292 THE COMPLETE FTiRMER 



ed over (not tedded nor scattered) without breaking it. 

 Sonietim3s this is done by the hand, or by a smill fork; 

 and some farmers are so anxious to prevent the swath from 

 being broken, that they will not permit the use of the rake 

 shaft. Another writer observes, that the practice of the best 

 English, Flemish, and French farmers, is .,0 expose the hay 

 as little as possible to the sun. It is carried in dry, but pre- 

 serves its green color ; and we see hay of one or two years 

 old in their market, of so bright a green color that we could 

 scarcely conceive it to be cured. Yet they are in the prac- 

 tice of preserving it for years, and value it more for its age. 

 If such a course be best in climates so cool and cloudy, 

 how much more important would it be under our scorching 

 summer suns. 



'But if the weather be unsettled, or if showers be frequent, 

 it may be better to spread grass well as soon as it is mowed, 

 stir it often, cock it the same day it is mowed ; open it the 

 next fair day, when the dew is off; let it sweat a little in the 

 cock, and house it as soon as it is dry enough. It will bear 

 to be laid greener on a scaffold than in a ground mow ; and 

 in a narrow mow greener than in a broad one ; and that 

 which is least of all made should be put upon the scaffold.* 

 — Deajie. 



Sir John Sinclair is very explicit on the subject of ' mak- 

 ing clover into hay.' ' The process,' he observes, ' is quite 

 different from the plan of making hay from natural grasses. 

 Mr. Lorrain gives us both sides of this question. He says, 

 ' I did not like to abandon the practice of curing hay in the 

 swath, having observed that it saved labor. The grasses are 

 at all times very expeditiously turned in the swath. If con- 

 tinued rains occur, the swaths are not only quickly turned, 

 but if the sun shines powerfully between the showers, the 

 inside of them is not parched by its rays. By turning the 

 swaths throughout long continued rain, as often as the un- 

 der side of them was likely to be injured by fermentation, I 

 have saved extensive fields of hay ; while my neighbors, 

 who gave no attention to this interesting subject, had their 

 crops entirely ruined. If the grasses, however, be raked up 

 into small winrows, they are as readily turned, and may be 

 as effectually preserved as if they remained in swaths, but in 

 this case the labor is greater.' 



The same writer, however, in the next paragraph, takes 

 other ground. ' Curing hay,' he observes, ' in sw^ath, to save 

 the juices, seems to be not only practically wrong, but also 



