MANAGEMENT OF GRASS LANDS. 259 



These ricks are made by a person standing upon them to 

 build and compress them. They are formed with a conical 

 top, and are each bound down with a rope made of the hay 

 itself. In this state, if properly made, they will resist a con- 

 siderable fall of rain; but, it must be remembered that the hay 

 is not to be suffered to remain longer in the ricks than is ne- 

 cessary to dry it in a sufficient degree to fit it for storing in the 

 barn or in larger stacks. This is the English practice, and 

 prevails in some parts of our country.* 



When hay is put into stacks, as is very frequently the case, 

 the greatest care and nicety is to be observed in their con- 

 struction; the stacks should be well thatched with straw, and 

 present a neat and workmanlike appearance. But hay, when 

 placed in large masses, will generally undergo a slight degree 

 of heat. In the case of the clovers and grasses, the slighter the 

 better; and hence the necessity of a previous preparation of 

 the material as careful as the state of the weather will allow. | 



Great difficulty is often experienced in the processes of the 

 hay-harvest by the wetness of the weather. In such cases the 

 farmer is obliged to watch the favourable intervals, and employ 

 every practicable means to forward the operations and secure 

 the crop. Some persons recommend the strewing of salt upon 

 the hay, as the building of the stack proceeds. This is a good 

 practice, as it corrects the tendency to fermentation, and ren- 

 ders injured hay palatable to stock. 



In the making of hay, the great end to be aimed at is to 

 prepare it as quickly as possible, and with as little exposure to 

 the weather, and as little waste of the natural juices as circum- 

 stances will allow. When we are enabled to do this, the hay 

 will be sweet, fragrant, and of a greenish colour. 



The common method of curing dor er hay is bad. The object to be obtained 

 is to cure the hay in the cheapest and best manner. The practice [heretofore 

 generally followed] of spreading from the swarth, causes the leaves and blos- 

 soms to dry and crumble before the stems are sufficiently cured, by which 

 means the finer parts of the hay are lost, or the crop is housed with so much 

 moisture, as to cause it to heat and often to spoil. Clover should only be 

 spread when it has become wet in the swarth, and should be gathered again 

 before the leaves dry and crumble. Both these evils may be avoided and 

 labour saved withal, by curing the grass wholly in swarth and cock. After 

 experiencing the serious disadvantages of the old method, I adopted that I 

 am about to recommend, and have pursued it satisfactorily for fifteen years. 

 Judge BUEL. 



My practice has been, to leave the clover to wither in the swarth, and when 

 partially dried, either to turn the swarths, or to make grass cocks the same 

 day, so as to secure the dried portions from the dew. That which is not put 

 into cocks the first day, is thus secured the second day, or as soon as it has De- 

 come partially dried. These grass cocks are permitted to stand one, two or 

 three days, according as the weather is, and as the curing process has pro- 



* Professor Low's Elements, p. 454. t Ibid. 



