Book VI. CLOVER FAMILY. 875 



5548. The best managers disapprove of spreading out the swaths of clover and rye-grass, thougli this is 

 often necessary with natural grasses, which are cut and harvested later in the season. The more the swath 

 is kept unbroken, the hay is greener, and the more, fragrant. 



5549. Another mode of hay -making, said to have been originally practised in Lancashire, has been found 

 to answer well in the moist atmosphere of the west of Scotland. This is called tippling or rippling; and 

 if the grass is dry, the operation begins as soon as it is mown. " In making a tipple, a person with his 

 right hand rolls the swath inwards, until he has a little bundle ; then the same is done by the left, until 

 both meet and form eight to twelve pounds, or nearly so. This bundle is then set up against the legs, or 

 between the feet ; a rope is twisted of the grass, while the bundle is supported in this manner, and tied 

 round it near its top ; and from the top are drawn up a few straggling stems, which are twisted to make 

 the tipple taper to a point, and give it as much a conical shape as possible. If the crop is strong, there is a 

 row of tipples placed on each swath ; if light, two of these are put into one row. After standing a few 

 hours, they become so smooth on the outside, that the heaviest rains seldom wet them through ; and when 

 wet, they are soon dried again in good weather. As soon as ready, they are put into the summer-rick, or, 

 if very dry, even into the winter stack, but are never opened out or tedded, to make them dry, as they 

 never require it. By this method, not a blade is lost, and the hay is nearly as green as a leaf dried in a 

 book. In a moderate crop, one woman will tipple to one mower, and a woman will rake to two tipplers, 

 or two swathers. But where the crop is strong, it may require three women to keep pace with two mowers. 

 After the hay is put up in this manner, the crop may be considered secure, though it may continue wet 

 weather for a considerable length of time." {General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 11.) 



5550. The making of clover hay, as practised in Courland, and adopted from that country in Silesia, is 

 said to save not only a number of hands, but the hay is better and more nourishing. The hay is prepared 

 by self.fermentation, whereby it retains its nutritious juices, and only loses its watery particles ; it is dried 

 more expeditiously by dissipation of its humidity, and contraction of the sap- vessels, and thus its nutri- 

 tious juices are concentrated. The process is conducted on the following principle, viz. the sap-vessels 

 are expanded by the circulation of the liquid juices by heat, and the superfluous humidity is exhaled : on 

 cooling, the sap-vessels contract, and thus future intestine fermentation is prevented, and the nutritious 

 quality is preserved. 



5551. The clover intended for hay, after having been mowed, remains till four o'clock in the afternoon 

 of the following day in swath to dry ; it must then be raked together into small coils, and alterwards 

 made into large cocks in the form of a sugar-loaf, and such as it would require six or eight horses to 

 remove. To prevent the air from penetrating these cocks, and to produce a quicker fermentation, they 

 must, whilst forming, be trodden down by one or two men. If it be a still, close, warm night, the ferment- 

 ation will commence in four hours, and manifest itself by a strong honey-like smell : when proper fer- 

 mentation is begun, the cocks will, on being opened, smoke, appear brownish, and may then be spread 

 abroad. If in the morning the sun is warm, and a little wind arises, the clover-hay will quickly dry ; it 

 may then, towards noon, be turned with the rake or pitch-fork, and about four in the afternoon will be 

 sufficiently dried, so that it may be immediately carted into the barn, without any danger of a second 

 fermentation. By this method of management, the clover will require only three days, from the time of 

 mowing to its being housed, and very little work ; whilst, in the common way, even in good weather, it 

 requires six or eight days. In the old method it frequently becomes of a black colour; but in the new 

 method it is only brown, has an agreeable smell, and remains good and unchangeable in the barn. The 

 'armer has also another advantage, that if he has not carts enough to carry it into the barn, he need only, 

 at sun-setting, heap it again into large well trodden cocks, and thatch them with straw, in which state 

 they will remain the whole summer without damage or loss. This clover-hay is not only greedily eaten by 

 sheep and lambs, but also by horses, calves, and cows. 



