428 On Grass Land. 



The great advantage of converting under-ripe clover into 

 hay, is now beginning to be known. There is more nutri- 

 tious matter in it ; and though the crop of clover, when cut 

 in the early part of the season, may be ten per cent, lighter, 

 than when it is fully ripe, yet the loss is amply counter- 

 balanced, by obtaining an earlier, a more valuable, and more 

 nourishing article, while the next crop will proportionably 

 be more heavy. The hay from old grass, it has been justly 

 remarked, will carry on stock, but it is only hay from young 

 grass, that will fatten them. 



After being cut, the clover should remain in the swath, 

 till it is dried about two-thirds of its thickness. It is then, 

 not tedded or strewed, but turned over, either by the hands, 

 or the heads of hay-rakes. If turned over in the morning 

 of a dry day, it may be cocked in the evening. The hay 

 should be as little shaken or scattered about afterwards as 

 possible ; and if the weather be good, after remaining for 

 some time, according to the season, in the cock, it may be 

 carted into the stack ( 361 ). 



A crop of clover will yield from two to three tons of hay 

 per statute acre. It sells, in the London market, for about 

 15s. per ton higher than meadow hay. 



A new mode of making hay, originally tried in Lancashire, 

 called " gaiting" or " tippling" (that is, tying up the grass 

 in small bundles, as soon as it is cut), has been strongly re- 

 commended. When the weather is favourable, it may be 

 stacked, by this process, on the fifth day. The expense of 

 binding, and of setting up, costs only 2s. 6d. per acre ; and 

 a finer sample cannot be had from any stack of clover, than 

 what it produces. The colour of the hay is beautifully green, 

 and the smell most fragrant ( 36 *). 



On the value of Red Clover as a crop. With the exception 

 of lucern, and the herbage of rich marshes, there is no crop, 

 by which so much stock can be supported, as clover. It 

 may be profitably employed in fattening sheep in spring, 

 and with this food, they will soon be ready for the butcher. 

 Afterwards, a crop of hay may be got; and two or three 

 weeks after the hay has been taken off, sheep intended to 

 be fattened on turnips, may be turned in, and kept there, 

 until the turnips are ready for them ( 3G3 ). 



On taxing Clover Seed. It will hardly be credited, that 

 there is a duty of L. 20 per ton on imported clover seed. 

 No tax could be more impolitic, for the importance of this 

 article to British agriculture can hardly be sufficiently ap- 

 preciated ; and it is in the highest degree impolitic, to dis- 



