1836] 



FARMER S' REGISTER. 



451 



of Yorkshire, with some of the northern coun- 

 tries, is to cut the grass as low as possible, and on 

 the following; day, to strew it evenly anil liglitly 

 with the hands ; lor in this part of the work they 

 use neither forks nor raUes, unless the grass should 

 be very light. In that condition it is allowed to 

 remain until the day aller, when it is turned with 

 the rake-head, and is belbre noon raked into small 

 rows, called " turnings ;" the haymakers begin- 

 ning at the side of the field farthest Horn the 

 wind ; and the evening of the same da\% the rows 

 are made into smalls •' hay-coeks." Tiie next 

 morning, as soon as the dew is well evaporated, 

 the cocks are spread carefully abroad by hand, 

 and again before noon brought into rows. In this 

 state, if the weather has been perfectly fine, and 

 the quantity to be slacked in one rick is not large, 

 it may be carried ; or otherwise it is made into 

 Inrge cocUs, and allowed to stand a few days to be 

 lightly tiirmented ; though not so long as to allow 

 the base of the cock to become injured by the 

 moisture o( the ground.* 



The plan reeonmiended by Dr. Anderson and 

 others, is — not to cut the grass until it is perfectly 

 dr}', when the swaths having had the sun ibr a 

 few hours, are to be made into small cocks in a 

 pointed shape, as narrow at the base as possible ; 

 to remain in that state during one or two weeks, ac- 

 conhng to the weather, and then to be put into 

 larger, or "tramp-cocks," in which, after remain- 

 ing a lew days, the hay will be fit to stack. The 

 benefits resulting from this practice are stated to 

 be a considerable reduction of labor, and that the 

 Iiay continues nearly as green as when it was first 

 cut, also containing its natural sap in the greatest 

 perfection ; whereas by tedding and managing in 

 the usual manner, its juices are exhaled, and it is 



and lastly, the single wind-rows are put into p;rass- 

 eocks. 'I'his com[)letes the work of the spcond 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 be- 

 fore, and the bastard-cocks into staddles of less extent. 

 These lesser staddles, thougli last spread, are first turned, 

 then those vvhicti were in the grass-cocks, and next tiie 

 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 

 a proper state to be carried ; 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 to be set about after dinner is to rake that which 

 was in grass-cocks last night into double wind-rows; 

 then the grass which was this morning spread from tlie 

 swaths into single wind-rows. After this, the hay 

 which was spread last ni2;ht 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 wind-rows are put 

 into bastard-cocks, and the single wind-rows into 

 grass-cocks, as on the preceding day. 



Fourth-day — On this day the great cocks just men- 

 tioned are usually carried before dinner. The other 

 operations of the day are such, and in the same order, 

 as before described, being continued daily till the hay- 

 harvest is completed. 



* Tuke's Survey of the North Riding of Yorkshire, 

 p. 174 ; Communications to the Boaru of Agriculture, 

 vol. vii., part 1. 



more subject to become injured by rain.* Although 

 this may be true if the weather be fine, and the hay 

 perfectly dry when first put into cock; yet as both 

 these conditions can rarely be attained, we do not 

 consider this mode of making hay as generally 

 likely to succeed. Perhaps, however, a medium 

 between this method, and that which we have 

 previously recommended, may be safely adopted 

 b}' those who are scanty of iiands, which is — not 

 to tcdd the grass so much as there described ; to 

 draw it into wind-rows instead of cocking it every 

 evening, and only to open and shake it out for a 

 lew hours in the middle of the day ; then, to make 

 it up in the last stage into very large cocks, slijrht- 

 ly thatched by having a httlc of the coarsest grass 

 laid upon the top with the ends downwards; to 

 remain one whole day or two, according to the 

 weather, and then to be carried. In this manner 

 the labor is lessened ; the want of making is sup- 

 plied by the partial heating of the grass in the 

 large cocks; and under the circumstances in which 

 many fiirmers are often placed, the plan has been 

 liiuntl to answer ever}^ uselul purpose. Although 

 we state this upon the authority of a very ex- 

 perienced and intelligent farmer, yet it must be 

 recollected that it is a plan which we only advo- 

 cate in cases of necessity.! 



Such are the modes most usually adopted ; but 

 when the weather is unfavorable, a less direct and 

 more laborious method becomes necessary. The 

 chief aim, then, being to secure the making of 

 the hay with the least possdile risk, the grass, afier 

 being mown, is not tedded out, but often remains 

 for a couple of days, or even more, in the swath 

 belbre it is touched ; yet if a dry moment does not 

 occur for turning it, that operation must still be 

 performed before it has time to become yellow un- 

 derneath, and particular care should be taken to 

 turn the swaths with the heads of the rakes. 

 After being thus dried, it must be airain turned over, 

 tedded, brought into wind-rows with the rake, 

 and put into cocks, which are afterwards shaken 

 out, if the weather permits, or nicely turned upside 

 down, and then made into larger cocks, which if 

 Ibrmed into a conical shape will stand a considera- 

 ble (juantity of rain without injury, until they can 

 be got sufficiently dry to be put into stack without 

 heating.J An expedient is also practised in York- 

 shire to get the hay out of harm's way, when not 

 sufficiently dry to be regularly put into stack, 

 which consists in putting it into "pikes" or "stack- 

 lets" of about a load each. This is done by- 

 passing a rope round the bottom of each cock, and 

 drawing them by horses, so that ten or twelve may 

 be fbrmed into one pike, and either left in the field, 

 or carried upon sledges into the rick-yard, and 

 there placed in larger pikes around the site of the 

 intended stack. If well managed, these will not 

 be materially injured by rain, and a slight fermen- 

 tation commences which, in favorable weather, 

 [jrevents too much heating when put into the 

 stack. § Marshall, however, says, "that it is more 



* See the Complete Grazier, 6th edit., p. 150, and 

 xYnderson's Ess. on Agr. 



f See Batchelor's Survey of Bedfordshire, p. 443. 



X Lancashire Report, chap, viii, section 1. Che- 

 shire Report, chap. viii. section 3. 



§ Report of Select Farms, in the Library of Useful 

 1 Knowledge ; No. v. p. 12, 



