450 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No- 8 



real nutritive properties. If the cutting of the 

 crop be much protracleJ, the best season for mak- 

 in<>; the hay may also be passed ; the plants be- 

 come withered at the bottom ol" their stems ; the 

 roots are injured ; and tlie aftermath is materially 

 lessened in quantity. These remarks, therefore, 

 sugiiest the propriety of watchintr the prouress of 

 the bents of early cnisscs to perfection, and of cut- 

 ting the crop before tiiey drop their seeds, although 

 the sward of those of Jater growth may not then 

 be ripe. 



Upland meadows, if well manured, will in ge- 

 neral be ready lor mowing by the middle of June, 

 or even earlier if the summer be favorable, and 

 never should be left standing longer than July, 

 unless prevented by a continuance of wet weather. 

 The first crops of the artificial grasses are always 

 cut earlier. 



Mode, of Making. 



There are but {^w departments of a farmer's 

 business which demand more arduous care than 

 this ; for the weather can never lie depended upon, 

 and il security could be obtained on that point, 

 the most vigilant circumspection is requisite to in- 

 sure the duo perlbrinance of the work, lor all coun- 

 tries abound in bad haymakers; quantities of hay 

 are annually wasted, and still greater quantities 

 unnecessarily injured, through bad management. 

 Mowing is indeed usually done by the acre, but 

 making — as the tedding, raking, and remainder of 

 the process is usually termed — is paid for by the 

 day's work, and from the number of hands em- 

 ployed, including persons of both sexes and all de- 

 scriptions, is necessarily entrusted to people who 

 frequently understand notiiiniT about it, and w!io, 

 if not sharply looked after, idle away hall their 

 time. 



In the southern counties it is generally calcula- 

 ted that an expert mower performs a 20od day's 

 work when he cuts an acre, if the crop be heavy — 

 if light he will do more; but in the north the la- 

 bor is performed by the strongest men, who use a 

 scythe ibat is considerably longer — being com- 

 monly about five feet in length— and who usually 

 cut an acre and a half In the execution of the 

 work they generally point both in and out, by 

 which means [hw or no balks are left, and from 

 the great breadth of the swaths, and ihe close 

 manner in which the grass is mown, iheir labor is 

 very severe: they have, however, an allowance 

 of strong beer, which is not usually given to other 

 laborers. Tins mode of cutfinsr is, indeed, in every 

 point of view, advantageous, for the closer and 

 the more level the crass is mown, the better will 

 the after-grass thrive, and the saving of Jiay is 

 considerable, for one inch at the bottom weiirhs 

 more than two at the top ; but it requires a very 

 experienced mower to perform it well. Farmeis 

 should, therefore, be more caulious than they ce- 

 nerally are in the choice of mowers: in their own 

 neighborhood, indeed, there can be no difficulty, 

 for there every man's capability is known ; but 

 when strangers are employed, much loss is fre- 

 quently sustained by their incapacity and careless- 

 ness. 



Mowing commences at the earliest dawn of 

 day, wliile the dew is upon the ground; and when 

 the grass is down, if the weather is liivorable, the 

 ■watha should be opened with forke, and evenly 



spread over the meadow, during the same morn- 

 ing if it be cut early ; but that operation is very 

 commonly, though improperly, deli^rred until the 

 next day, when the upper surliice having become 

 somewhat brown and withered, they are turned, 

 ov-er as soon as the dew is off. If the weather 

 continue hot, the swaths should however be im- 

 mediately sliaken out and tedded, or thrown about 

 once or twice in the course of the same daj', by 

 which means the hay will be cured in the least 

 possible time, and its color and essential juices will 

 be more eflf>ctually retained than if it be long ex- 

 posed in the same position to the sun. It should 

 then be gathered with rakes by people working in 

 contrary directions, into long narrow rows, called 

 •'wind-rows,'' and afterwards, with forks, into 

 small "cocklets," or "foot-cocks," and left during 

 the nio-ht, ibr it should be guarded as much as 

 possible Irom the dew. On the fbllowing day, it 

 must be again thrown out to the air, and if thea 

 judged sufficiently dry, it should be brought to- 

 gether late in the evening in larger cocks, after 

 which it may be carried, on the third day, without 

 any further process, to the stack. In short, the 

 cliief points to be observed are, always to preserve 

 the hay as much as posible from dew and rain; 

 therefore, to bring it into wind-rows, il not to cock 

 it at nightfall ; never to open it in the morning till 

 the dew has evaporated ; and not to allow it to re- 

 main too long under the scorching heat of the sun 

 without being turned. The degree to which hay 

 requires to be dried depends on its quality ; coarse 

 hay should be allowed to heat more in the stack, 

 and therefore should be less made than that of 

 fine succulent herbage. 



The Middlesex practice will be found detailed 

 at loot.* That of Wensly Dale, and other parts 



* First day. — All the grass mown before nine o'clock 

 in tlie morning is tedded, in which great care is taken 

 to slialce it out of every lump, and to strew it evenly 

 over ttie ground ; for by tliis regular method of ted- 

 ding, the hay heats more equally in the stack, and is 

 consequently not so liable to damage. Soon afterwards 

 it is turned, witli tiie same degree of care and atten- 

 tion ; and if, from the number of hands, they are able 

 to turn the whole again, tliey 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 din- 

 ner is to rake it into what are called single wind-rows ; 

 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 commences with ted- 

 ding 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-corks are to be well 

 shaken out into staddles (or separate flats) 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 an uniform color. The next 

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

 the grass that was tedded in the first part of the morn- 

 ing once or twice in the manner dsscribed for th<' 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, which arc six or eight feet distant from each 

 other; next, to take the grass into single wind-rows ; 

 then the double wind-rows are put into bastard-cocks ; 



