THE FARMEKS' REGISTER. 



Vol. IV. 



DECEMBER 1, 1836 



No. 8. 



EDMUND RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



From the Farmers' Series of the Library of Useful Knowledge, i The lateness of the crop in some parts of Eng- 

 land is accounted tor by the freneral coldness of 



HAY MAKIXG IJV ENGLAND. 



The time of mowinn; and the mode of making 

 hav of the ditl'erenl grasses — both natural and ar- 

 tificial — vary not only according to the state of 

 the weather and the practice of separate districts, 

 bat also according to the uses to wliich the ha}' is 

 intended to be applied ; for, although all appropri- 

 ated to the Itjeding of cattle, it yet differs in its es- 

 timation for the various kinds of stock ; that of 

 clover, sainlbin, and tares being chiefly employed 

 for beasts of heavy draught, and the common pur- 

 poses of the farm, wliile that of natural meadow 

 grass is preferred for milch cows and saddle- 

 horses. Thus, in the vicinity of large towns, 

 where the color and softness of hay is more 

 thought of by the generality of consumers than its 

 nutritive properties, it is mown early, and got into 

 stack in as green a state as may be thought pru- 

 dent; while those farmers who expend it in the 

 support of their own stock are more careless in this 

 respect, cut it later, and leave it longer in the field. 

 In some places, indeed, and more particularly in 

 Ireland, this is carried to so objectionable aleno'th, 

 by anxiety to procure as large a crop as possible, 

 that it is by no means unusual to see the harvest of 

 meadow hay so late as the midddle of August, 

 and left standing in the rick-yard, or haggard, as 

 it is there called, until long after that lime, where- 

 by the crop is considerably injured in quality, and 

 the intention of increase in the quantity is very 

 commonly foiled, through the drying effects of the 

 atmosphere. This mode of making is, however, 

 justified by some of the ftirmers in the latter coun- 

 try, as being the necessary consequence of the su- 

 perior richness of the grass, which if not thus 

 treated, would be exposed, by its great fermenta- 

 tion, to catch fire;* for which there may be some 

 foundation upon strong soils, but it can form no 

 excuse for the generality of the practice, and it 

 may in all cases be rendered less requisite by ad- 

 ditional turning, or by making the stacks smaller. 



ihe spnng on the eastern coast, which compels 

 them to feed their mowmg grounds late.* It is 

 also thought b}' some persons that if the seeds of 

 the grass be left to rij)en, the hay will afTord a 

 greater quantity of nutritive matter than if cut 

 when in Hower ; but the value of the aftermath 

 thus lost is often greater than the extra nutriment 

 gained, for the ripening of the seeds not only 

 weakens the future growth of the plants, but the 

 aftergrass- has not sufficient time to acquire 

 strength. Mr. Sinclair states that he has in many 

 instances found it reduced to less than one-half in 

 a given time after the seed crop, than when cut at 

 the time of flowering ; but he adds, that he could 

 never observe its bad effects to extend in any de- 

 gree to the following season.f 



Ti7ne of Mowing. 



* See tfie County Surveys of Ireland generally : 

 Lambert's Observations on the Rural Affairs of Ire- 

 land, p. 42; and Parkinson on the Management of a 

 farm in Ireland, p. 109. The latter writer says that 

 "it is a custom in that country to make what is termed 

 tramp-cocks (or lap-cocks) of hay, and to let it stand 

 on the ground for some months, in reality until it has 

 smothered the sward in such a nianner as to destroy all 

 the grass roots on that spot of ground; a custom that, 

 besides, occasions a great loss of hay, by the steddle 

 or bottom part becoming mouldy, and some of it rot- 

 ting. Neither does the evii end here ; for when the 

 hay has stood so long in these large cocks, the first 

 sweat is got over, so that when it is stacked the 

 air penetrates into it, and it acquires a sort of 

 fusty smell, thus losing all the sweetness required 

 in hay. The hay which was on the farm when he 

 entered did not fatten cattle in the same propor- 

 tion as he had been used to the hay doing in Eng- 

 land, and he is certain that this was to be attiibuted to 

 its being put up in the manner described." See also 

 Darwin's Phytologia, p. 77. 



Vol. IV— 57 



It has been observed by the late Dr. Darwin, 

 that while the flowering stems of grass are shoot- 

 ing up, and during the whole process of fructifica- 

 tion, every species of grass — but more especially 

 those known by botanists under the designation 

 of the tribes of Poa and Festuca — abound with 

 saccharine matter. This, according to his idsa, ia 

 found particularly in the joints of the grasses, 

 where a secretion of sugar takes place, and it ia 

 probable that from this source the subsequent nu- 

 triment afforded by the plant is in great measure 

 derived. As the seeds approach maturity, this 

 sugar is found in less abundance ; and when they 

 are completely ripe, the object of nature being at- 

 tained, the stem and leaves begin to decay. 



The proper lime for cutting the mieadow grasses 

 seems, therefore, to be when those saccharine 

 juices are in the greatest abundance; which ap- 

 pears to be when the seed is formed, but before it 

 has arrived at maturity, for if it be allowed to 

 grow thoroughly ripe, not only will a nutritive 

 portion of the plant be wasted, but the land will 

 become more exhausted than if the crop had been 

 cut earlier. It has, indeed, been proved by experi- 

 ments carefully made upon many kinds of herb- 

 age, at different periods of their growth, that 

 plants of all sorts, if cut when in full vigor, and 

 afterwards carefully dried without any waste of 

 their nutritive juices, contain nearly double the 

 quantity of nutritive matter which they do when 

 allowed to attain their full growth and make some 

 progress towards decay. It is, however, the opin- 

 ion of many experienced farmers that the grass 

 should be cut as soon as the first flowers blow ; 

 for at that period it contains all the usefiil qualities 

 of which it is susceptible, and afterwards becomes 

 daily more tough and sapless. Such is certainly 

 the practice in Middlesex, which is celebrated for 

 the quality of its hay, though probably that de- 

 pends more on the estimation accorded in the Lon- 

 don market to its color and fragrance, than to its 



* Lincolns'i. Rep., p. 223. 



t Hort. Gram. Woburn., p. 21a 



