904 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part 111. 



rake the grass into single wind-rows ; then the double wind- cool and cloudy, no part of it probably will be fit to carrv. Ira 



rows are put into bastard-cocks ; and lastly, the wind-rows are that case, the first thing set about after dinner, is to rake that 



put into grass-cocks. This completes the work of the second -which was in grass-cocks last night into double wind-rows ; 



day. then the grass which was this morning spread from the swaths 



5797. Third day. The grass mown and not spread on the into single wind-rows. After this, the hay which was last night 



second day, and also that mown in the early part of this day, is in bastard-cocks, is made up into full-sized cocks, and care 



first to be tedded in the morning, and then the grass-cocks are taken to rake the hay up clean, and also to put the rakings 



" be spread into staddles as before, and the bastard-cocks into upon the top of each cock. Next, the double wind-rows are 



staddles of less extent. These smaller staddles, though last put into bastard-cocks, and the single wind-rows into grass 



spread, are first turned, then those which were in grass-cocks ; cocks, as on the preceding dnvs. 



and next the grass is turned once or twice before twelve or one 6798. Fourth Jay. On this day the great cocks, just men 



spread, are first turned, then those which were in grass-cocks ; cocks, as on the preceding d 



\A next the grass is turned once or twice before twelve or one 6798. Fourth Jay. On this nay the great cocks, ju 



dock, when the pco|)'e go to dinner as usual. If the weather tioned, are usually carried before dinner. The other oper- 



has proved sunny and fine, the hay which was last night in ations of the day are such, and in the same order, as before 

 bastard-cocks will this afternoon be in a proper state to be car- described, and are continued daily until the hay harvest is 

 Tied ; but if the weather should, on the contrary, have been completed. 



5799. Js general rules, the grass should, as much as possible, be protected both day and night, a,.^ainst 

 rain and dew, by cocking. Care should also be taken to proportion the number of hay-makers to that ot 

 the mowers, so that there may not be more grass in hand at anyone time than can be managed according 

 to the foregoing process. This proportion is about twenty hay-makers (of which number twelve may be 

 women) to four mowers ; the latter are sometimes taken half a day to assist the former. But in hot, windy, 

 or very drying weather, a greater proportion of hay.makers will be required than when the weather i.9 

 cloudy and cool. It is particularly necessary to guard against spreading more hay than the number of 

 hands can get into cocks the same day, or before rain. In showery and uncertain weather, the grass may 

 sometimesbesuffered to lie three, four, or even fivedays.in swath. IJutbefore it has lain long enough for the 

 imder side of the swath to become yellow (which, if suffered to lie long, would be the case), particular care 

 should be taken to turn the swaths with the heads of the rakes. In this state, it will cure so much in about 

 two days, as only to require being tedded a few hours when the weather is fine, previously to its being 

 put together and carried. In this manner hay may be made and put into the stack at a small expense, 

 and of a moderately good colour ; but the tops and bottoms of the grass are insufficiently separated 

 by it. 



5800. The hay-teddln^, machine has been invented since Middleton described the hand process as above. 

 This maciiine {fig. 372.) is found to be a most important saving of manual labour. It is computed that a 

 boy and horse with the machine will ted as much in an hour as twelve or fifteen women. The hay-rake, 

 which may be added to the same axle when the tedder is removed, is also an equal saving, and a requisite 

 accompaniment to it; as where few or no women are kept for tedding, there must necessarily be a defi- 

 ciency of rakers. These machines are coming into general use near London, where the price of manual 

 labour is high and hands sometimes scarce. They are also finding their way among the proprietors 

 of extensive parks in all parts of the country, as saving much labour in making hay from natural 

 pasture. 



5801. There are no haii-stacks more neatly formed, nor better secured, than those made in Middlesex. 

 At every vacant time, while the stack is carrying up, the men are employed in pulling it, with their hands, 

 into a proper shape ; and, about a week after it is finished, the whole roof is properly thatched, and then 

 secured from receiving any damage from the wind, by means of a straw rope, extended along the eaves, 

 up the ends, and on each side of the ridge. The ends of the thatch are afterwards cut evenly below the 

 eaves of the stack, just of sufficient length for the rain-water to drip quite clear of the hay. When the 

 stack happens to be placed in a situation which may be suspected of being too damp in the winter, a trench, 

 of about six or eight inches deep, is dug round and nearly close to it, which serves to convey all the water 

 trova. the spot, and renders it perfectly dry and secure. 



