MODE OF MAKING IT INTO HAY. 109 



the leaves get easily separated from the stems and lost 

 on the field, the stems get bruised and broken, and 

 allow the juices to exude and become oxidized and changed 

 by exposure to the air, while the object of the farmer 

 is to keep them in their natural state, for the purpose of 

 giving flavour and quality to his fodder. In stacking, 

 too, it is desirable that the crop should contain suffi- 

 cient natural moisture in its tissues to induce a gentle 

 heat and fermentation in the mass, by which the quality 

 of the hay is greatly improved ; whereas, if it be carried 

 and stacked too soon, the excess of moisture is always 

 accompanied by an equivalent of heat and fermentation; 

 while, if left out on the field too long, the juices all be- 

 come dried up, and no heating in the stack takes place at 

 all. Although a certain amount of natural moisture is 

 always desirable at the time of stacking, it is most im- 

 portant that it be free from any surface moisture from rain 

 or dews. Not a forkful should be pitched up until every 

 particle of moisture has disappeared; as, if allowed to be 

 stacked in this condition, mildew and deterioration are 

 sure to be the result. 



In the neighbourhood of large cities it is veiy much the 

 custom to sell the clover hay, and load back with stable 

 manure. In other districts, where the clover is intended 

 for home consumption, it is a very good practice to stack it 

 with layers of straw, intermixed with layers of clover. By 

 this practice the clover may be carried a day or two soonei\ 

 more of the juices are retained, and the hay generally re- 

 mains in a more tender and assimilable state, while the 

 interstratified straw has imbibed to a certain extent the 

 flavour and odour of the clover, and is ready for being cut 

 up into chaff with it for the cattle. When straw is thus 

 used no other precautions are needed in regard to the ven- 

 tilation of the stack; in ordinary cases, where the quantity 

 stacked is large, a chimney in the centre is frequently re- 



