1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



453 



they are cut, and every care and activity should 

 be einploj-ed to gel tliem promptlj' into stack. 



The common nnmbcr of wnikpcoplc is five 

 hay-ma!vcrs to each mower, inciiunnif tedders, 

 loailers, pilciiers, and stackers; but exchjsive of 

 the carters who drive the teams employed in car- 

 rying the hay. There are, therelbre, Ircquently 

 more than twenty persons engaged in the same 

 field ; and as some management is necessary to 

 keep them in order, a steady experienced old fel- 

 low should always be placed at their head for that 

 purpose ; for it is im])ossibie that the liirmer should 

 himself" afford that constant attendance which 

 is requisite to the direction of each operation, and 

 the man who would cure his hay at the most mo- 

 derate expense, and with the least possible risk of 

 losing the season, must urge those who make it, 

 those who load and carry it, and those who stack 

 it, to make the most of every hour, and secure it 

 while the sun shines. Every part of the opera- 

 tion is done with forks and rakes, and every hay- 

 maker is expected to bring an implement of each 

 kind ; but the farmer is most frequently obliged to 

 find both. 



Besides the light rakes of the common descrip- 

 tion, with wooden teeth, there are also some of a 

 larger form, called " ell-rakes," with curved iron 

 teeth, which are used for the final collection of the 

 crop into large cocks ; but a hnrsa-rake, of a sim- 

 ple construction, which could perform the work 

 with fewer hands, is an instrument much wanted, 

 and if fbrmeil upon the same principle as the stub- 

 ble-rake tiiat is in use upon many arable farms in 

 various parts of the kingdom, would occasion a 

 further savmg of time and labor. An improved 

 implement of this kind has been lately brough' 

 from North America, and has, we understand, 

 been successfully employed in some parts of Scot- 

 land. It is drawn by one horse, and is said to be 

 equal to the labor of twenty persons with common 

 rakes ; but thedescrijition given of it in the Trans- 

 actions of the Highland Society is so very minute, 

 as well as contiised, that we must refer to that 

 publication for the particulars.* 



* * # # # 



In some very steep and small enclosures, hayis 

 ako sometimes carried by a method, in Derby- 

 shire, called s/anguig; a stang signifying a pole, 

 two of which being laid upon the ground at two 

 and a half or three fi^et apart, and a large cock of 

 hay being laid upon the middles of them, two 

 men take it up by the ends of" the poles, in the 

 manner of sedan chairmen, and thus carry it to the 

 side of the stack. f 



Slacking. 



Great caution is requisite in the s/acfr/ng of hay; 

 for, if not put together perfectly dry, it is liable to 

 ferment, and from this being exposed to catch fire, 

 whole stacks have been not unli-equently reduced 

 to ashes. Hay stacks are generally made of an 

 oblong form, as the hay can thus be more accu- 

 rately cut into square trusses than when the stack 

 is round. The ground upon which they are built 

 should be either raised with stones and hard com- 



* New Series, vol. iii. p. 40, 



t Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 180. 



post, or with chalk, to secure the bottom from wet; 

 or a sill of" stout limber, with the bark on, should 

 be laid down of the exact size of the slack, and 

 afterwards filled up with faggots or with Jurze, 

 covered with hurdles, ftjr a floor. The fiirmer is 

 the preferable pUm, because it prevents rats from 

 nestling under thestaddles; but in that which is 

 the most commonly adopted, a bottom is merely 

 laid of faggots and irregular billets of wood, with- 

 out any frame. They are erected of any size that 

 may suit the convenience or the fancy of the own- 

 er; but those of moderate dimensions — say 

 about 30 feet long by 12 broad at the bottom, and 

 reckoning 9 or 10 feet in height to the eaves — are 

 the most sightly, (he least exposed to accident by 

 lieating, and will contain about 20 loads. Farm- 

 ers, however, generally prefijr those which con- 

 tain double that quantity, both because there is 

 less expense in thatching, and less proportion of 

 exposed surface: the outsides always becoming 

 dusty, and inferior to the hay which is in the inte- 

 rior. The ricks should stand parallel to each other, 

 at least 10 or 12 feet asunder, that carts may have 

 room to pass between them, as well as to keep 

 a flee circulation of air in all directions; and while 

 forming they should be always covered with rick- 

 cloths supported by poles, to guard them from 

 wet, in the manner which will appear in the next 

 volume under the head of harvest. 



In forming the stacks, a layer of haulm, or 

 straw, is usually laid over the staddle, and the hay 

 is then regularly spread and even trodden down, 

 keeping the middle rather higher than the sides. In 

 tins manner it is carried evenly up to a few feet in 

 heiixlif, and is then made to project gradually out- 

 wards up to the eaves, so as to overhang the sides, 

 as it, is thus more efieciually secured against rain. 

 The roof is then raised to a considerable height, 

 in a slanting form, with gable ends, and this part 

 of the operation requires considerable care and ex- 

 perience in the building up of the rick. I3einop 

 thus formed, the bents and blades which project 

 outwards are pulled by hand, until the surface 

 presents a smooth and regular appearance, and 

 these pullings are used to top up the stack; which, 

 after being allowed a i'ew days to settle, is then 

 thatched with wetted wheat or rye straw, by men 

 who make that a business. In efiectinu this part 

 of the operation, care should, however, be taken 

 to prevent the thatchers from laying on the straw 

 in too wet a state ; lor it will then injure the hay 

 lor several inches downwards. The common 

 charge lor labor is from Is. to Is. 3d. per 100 

 square feet; the small stacks being charged high- 

 er than those of large dimensions. The quantity 

 of straw thus used in a stack containing forty 

 loads of hay, will be about two loads of straw, and 

 more in proporiion if" the slack be smaller. 



Stacks are also not unfrequently formed, when 

 of small size, quite round : and sometimes with 

 CTable ends, not too hiirh, nor yet like a house-roof 

 in the form of a triangle — but rather circular; in 

 which shape they are much less liable to admit of 

 rain passing through the thatch, and a smaller 

 quantity of straw suffices fur that purpose. 



It is the custom of many farmers to ventilate the 

 hay stacks by means of flannels in their interior, in 

 order to prevent the hay fioni becoming mow- 

 burnt, by drawing off the hot vapor occasioned by 

 fermentation, and various methods are adopted to 

 effect that purpose ; such as square troughs bored 



