons, this mode of curing 

 is adopted in many sections. In this method of drying, where 

 the amount of fodder is short, straw may be placed under the 

 stack, in order to improve the straw by means of the heating 

 whereby it becomes more soft and tender, and is relished much 

 better by stock. If bad weather is feared, the grass may be 

 got in much less wilted, and thus preserved by the mixture 

 with straw. The greater moisture present iii the grass is 

 divided uniformly with the dry straw. 



Bad, or what is called sour hay, if made into brown hay, is 

 much more palatable to cattle, and all the more if a little sail 

 is strewn over the layers. 



