iS39] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



635 



thus an expensive method of production substi- 

 tuted over a whole country lor one more chetip atui 

 efficient. Certain peculiarities in the state of pro- 

 perty in England, the eHect of titiies, and tiie rela- 

 tive expense ol' keeping land in tillage and under 

 grass, seem to have contributed to this so general 

 substitute of the natural for the cultivated mea- 

 dow. Froiti habit too, a preference is given to 

 the hay thus produced. It is supposed by m;my 

 to be more suited to keep horses in wind'; and it 

 may be so in the case of horses put to great speed, 

 as the hunter and the race-horse ; but, tor the mere 

 purpose oi' ieeding, it cannot be doubted that the 

 produce of the cultivated meadow, consisting of 

 the superior grasses and clovers alone, in their 

 young and most juicy state, must be greatly supe- 

 rior to that of the older grasses, mixed as they al- 

 v/ays are with a class of inferior plants. Bat if 

 the large application of capital and the waste of 

 land, lor the production of this species of food, 

 are to be regretted, in no other country are the 

 farmers so diligent and so experienced in the man- 

 agement oi' the hay itself as in England. 



The grasses to be mown are ready in the month 

 of July, and they are cut down when the greater 

 jiumber of them have come into flower. When 

 the land is of good natural quality, or when a ready 

 command of manure exists, it may be mown every 

 year ibr hay. But it is more common to mow it 

 every alternate year, or every third or fourth year, 

 according to its quality. It is then pastured in the 

 intervening years, and in this way it is less ex- 

 hausted than when mown every year. 



Land subjected to this species of culture requires 

 to be manured at intervals upon the surlace. 

 When it is mown every year, the manures should 

 be repeated every second or third year; but when 

 it is occasionally pastured, the manuring may be 

 less frequent. 



The manures used may be of all the kinds ap- 

 plied to laud in tillage. That most commonly 

 employed in practice is the common manure of the 

 farm-yard, well rotted. This is spread thinly and 

 regularly over the surface, generally at the rate of 

 7 or 8 tons to the acre. The period of laying it 

 on is various ; some preferring to spread it in Oc- 

 tober, otiiers after the hay is cut in July or Au- 

 gust, and some in spring. 



The grass, when mown, is soon afterwards 

 tedded, or spread abroad with a Ibrk, so as to be 

 exposed to the sun and air. It may be turned 

 over one or more times, and while yet green put 

 into little cocks. The manner of collecting the 

 grass together is by raking it into rows, technically 

 termed wind-rows, the hay-makera in bands fol- 

 lowing each other with rakes until they have thus 

 collected the whole into rows. They are then ea- 

 sily able, by hand labor, to form it into the small 

 cocks described. 



These first cocks are afterwards to be spread 

 abroad, and, being exposed lor a time, Ibrmed into 

 larger cocks, termed sometimes bastard-cocks. In 

 the county of Middlesex, wliere extreme attention 

 is paid to the appearance and quality of this spe- 

 cies of crop, the bastard-cocks are again spread 

 abroad, and formed iiit.j yet larger cocks; after 

 which they are led home, sometimes on the fourth 

 orfifihday. The object of this repeated spread- 

 ing abroad, and forming into cocks, is to secure 

 the hay in the shortest lime. an<i with the least 

 waste of its natural juices. This indeed is aitned 



at in all cases of making hay, but the details of 

 practice are modified by the state of the weather, 

 and vary in diflerent parts of the country. Some- 

 times, to economise labor in these operations, hay- 

 teddinir and hay-raking machines are employed. 

 A'lhough raising of tiay on the natural mea- 

 dow must be regartled as expensive, when com- 

 pared with the raising of it on the cultivated mea- 

 dow, yet there are soils and situations to which 

 the practice is entirely suited, and in v>hich it ia 

 the best means at the command of the farmer of 

 obtaining dry forage. 



One of these is the case of marshes, swamps, 

 or bogs, producing naturally rushes, sedges, and 

 the larger grasses. These marshes are of every 

 degree of natural fertility, sometimes producing 

 chiefly the Cariccs and Janci, and at other times 

 producing the grasses of wet ground, as the Poa 

 aquaiica, Poa fluitans, ^grostis alba, and other 

 plants of marshes. 



The lowest Ibr the most part in the scale of fer- 

 tility of these wet grounds and yet of great impor- 

 tance in the elevated districts where they abound, 

 are those which consist of a thick bed of peaty 

 matter. These are usually termed bogs, and the 

 produce consists chiefly of rushes, as the sharp- 

 tiowered jointed rush, and others. This species of 

 hay is greatly less nutritive than that of cultivated 

 or finer natural grasses. Jt is generally regarded 

 as a little superior to the straw of wheat, barley, 

 or oats, and will Ibr the most part bear cutting but 

 once in the year. It is too coarse for sheep, but ia 

 adapted to the winter provender of catile. To 

 these it affords a valuable resource in all the more 

 elevated pasture districts of this country. 



As the soil of the marsh improves, so for the 

 most part does the natural produce which it yields. 

 In flat and alluvial tracts the hay of the marsh is 

 ofien valuable, even where cultivated forage can 

 be otherwise obtained. It is frequently, therefore, 

 a question of expediency, whether a marsh shall 

 be broken up lor tillage or allowed to yield its nat- 

 ural plants. It may produce a great deal ol' ma- 

 nure without requiring any ; it may furnish a val- 

 uable resource to wintering stock ; and it may not 

 be capable of being fitted for cultivation but by a 

 considerable expenditure of capital. 



The manner of preparing the hay of marshes, 

 is similar to that of" preparing the hay of the 

 grasses already described, except that greatly 

 less nicely is required. The rushes or grasses, 

 after lying Ibr 48 hours or more, should be tedded 

 well, so as to receive the influence of the eun 

 and air. After this operation, which is usually 

 repeated once or oftener, the hay should be put 

 into small cocks, and, when sufficiently dried, put 

 into ricks, to remain in them till the danger of fer- 

 mentation is removed, when it may be led home 

 and fbrmed into a stack. A slight fermentation 

 in the stack may take place without irjury, but care 

 must be taken that this be not carried so fiir as to 

 injure the hay. 



Tiiere is another case in which perennial grasa 

 land, though not marshy, mliy be beneficially em- 

 ployed to produce hay. This is in elevated pas- 

 ture districts, where cultivated forage cannot he 

 obtained. In such situations, hay must be pro- 

 cured for the stock during 'falls of snow, and 

 then the only means of obtaining it may be to set 

 apart a portion of the herbage-land ibr mowing. 

 This is a case produced by the peculiar Qircura- 



