CHAPTER X 



MAKING VETCH HAY 



The making of vetch hay I have described very fully 

 elsewhere, in a book specially written for the small 

 farmer; * but often the large farmer has a lot to 

 learn in connection with economic and labour-saving 

 methods of hay-making. In this, as in many other 

 respects, there is too great a tendency amongst 

 farmers to walk along the time-honoured groove 

 made by their forefathers. No practical man will 

 lightly cast aside an established custom without very 

 good reasons, but there are very good reasons why 

 the prevalent ideas on the matter of hay-making 

 should be modified. 



One great heresy in connection with hay-making 

 is, that if hay is cut with the dew on it, it dries all 

 the quicker afterwards. This and similar statements 

 we have been accustomed to hear from boyhood, and, 

 with the natural tendency of our class, have accepted 

 it unquestioned. One has only to think a minute to 

 realise, however, that a crop standing on the stem 

 has a far better chance of drying, through the agency 

 of sun and wind, than when the hay, be it either 

 grass or tares, is cut in a sopping wet condition and 

 left in a swathe. Further, the swathe, when cut 

 before the dew has dried off, keeps the ground under 

 the swathe damp. 



*" Continuous Cropping and Tillage Dairy Farming for Small 

 Farmers," by T. Wibberley, N.D.A., N.D.D. London: C. Arthur 

 Pearson, Ltd. Price 2/6 net. 