5802. During the hay harvest it is of great advantage to the farmer, to give constant personal attendance 

 on every party, directing each operation as it goes on. The man who would cure his hay in the best 

 manner, and at a moderate expense, must not only urge the persons who make the hay, the men who 

 load the waggons, and those who make the stack, but he should be on the alert, to contrive and point out 

 the manner in which every person may do his labour to the most advantage. Unless he does this, one 

 moiety of the people in his hay-field will be of no material use to him; and if he should be absent for an 

 hour or more, during that time little or nothing will be done. The farmers of Middlesex engage many 

 hay-makers . some of them have been known to employ two or three hundred ; such men find it neces- 

 sary to be on horseback, and the work-people find tliem sufficient employment. A man of energy will 

 make the most of every hour, and secure his hay while the sun shines ; one of an opposite description 

 lounges ills time away, and siifFers his hay to be caught in the rain, by which it is frequently half spoiled. 

 Or if the latter should have the good fortuneof a continuance of dry weather, his hay will be a week longer 

 in the field than his neighbour's, and the sap of it dried up by the sun. 



5803. The laaste of grass, on being dried into hay, is supposed to be three parts in four by the time it is 

 laid on the stack; it is then further reduced, by heat and evaporation; in about a month, perhaps one 

 twentieth more; or 600 lb. of grass are reduced to 95 lb. of hay, and between that and 9U it continues 

 through the winter. From the middle of March till September, the operations of trussing and marketing 

 expose itso much to the sun and wind, as to render it considerably lighter, probab'y 80 ; that is, hay which 

 would weigh 90 the instant it is separated from the stack, would waste to 80 (in trussing, exposure on the 

 road, and at market for about 24 hours), by the time it is usually delivered to a purchaser. During the 

 following winter, the waste will be little or nothing. It is nearly obvious, that the same hay will weigh 

 on delivery 80 in summer, and 90 in winter. From this circumstance, and others which relate to price, a 

 farmer may determine what season of the year is the most advisable for him to sell his hay. 



5804. In making the hay of bog meadows, considerable care is requisite both from the inferiority of the 

 climates where such bogs abound, and from the nature of the grasses they produce. In some cases, the 

 grass is of so soft a quality, that it is difficult to convert it into hay. To prevent its being consolidated in 

 the cocks, it must be frequently opened up, and when the weather permits, completely exposed to the sun 

 and wind; this sort of grass being only capable of sustaining a very moderate degree of fermentation. 



5805. When the natural herbage is of a coarser description, it may be put into small cocks, in rather a 

 green or damp state, so as to go through the progress of " a sweating," or slight fermentation. The woody 

 fibres in coarse hay are thus rendered more palatable and nutritious, while its condition for becoming 

 fodder is considerably improved : but when any warmth becomes perceptible, if the weather will permit, 

 the hay should be spread out, and put into large cocks, the moment it is in a dried state. 



5806. In the moister pastoral districts, in the north-west parts of Scotland, hay-barns, it is thought by 

 some, would be advantageous; the construction should be as open as possible, for thepurpose of drying, 

 as well as of preserving the hay. In some of these districts, a curious device has been fallen upon, of 

 making the dried hay into ropes of two fathoms in length, and then twisted twofold. Being thus com- 

 pressed, less room is required in the barn ; and in this shape it is carried, with greater facility, to distant 

 glens, for the use of cattle during stormy weather. 



.5807. In making florin hay (if hay it may be called, which is never dried) it is merely cut and put into 

 small cocks, from which it is commonly taken as wanted. When it is to be put into larger cocks, it must 

 be proportionally better dried. The stolones of this grass being remarkably vivacious, cannot easily be so 

 dried as to admit of stacking in large bodies. 



5808. The salting of hay, at the time of stacking, has been practised in Derbyshire and in the North 

 Riding of Yorkshire. The salt, particularly when applied to the crop of rouen, or when the first crop has 

 received much rain, checks the fermentation, and prevents moulding. If straw is mixed with the hay, 

 the heating of the .stack is still further prevented, by the straw imbibing the moisture. Cattle will eat, 

 not only such salted hay but even the straw mixed with it, more eagerly than better hay not salted, and 