.5552. This new mode of tnaking hay depends principally upon two circumstances : first, that the mown 

 clover, when brought together in to large heaps, may ferment equally and expeditiously ; secondly, that 

 the day succeeding the fermentation be dry, sunny, and windy : on this account it may be proper to point 

 out what should be done when circumstances are unfavourable. Let us suppose, therefore, that the night 

 after the clover-grass has been placed in the great cocks is cold, damp, or rainy, the fermentation will yet 

 take place, although it may require a term of twelve, sixteen, or twenty-four hours to effect it. If it be a 

 second or a third crop, at which season the nights are colder, it may even require from thirty-six to forty- 

 eight hours before the fermentation ensues: it will, however, commence, and may be ascertained from 

 this circumstance, that you can scarcely bear your hand in the interior of the cock. Even if the night be 

 dry, yet if a strong cold wind blows, the cock may not ferment equally, but only in the middle, and on 

 the side opposite to the wind ; the ether pans may still remain green. In such a case the following rules 

 must be attended to : 



5553. Rule first. If the cock has only fermented in the middle, and on that side where the cold wind 

 did not act upon it, the whole heap must nevertheless be opened on the following morning. That which 

 has already fermented must be separated and spread to dry ; it must be turned towards noon, and may be 

 carted into the barn in the evening ; but that part of the cock which has not fermented must be again 

 put together into large cocks, and fermented in the same manner as the preceding part, after which it 

 may be spread to dry, and brought into the barn. 



5.5.54. Rule second. In such cases where a small portion of the cock has fermented thoroughly, but not 

 the greater part, the heap must be spread abroad in the morning, but must be again made into a close 

 cock in the evening, in such a manner that the part which has fermented be placed at the top or outside 

 of the cock, and that which has not fermented be inclosed within it; then on the ensuing morning, or, 

 if the weather be cold and rainy, on the morning afterwards, the clover-heap may be again spread abroad, 

 and the clover treated as in the case first mentioned. 



555.5. Rule third. If, in spreading the heap abroad, it be found that nearly the whole of the clover 

 has fermented, it will not be necessary to delay the housing of the whole on account of some small 

 portion ; but the clever may be dried and carted into the barn. The small portion which remained unfer- 

 mented will not occasion any disaster to the other which has fermented ; for there is a material difference 

 betwixt hay thus managed, and the meadow-grass which is brought whilst damp, or wet with rain, into 

 the barn, which will grow musty and putrid. 



55.56. Rule fourth. In such instances, where some of the cocks of clover have thoroughly fermented, 

 and it rains on the morning, they ought to be spread abroad, for the clover must be opened and spread, 

 even if it rains violently ; since, if it were suffered to remain longer in the heap, it would take fire, or its 

 juices would be injured by too much fermentation ; the leaves and stalks would become black, and the 

 clover unfit for food : therefore, if the rain continues, the spread clover must be turned from time to time, 

 but not carted into the barn till dry. This drying takes place, if the rain discontinues for a few hours, 

 much more expeditiously with the clover which has fermented, than with that made in the common way. 

 Besides which, it must be remarked, that the fermented clover remains good, even if it continues some 

 weeks exposed to the rain, provided it is at last suffered to dry before it is put into the barn ; otherwise the 

 wet from the rain will render it musty and bad. The clover which has been for so long a time exposed to 

 the rain will not, however, be so nutritious as that which has been well fermented and sooner dried ; but 

 it will be far superior to that which has been exposed to the rain, and got up in the common method, 

 {h'lapmeyer in Thaer's Annalen, &c.) 



55i)7. Hay is stacked in circular or oblong stacks, the latter form being most generally approved of, and 

 carefully thatched, as has been already observed in regard to corn. It is never advisable to allow this 

 kind of hay to become licated in any considerable degree, in the stack, though a slight exudation, with a 



