CHAP. vi. THE HAY CROP. 837 



morning, and if the sun prove hot it will spoil the colour to scatter 

 the grass very much. Greenness is one of the indications of well- 

 made hay, while a brown shade, whether resulting from rain or sun- 

 burning, is a certain sign of deteriorated condition. Three days 

 ought to suffice to make good hay in fair weather from an ordinary 

 crop. Grass which is cut one day, tedded repeatedly the next, cocked 

 that night, and opened out again on the following morning, may be 

 fit to carry in the afternoon of that the third day. A very heavy 

 crop, however, or a crop in which there is an unusual proportion of 

 clover, must not be ricked so quickly, nor must it be left too thin 

 on the ground. Succulent grass, with large solid stems full of 

 moisture, is least easy to turn into hay, and is most liable to fire 

 when ricked. The leaves and smaller shoots become ready to carry 

 before the succulent stems, and this danger is often greatest in fine 

 weather. Those who have had experience with water-meadows are 

 aware of the extreme hazard of carrying hay from them too soon. 

 An old and safe test of fitness is to gather together a few of the 

 stout stems and twist them tightly into a rope. If moisture exudes, 

 the grass is not read} 7 for the rick. Clover stems, cow grass espe- 

 cially, also contain a large amount of moisture, and if ricked too 

 soon there is a risk of the temperature rising injuriously. The use 

 of the haymaking machine must be avoided entirely when clover 

 forms a large proportion of the crop. 



" Dry and benty grass which does not contain much clover will 

 almost ' make itself in fine weather, and but little fear need be 

 entertained that it will fire. Indeed, if the rick does not heat some- 

 what the h&y will be of inferior quality. 



" ' Weathered ' hay that is, hay which has been repeatedly soaked 

 and dried until much of its value has been lost will be improved 

 in quality and made much more palatable to stock by sprinkling 

 coarse salt over the layers of the rick as the building proceeds. 

 From ten to twenty pounds of salt should be used for each ton 

 of hay. 



"After grass is cut for hay, it parts with nearly three-fourths of its 

 weight by evaporation, but no chemical change of importance occurs 

 in the field. In the rick, however, very considerable chemical reactions 

 take place, such as the creation of sugar by the action of heat on 

 the starch contained in the grass. The difference between good and 

 bad hay nearly as often results from too little or too great heat 

 being evolved in the stack, as from faults in the process before 

 stacking. Overheating, even when it does not go so far as to blacken 

 and char the hay, produces so much acetic acid as to make the 

 fodder sour and unpalatable. Dr. Thompson showed that 387 pounds 

 of grass are required to make 100 pounds of hay. The loss is chiefly 

 water, but not entirely so, as is demonstrated by the fact that an 

 animal which thrives on 100 pounds of grass will not do nearly so 

 well on 25 pounds of hay supplemented with 75 pounds of water. 

 The loss of nutritious ingredients is of course attributable to the 

 process of fermentation carried on in the stack. The sugar has 



