HAYMAKING. 



HAYMAKING. 



so as never to expose the same surface for any 

 length of time to the direct influence of the sun. 

 In stacking hay, the object is to preserve the 

 green colour, and at the same time induce a 

 slight degree of fermentation, which has the 

 effect of rendering the fibres of the plants, 

 which compose the hay, more tender, and 

 changing a part of the parenchymous matter 

 into sugar, on the same principle as is effected 

 by malting barley. This sweet taste renders 

 the hay more palatable to horses. The best 

 general directions for haymaking will be found 

 in the following extract from Middleton's dgri- 

 rul'in-nl Survey of Middlesex, although the various 

 kinds of hay, and different soils and situations 

 with which the farmer is connected, are so 

 very numerous, that such directions can, of 

 necessity, have only a very general applica- 

 tion. 



Mr. Middleton observes, when speaking, be 

 it remembered, of haymaking in Middlesex, 

 "In order that the subject may be more clearly 

 understood, I shall relate the particular opera- 

 tions of each day, during the whole process, 

 from the moment in which the mower first 

 applies his scythe, to that in which the hay is 

 secured, either in the barn or in the stack. 



"First Day. All the grass mown before nine 

 o'clock in the morning is tedded (or spread), 

 and great care taken to shake and strew it 

 evenly over all the ground. Soon afterwards 

 it is turned, with the same degree of care and 

 attention; and if, from the number of hands, 

 they are able to turn the whole again, they do 

 so, or at least as much of it as they can, till 

 twelve or one o'clock, at which time they dine. 

 The first thing to be done after dinner is, to 

 rake it into what are called single windrows; 

 that is, they all rake in such a manner, as that 

 each person makes a row, which rows are 

 three or four feet apart; and the last operation 

 of this day is to put it into grass-cocks. 



"Second Day. The business of this day com- 

 mences with tedding all the grass that was 

 mown the first day after nine o'clock, and all 

 that was mown this day before nine o'clock. 

 Next, the grass-cocks are to be well shaken 

 out into staddles (or separate plats) of five or 

 six yards diameter. If the crop should be so 

 thin and light as to leave the spaces between 

 these staddles rather large, such spaces must 

 be immediately raked clean, and the rakings 

 mixed with the other hay, in order to its all 

 drying of a uniform colour. The next business 

 is to turn the staddles, and, after that, to turn 

 the grass that was tedded in the first part of 

 the morning, once or twice, in the manner de- 

 scribed for the first day. This should all be 

 done before twelve or one o'clock, so that the 

 whole may lie to dry while the workpeople are 

 at dinner. After dinner, the first thing to be 

 done is, to rake the staddles into double wind- 

 rows; in doing which, every two persons rake 

 the hay in opposite directions, or towards each 

 other, and by that means form a row between 

 them of double the size of a single windrow. 

 Each of these double windrows are about six 

 or eight feet distant from each other. Next, to 

 rake the grass into single windrows ; then the 

 double windrows are put into bastard-cocks ; 

 and, lastly, the single windrows are put into 

 608 



'< 



grass-cocks. This completes the work of the 

 second day. 



" Third Day. The grass mown and not spread 

 on the second day, and also that mown in the 

 early part of this day, is first to be tedded in 

 the morning ; and then the grass-cocks are to 

 be spread into staddles, as before, and the bas- 

 tard-cocks into staddles of less extent. These 

 lesser staddles, though last spread, are first 

 turned, then those which were in grass-cocks ; 

 and, next, the grass is turned once or twice 

 before twelve or one o'clock, when the people 

 go to dinner as usual. If the weather has 

 proved sunny and fine, the hay which was last 

 night in bastard-cocks will this afternoon be 

 in proper state to be carried. It seldom hap- 

 pens, in dry weather, but that it may be carried 

 on the third day. But if the weather should, 

 on the contrary, have been cool and cloudy, no 

 part of it, probably, will be fit to carry. In that 

 case, the first thing set about after dinner is, to 

 rake that which was in grass-cocks last night 

 into double windrows ; then the grass which 

 was this morning spread from the swarths into 

 single windrows. After this, the hay which 

 was last night in bastard-cocks is made up into 

 full-sized cocks, and care taken to rake the hay 

 up clean, and also to put the rakings upon the 

 top of each cock. Next, the double windrows 

 are put into bastard-cocks, and the single wind- 

 rows into grass-cocks, as on the preceding days. 



"Fourth Day. On this day the great cocks, 

 just mentioned, are usually carried before din- 

 ner. The other operations of the day are such, 

 and in the same order, as before described, and 

 are continued daily until the hay-harvest is 

 completed. 



"In the course of hay-making, the grass 

 should, as much as possible, be protected, both 

 night and day, against rain and dew, by cock- 

 ing. Care should also be taken to proportion 

 the number of hay-makers to that of the 

 mowers, so that there may not be more grass 

 in hand, at one time, than can be managed ac- 

 cording to the foregoing process. This propor- 

 tion is about 20 hay-makers (of which number 

 12 may be women) to four mowers : the latter 

 are sometimes taken half a day, to assist the 

 former. But in hot, windy, or very dry wea- 

 ther, a greater proportion of hay-makers will 

 be required than when the weather is cloudy 

 and cool. 



" It is particularly necessary to guard against 

 spreading more hay than the number of hands 

 can get into cock the same day, or before rain. 

 In showery and uncertain weather, the grass 

 may sometimes be suffered to lie three, four, or 

 even five days in swath. But, before it has 

 lain long enough to become yellow (which, if 

 suffered to lie long, would be the case), par- 

 ticular care should be taken to turn the swaths 

 with the heads of the rakes. In this state it 

 will cure so much in about two days, as only 

 to require being tedded a few hours, when the 

 weather is fine, previous to its being put to- 

 gether and carried. In this manner, hay may 

 be made and stacked at a small expense, and 

 of a good colour ; but the tops and bottoms of 

 the grass are insufficiently separated by it." 



HAY-RAKE, or HAY-SWEEP. An imple- 

 ment contrived for the purpose of collecting 



