840 THE COMPLETE GKAZIER. BOOK ix. 



CHAPTER VII. 

 ON STACKING HAY. 



FT1HERE is great difference of opinion among agriculturists respecting 

 _|_ the relative advantages of stacking hay and housing it in barns, and 

 the method followed in each locality is usually determined by climate 

 and situation. In Lancashire, and other northern counties, hay-barns 

 have been erected on pillars, and covered with slates. The floors of 

 some of them are boarded with loose planks, perforated with holes, 

 and lying hollow for a certain space above the ground, for the purpose 

 of admitting a free circulation of air beneath. These buildings are 

 cheap, useful, and very convenient ; in the dry season they save much 

 litter and waste, and in wet seasons the advantage afforded by them of 

 quickly securing the hay will often prove of no slight pecuniary 

 importance to the farmer. Besides, they admit of the hay being cut, 

 weighed, and bound, during bad weather, none of which operations 

 could then be performed without shelter. Experience has proved that 

 the quality of hay is improved by moderate sweating in the stack ; and 

 it will generally be found to be preserved sweeter in stacks than in 

 close barns. A barn, however, consisting merely of a floor and roof 

 supported by posts, and open at the sides, will be found exceedingly 

 useful. This is commonly called a Dutch barn, and has come much 

 into vogue since the introduction of light corrugated iron roofing. 

 When this is not available, rick-cloths and poles should always be 

 used while the stack is forming, in order to preserve it from rain until 

 thatched. 



Although a slight degree of fermentation or sweating, as the farmer 

 calls it, always takes place, both before and after the hay is stacked, 

 its taste and nutritive quality being thereby improved, great care 

 must be taken that the process is not carried too far, or the result may 

 be the heating and firing of the rick. Even if the fermentation does 

 not proceed to such an extent, the nutritive properties of the hay will 

 be much lessened. Some of it obtains a sweet sugary taste, and is 

 eaten greedily by horses and cattle, but it is too apt to produce disease 

 of the urinary organs, and, occasionally, lays the foundation of some 

 fatal malady. The colour of the hay changes to dark-brown, and it 

 becomes akered in texture. It is as short and brittle as rotten wood, 

 and has a disagreeable taste. Another portion, perhaps, becomes 

 mouldy, stinking, and thoroughly rotten. 



One objection to mow-burnt hay is that it does almost irreparable 

 harm before its dangerous effects are suspected. The animal will eat 

 greedily of it at first, but, in the course of a little time, he begins to be 

 disgusted, not onry with it, but with all other food, and becomes hide- 

 bound and emaciated. Cattle are less injured by it than horses, but it 



