454 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



fall of holes, or nailed totrether with laths, or with 

 sacks liill of straw, which are placed upright, and 

 the hay trod round them as the making of the 

 stack proceeds, until the sack is nearly buried, 

 wiien it is drawn up a little, and the hay laid round 

 it as before. The advantages supposed to be 

 thus trained are, however, counteracted by the 

 parts on every side of sucli vents becoming moul- 

 dy, unless a free ihroughfare be secured lijr the 

 air underneath ; and in case ot a current being 

 thus admitted into the stack, it then greatly increases 

 the risk of fire. It is, therefjre, justly reprobated 

 by every skilful haymaker, and should only be re- 

 sorted to when occaoioned by wet weather; in 

 which case the danger n)ay be parti}' prevented by 

 mixing the hay with layers of straw. 



[t is well known that a moderate degree of fer- 

 mentation, or sweating of hay in the stack, has the 

 efiect of communicating a flavor to it which — as 

 exemplified in the dilierence between old and new 

 hay — not only renders it more really nutritious 

 and wholesome, but certainly makes it more pala- 

 table to the cattle which are fed upon it than such 

 as has never gone through that ojieration; and the 

 greater the quantity of sap whicii can be retained 

 in the hay without endangering its being fired, or 

 becoming movv-burnt, the more perceptible will be 

 the fragrance of that flavor. The time of getting 

 the hay into stack, therefore, requires considera- 

 ble judgment, and depends not alone upon the state 

 of the weather, but also upon the condition and 

 quality of the crop. In the present parching sum- 

 mer we have seen some scanty crops carried off 

 the meadows, and slacked without risk on the se- 

 cond day afier they had been cut; for althoush 

 this might have been attended with danger had 

 the grass been succulent and weighty, yet if light 

 crops, or those produced upon a poor or unnianured 

 soil, were to be long exposed to the action of the 

 sun and air, their juices would be dried up, and 

 they would lose both in their weight and in their 

 nutritive value. The process of drying may, 

 therefore, be contiimed too long; or it may, on 

 the contrary, be not carried far enough. Accidents 

 of the latter kind not unfrequenily happen to rich 

 crops in fine sunny weather, which by drying the 

 surface gives a withered appeaiance to the grass, 

 and leads to the supposition that it is in a state fit 

 to be stacked ; but, the evaporation being only 

 external, and too much of ihe sap being thus re- 

 tained, the fermentation in the rick becomes too 

 great, and if if should escape being fired, it at least 

 loses much of its fi-agrant smell, acquires a dark 

 brown color which increases towards the centre, 

 and thus becomes what is termed mnw-burnt — 

 which is said to weaken horses that eat it, by pro- 

 moting an excess of urine. In like manner, hay 

 which has been put into stack in a damp state, be- 

 sides being exposed to the same risk, is also sub- 

 ject to become mouldy — in which condition nothino: 

 but extreme hunger will compel cattle to eat it ; 

 but if neither movv-burnt, nor mouldy, fiirmers do 

 not object to the color being somewhat brown, as 

 they consider it a proof of the nutritive properties 

 of the hay. 



On what we have formerly stated in recommen- 

 dation of the application of salt in the stacking of 

 ail kinds of hay, when coarse, or injured by'^the 

 wet of an unfavorable season, it has been remark- 

 ed, that if it be put into the stack wet, and rainy 

 weather follow immediately, it must increase the 



dampness, as it is a well-established fact that salt 

 attracts the moisture of the atmosphere, and, 

 therefore, must increase the risk of fermentation.* 

 On which we have only to observe, that, al- 

 thoush that theory is cnntradicted by experience, 

 which shows that the attraction of tiie salt acts 

 upon the moisture of hay instead of that on the 

 atmosphere, and thus checks fermentalion ; yet 

 our observations did not extend to hay which was 

 absolutely wet, but to that which is in such a 

 state of dampness as to render it liable to become 

 musty ; and if it be merely coarse, or sapless 

 throuirh repeated changes of the weather, the ef- 

 fect of about 14 lbs. of fine salt sif'ted regularly 

 throuirh each ton of hay, when it is put into the 

 stack, will certainly improve its quality, although 

 it may injure its color.! 



Jlay barns possess the decided advantage of 

 not only forming a secure receptacle for the hay, 

 but also affording considerable convenience during 

 catching weather in carrying small quantities at 

 a time as soon as it is ready, as well as in unload- 

 ing the wagons under covpr, when it could not be 

 done with safely in an exposed yard, and thus in- 

 sure employment for hands which might other- 

 wise remain idle. In winter they also admit of 

 the hay being cut out of stack, weighed, and 

 bound, in perfect safety, which could not some- 

 times be done out of doors, either with regard to 

 the security of the crop, or the comfort of the peo- 

 ple employed in preparing it fijr market. It is like- 

 wise the opinion of many farmers that hay may 

 be put together earlier, even by a day, than it 

 would be safe to do it in a stack. The expense 

 of thatching hay, especially in the neighborhood 

 of large tovvns where straw is dear, amounts io 

 common seasons to about 2s., and in some cases 

 2s. 6d. per load; though from that is to be deduct- 

 ed the value of the straw as litter when the stack 

 is cut : in hay-barns this charge is avoided ; and 

 as there is a further saving occasioned by the fa- 

 cility of loaiiing the hay, and afterwards of cut- 

 ting it for market under cover, these sums iiave, 

 in wet seasons, amounted to something conside- 

 rable. Mr. Middleton, the well-known author of 

 the "Middlesex Survey," erected one capable of 

 containing one hundred loads of hav, upon oak 

 posts, in a most complete manner, at West Barnes 

 farm, in Surrey, where he resided during many 

 years; and he says, that the savinirs equalled its 

 cost in two years: but this was aided by the then 

 hiirh price of straw. With this building we are 

 well acquainted, and we can vouch that it contains 

 all the conveniences already stated ; nor, although 

 the land is hiojhly manured, and the hny produced 

 upon the fitrm is of excellent quality, has there 

 ever been an instance of its being too much heat- 

 ed. The roof IS tiled, and it is boarded to some 

 distance below the eaves: the entrance being in 

 the centre, it forms two large bays for the reception 

 of the crop, and affords complete shelter to a cou- 

 ple of wagons. 



We must, however, admit that hay stacked in 

 the same yard cuts out of the rick in rather finer 



* See Cliapter xviii. p. 335. 



t On tliis siibjfct, see most of tho County Surveys, 

 in some of which double tliat quantity is recommend- 

 ed ; also, the Treatise on the Horse, published in the 

 Farmer's Series of the Library of Useful Knowledge, 

 p. 357. 



