110 THE CLOVEK CROP. 



sorted to, for the purpose of checking any excessive heating. 

 Owing to the comparative softness of the hay, it always 

 sinks very much in the stack; it is therefore best to leave 

 it open for a few days, or to cover it with merely a tempo- 

 rary thatch, and then to complete the operation when 

 the mass has passed through its stage of fermentation 

 and heat, and sunk down to its permanent shape. 



After the hay crop is cleared away, the plants continue 

 their growth in a very vigorous manner ; and if the 

 weather be cloudy, with a little moisture, the whole sur- 

 face is speedily covered with verdure again. It is always 

 desirable to let the plants acquire a certain growth before 

 sheep or cattle are placed on the field. If wheat is to 

 follow in the rotation, the crop should be fed off by sheep, 

 with cake or corn added as a manural equivalent for the 

 hay crop carried off the ground ; if the crop be intended 

 to stand a second or third year, it should also receive a 

 good dressing of manure to keep up its fertility. For 

 this purpose nothing is better than farmyard manure, 

 which may be applied as soon as the cattle or sheep are 

 taken off the field. This is distributed over the surface, 

 and serves to protect the plants, which, by being fed off, 

 are deprived of their foliage, from the effects of the winter's 

 frosts. If a crop of hay be taken in the second year, cake 

 or corn, or direct manure must be given in equivalent 

 proportions to compensate for it. It is, however, far more 

 customary to feed the entire crop, and get the field ready 

 early in autumn for the succeeding wheat crop. 



When the crop is grown for seed, the practice is either 

 to take a crop of hay first, and then let the second growth 

 stand for seed, in which case it is rarely ready before 

 September, or to merely feed off the first growth and then 

 put up the field, allowing the crop to stand until the 

 flowering is completed, and the seed- pods fully matured. 

 This is by far the best and most productive practice. The 



