AGRICULTURE. 



Chalky sub^ d Li j landSf 



stratum. 



Potatoes oisitoes Clover and rye-grass 



Barley Barley Peas 

 Peas Peas Wheat or rye 



Wheat Wheat 



Reaping and Storing. 



In converting- artificial grasses into hay, 

 the method should be different from that 

 used with natural ones. They should for 

 a day or two lie in swath, after which, be- 

 ing carefully turned, they should remain 

 for a day or two longer ; by which easy 

 and simple process the hay is, in good 

 weather, sufficiently made. After re- 

 maining two days in cocks, these should 

 be carted to the stack. 



With regard to the mowing of grass, 

 in general, for hay, the workmen should 

 be made to cut as low as possible, by* 

 which the crop is increased, and the re- 

 mainder thrives better than it would do 

 otherwise. Many hands should be ready 

 to assist, and five makers are not too ma- 

 ny for every mower. The grass should 

 be shaken out immediately after the 

 scythe. By the evening it should be ra- 

 ked into rows. The next morning it 

 should be again shaken and spread, and 

 in the evening it should be put up into 

 oocks. These being opened on the fol- 

 jowing morning, after a similar process, 

 may in fine weather be safely collected 

 into the great hay-cock at night. If suc- 

 cessive rains come on to damage it, as it 

 is stacked, a peck of salt should be strew- 

 ed in layers on every load, which will 

 sweeten it, and render it palatable for 

 cattle, which would not taste it without 

 this preparation. The stack should be 

 covered within a week after it is finished; 

 and a trench should be dug near it, to car- 

 ry off any wet, if it be placed in a situation 

 subject to damp. The hard hay of a poor 

 soil is little subject to firing, which often 

 occurs with respect to that made of suc- 

 culent herbage. The latter, therefore, 

 requires longer time for its making. To 

 preserve as much of the sap of grass as 

 possible, without incurring the danger of 

 firing, is *he grand practical problem of 

 hay-making. 



When the stems of culmiferous plants 

 are totally divested of green, they are per- 

 fectly ripe. Some farmers recommend 

 that wheat should be cut before this ma- 

 ture stage, not only to prevent any of the 

 gnun from shaking out, but as being 

 found to make more excellent flour from 

 being cut before perfect ripeness, than 



after having attained it. The latter ou 

 servation may very safely be controverted , 

 But as it is admitted that every moment 

 it remains standing, after complete matu- 

 rity, is critical, it may often be judicious 

 to commence the reaping of it before the 

 period of full ripeness. Wheat has been 

 immemorially reaped instead of being 

 mowed, and this method ought always to 

 be adopted, as from its high growth it be- 

 comes untractable to the scythe. When 

 barley ground is purposely smoothed by 

 rolling, that crop may be cut down with 

 the scythe, which not only, from the 

 greater rapidity of its operation, removes 

 that grain more effectually from the dan- 

 ger of being shaken by winds, but brings 

 with it a much greater proportion of the 

 straw, for manure, than any other mode, 

 a circumstance well deserving attention. 

 Cutting of corn in wet weather ought ever 

 to be avoided, if possible ; and, however 

 obvious this caution, it cannot be regarded 

 as superfluous, as it is unfortunately very 

 often neglected. Barley is particularly sub- 

 ject to injury by wet, having no protecting 

 husk ; and has a strong tendency, when 

 cut in this state, to run to malting ; it 

 should not only be cut dry, but immedi- 

 ately, if possible, be bound up, to prevent 

 its being discoloured, which will other- 

 wise easily occur. Peas grow so irregu- 

 larly as to make the sickle necessary. For 

 removing the produce from the field, long 

 carts, moveable upon the axle, by which 

 the whole load is moved at once upon the 

 ground, and lifted to the stack by per- 

 sons appointed for the purpose, are pre- 

 ferable to other modes. Dispatch is thus 

 obtained, when particularly required, a 

 circumstance always worthy of regard. 

 Instead of housing corn, stacking it is a 

 far superior practice, as it not only, by 

 the consequent exposure to the air, car- 

 ries what is called a finer countenance, 

 but as it is more completely preserved 

 from vermin, than by being deposited in a 

 barn. Every sheaf should be made to in- 

 cline downward from its top to its bot- 

 tom. Where they are laid horizontally, 

 rain will be taken in both above and be- 

 low. The best form for a stack is that of 

 a cone, (the top of which should be 

 formed with three sheaves united in a 

 point) placed upon a cylinder. The mo- 

 ment the stack is finished, the covering of 

 it should, if possible, commence; mate- 

 rials should ihcrefove be previously col- 

 lected. If much rain should fall before 

 this operation is performed, it will he dif- 

 ficult, and perhaps impossible, to render 

 the stack dry while it stands ; and, in qr 



