HAY. 



sale of hay and straw, Whitechapel, Smiihfield, 

 and the Haymarket. 



When horses are fed on hay, it is a matter 

 of dispute whether the light and apparently 

 acrid grass of uplands, or that of more fertile 

 natural meadow ground, or the rich produce 

 of the artificial grasses, is to be preferred. 

 This must, however, depend on the quantity of 

 corn with which they are supplied. When 

 that is abundantly furnished, there can be no 

 doubt that the former will be found better for 

 their general health, and especially for their 

 wind ; but as farm-horses are usually limited 

 in their consumption of grain, and the slowness 

 of their movements renders the clearness of 

 their wind a matter of comparatively little 

 moment, the other kinds will be found the best 

 adapted to support their strength. In gentle- 

 men's stables no other than meadow hay. is 

 generally admitted; and it is in all respects the 

 best. But farmers find more profitable uses 

 for it in the feeding of fatting-stock and cows ; 

 and clover, either alone or with rye-grass, 

 sainfoin, or tare hay, though coarser, answers 

 every necessary purpose for farm-horses, more 

 especially when cut into chaflf, and used along 

 with straw. Sainfoin is commonly esteemed 

 the first, and clover the next, in quality ; but 

 tare hay, if well made, is very hearty food. 

 Old hay, as having longer undergone that slow 

 process of fermentation by which the sugar 

 that it contains is developed, is far more nutri- 

 tive and wholesome than new hay. Mow burnt 

 hay is more injurious to horses than to any 

 other of the domestic animals, and is a fruitful 

 source of disease. 



It is an excellent plan, especially when hay 

 nas been exposed to continued wet weather, to 

 add to it a portion of common salt. It not only 

 induces live-stock to consume it with avidity, 

 but it prevents mouldiness or mow burning; 

 it is usual to put about half a bushel of salt to 

 every load of hay: it may be spread by hand, 

 or through a sieve. Mr. Woods, of Ingatestone, 

 in Essex, has employed it for thirty years; his 

 plain, unvarnished statement need not be sup- 

 ported by any other. He says, " I use about a 

 quarter of a peck at each laying, thinly spread, 

 which I find is about four bushels to a stack of 

 twenty loads. I am fully satisfied that double 

 the quantity would be much better. In a par- 

 ticularly wet season, a few years since, I used 

 twelve bushels to a stack of forty loads, the 

 whole of which was consumed by my own 

 horses, and I never had them in better condi- 

 tion. I am so fully convinced of the benefit of 

 salt to hay, that while it is allowed duty free, I 

 shall use it in all seasons." (Johnson on Salt, 

 p. 100.) The avidity with which animals con- 

 sume salted hay is not so generally known as 

 it ought to be ; I will give, therefore, a fact re- 

 lated to me a short time since by Mr. Law, of 

 Reading. Mr. Green, of Wargrave, in Berk- 

 shire, had, in the season of 1824, a parcel of 

 sour rushy hay from a meadow on the banks 

 of the Thames, which both he and his men de- 

 spaired of rendering of the least value; it was, 

 therefore, stacked by itself, and well salted : the 

 quantity supplied was large, but Mr. Law did 

 not know the exact proportion. When the 

 period arrived that his sheep wanted a supply 



HAYMAKING. 



of hay, Mr. Green directed his shepherd to use 

 the salted inferior hay first; and, to his sur- 

 prise, the sheep consumed it with the greatest 

 avidity. The stack being finished, the shep- 

 herd was directed to supply them now with the 

 best hay he could find of other stacks of fine 

 meadow hay. He came, however, the next 

 morning to his master, and made the following 

 remark: "We, s>ir, must have made a great 

 mistake, and forgotten which stack we salted, 

 for our sheep will not eat the hay which we 

 think the best" 



As the hay grasses do not thrive in the 

 Southern U. States, the principal supply of this 

 provender is sent pressed in bales or packages 

 from the Eastern, Middle, and Western States. 

 In those states where hay constitutes a prin- 

 cipal product of the farms, New York stands 

 first and Pennsylvania second. In his observa- 

 tions, relative to the hay crop of 1842, Mr. 

 Ellsworth observes, "Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 

 Michigan, and Missouri, though devoting com- 

 paratively little attention to its production, yet 

 seem to be making some advance in the same; 

 and accordingly there has been some increase 

 the past year, though doubtless not a very ma- 

 terial one. Some damage was experienced 

 from the invasion of the army worm, but not 

 enough to lessen the crop to any great amount. 

 Though reliance is still placed on the prairie 

 hay, yet there is a gradual improvement with 

 respect to the introduction and cultivation of 

 the tame grasses. The low price of grain in 

 New Orleans will no doubt lessen the demand 

 for pressed hay, which has heretofore been a 

 considerable article of export from the states 

 bordering on the Ohio river and its branches. 

 The whole number of tons of hay raised in the 

 United States in 1842, is estimated to have 

 been 14.053,355." 



HAYMAKING. The operation of cutting 

 down, drying, and preparing grasses and other 

 forage plants for being stacked for winter use. 

 The plants are mown down at the time when 

 they are supposed to contain, diffused through- 

 out the whole plant, a maximum of nutritious 

 juices; viz., when they are in full flower. Too 

 often this period is exceeded, and the nutritive 

 property of the plant suffers ; for it is a well- 

 known fact that the saccharine juices of a plant 

 disappear in the progress of the ripening of the 

 seed. Dry weather, and, if possible, that in 

 which sunshine prevails, is chosen for this 

 operation ; and the mown material is spread 

 out, and turned over two or three times in the 

 course of the same day in which it is cut. In 

 the evening it is put into small heaps. In the 

 morning of the second day these heaps are 

 spread out, and turned over two or three times ; 

 and in the evening they are formed into heaps, 

 somewhat larger than they were the day before. 

 If the weather has been remarkably warm and 

 dry, these heaps, in the course of the third day, 

 are carted away and made into a stack; but if 

 the weather has been indifferent, the process 

 of opening out the heaps and exposing them 

 to the sun is repeated on the third day, and 

 I stack-making is not commenced till the fourth. 

 The grand object in making hay is to preserve 

 I the colour and natural juices of the herbage, 

 ! which is best done by continually turning it, 



GOT 



