FARMERS' REGISTER— HAY MAKING. 



61 



middle, which was mouldy, where tlie rain had 

 got to it, notwithstanding it had been covered with 

 a canvass cloth, or soldier's tent. Some salt had 

 been put in here, when fresh hay Avas put upon it, 

 and the stock eat even this very well. 



In the hay time of 1S21 other engagements pre- 

 vented my making any experiments. 



In 1822, we began mowing clover on the ISthof 

 June, and got up two loads on the 17th, on which 

 day also we began mowing grass. On the 18th, two 

 loads of clover ; on the 19th, three loads of grass 

 hay; 20th, two ditto; 21st, three ditto ; 22d, two 

 ditto; 24th, two ditto; 25th, one ditto; 26Lh, two 

 ditto; 27th, the hay-stack, an oblong one, was 

 trimmed up, and I put the thermometer (which 

 stood at 70"^ in the open air) in, from the top, about 

 18 inches. After a few minutes it rose to 88°. 

 The hole was made deeper, by putting up more 

 hay, and I put the thermometer in about two feet, 

 and, after a few minutes, it was at 94° ; and, after 

 a third trial, at 96°. My farming man thought 

 the hay was as well got up, and was doing as well 

 as hay could do. We added one load to it July 

 3rd, another on the 4th, and two on the 6th, and 

 four loads of clover on the 9th. The stack was 

 thatched on the 12th. Business prevented my 

 making any experiments on the heat after the 

 27th of June. The hay turned out perfectly good. 



In 1823, we began with mowing some tares 

 on the 10th of July, and grass the next day. V/e 

 did not get up any till the 17th, (there having been 

 rain on the 11th, 12th, 13th, and lc)th,) when we 

 got up two loads ; on the 22nd, one load ; on the 

 24th, five loads. On the 30th we got up one load 

 of tares; August 4th, three loads; and on the 5th, 

 two loads, when we finished. 



Having found in former experiments, that the 

 thermometer fell, on feeling the cooler air, almost 

 before I could observe it, I thought we might ob- 

 tain a more permanent specimen of the heat hj 

 plunging a wide-mouthed quart bottle full of wa- 

 ter into the hay-stack ; and, accordingly, on the 

 27th, my man put one in about two feet deep. On 

 the 28th, in the afternoon, tlie thermometer in the 

 open air being at 60°, I put it into the hole above 

 the bottle, and it rose to 70°. I then took out the 

 bottle, and put the thermometer into the water, 

 when it rose to 130°, and I could scaixely bear my 

 finger in it. On the 29th, the thermometer being 

 at 64° in the open air, I put it into the hole, and it 

 rose to 74° ; in the water to 130°. At the bottom 

 of the hole, the bottle being taken out, it was at 

 100». The 30th, the thermometer being 63", it 

 rose in the water to 129*^. When it was cooled 

 again to 80", I put it into the hole, and it I'ose to 90". 

 This day one load of tares, very dry, was put on, 

 which I'aised the stack about two feet. The bottle 

 was put in, the bottom being nearly level with the 

 bottom of the tares, and on the 2d of August it 

 was scarcely warm. The stack was kept covered 

 with the cloth at night, and when it rained, or 

 when rain was expected; and on the 7th, in the 

 evening, the thermometer being at 60°, on putting 

 it into the water, it rose to 112". On the 12th, at 

 half past seven in the evening, the cloth having 

 been over the stack, the thermometer being at 70", 

 I put it into the water, and it rose to 122". When 

 taken out, and cooled to 86", I put it into tlic hole, 

 and it rose to 92". On the 13th, the cloth having 

 Jieen put off some hours, the thermometer being 

 at 70", rose in the bottle to 126". When cooled 



to 76", and being put into the hole, it rose to 85". 

 September the 19th, (he stack was thatched, when 

 it was still warm, warmer than new milk. 



In the winter, when the hay was cut, it was 

 mouldy in those places where we had stopped in 

 laying on the loads, and the wet had got to it 

 through the cloth. We had scattered salt on those 

 places as it was made up, and the stock, on the 

 whole, cat it well. My farming man thinks that 

 the hay heated well : that it did not heat too much : 

 and that, had it heated less, it would not have been 

 so good. The stock, however, did not eat it like 

 good hay, & it was not profitable in promoting milk. 



These experiments are not related as models, 

 but merely, as before stated, to suggest the mak- 

 ing others on better principles. A certain degree 

 of heat is necessary, Ave know, in order to bring 

 on the saccharine or sweet fermentation, and make 

 good hay ; carried much beyond that, the bitumi- 

 nous or pitchy fermcniaiion takes place, and it be- 

 comes Avhat is called moio-hurnt, and has little or 

 no nourishment in it; and^vitha greater degree of 

 heat it takes fire. To ascertain the point and 

 means of attaining the first of these stages, is the 

 desirable object. It is already customary with 

 some to have a flue, or chimney, through the stack, 

 to give vent to the heat, and prevent its firing. 

 This flue is made sometimes by fixing a wooden 

 flue upright in the middle, Avhen the stack is be- 

 gun ; sometimes by fixing a long pole, and draw- 

 ing it up as the stack rises in height ; and some- 

 times a sack stuffed with straw is used for the 

 same purpose. But I do not recollect to have 

 seen, or heard, or seen it suggested, to have flues 

 along the bottom of the stack, to communicate 

 with the upright one. For this purpose I would 

 have a raised foundation, laid of brickwork, or 

 stone, or earth, above a foot in height, Avith flues 

 in it of perhaps a foot or more square ; the upper 

 part to be covered over Avith pieces of board, Avith 

 intervals betAveen, or Avith faggot Avood, to prevent 

 the hay firing. In a round stack, or cock, two 

 flues, cutting each other at right angles in the cen- 

 tre, might be sufficient; but in a long stack there 

 should be one along the middle of the length, and 

 tAvo or more across the shorter diameter; and 

 Avhere these intersect each other, the Avooden or 

 perpendicular flues should be erected. These, for 

 the purpose of making them more portable, might 

 be made in joints, or portions, to be put upon each 

 other as the stack rises, and not made of Avhole 

 boards, but of slats Avith spaces betAveen ; and at 

 the ends of all the flues I Avould have Avooden stop- 

 pers, (like the stoppers Avhich we often see used to 

 put into the sockets made to hold the posts for the 

 lines to be fixed to in a ground for drying linen,) 

 by means of Avhich the flues could be more or less 

 opened or closed, and the current of air regulated 

 for regulating the heat of the hay, and might be 

 quite stopped up when the hay had attained its pro- 

 per state. 



Hoping that some of your correspondents Avill 

 take the subject into consideration, and give us the 

 result, I am sir, yours, &c. a farmer. 



There are few if any operations in rural economy less 

 understood by us than hay-making The process is 

 almost every Avhere conducted according to rules found- 

 ed on former jiracticc, but seldom have they been tested 

 by any judicious and accurate experiments — and the 

 partial success achieved (for the success is never com- 



