222 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap. 



small, or when cropt down by feeding, the roots 

 will be proportionally weak, and therefore will 

 be less serviceable to the ground. 



These grasses are usually sown in April and 

 May, along with barley, oats, or wheat. They 

 ought never to be attempted on cold, wet, or 

 stiff clay soils, till the ground be completely 

 dried, warmed, and pulverized with tillage and 

 manure. On all soils that are open and dry, 

 and properly manured, they thrive well. Even 

 on hard light land, when rightly prepared, lux- 

 uriant crops are produced in a dropping season. 

 But in no case ought artificial grasses of any 

 kind to be sown, unless the ground be previ- 

 ously well cleaned, either by a red fallow or a 

 drill crop. In this county there may be from 

 10,000 to 12,000 acres annually under clover 

 and rye-grass. The crop is generally good, and 

 in some places uncommonly abundant. In the 

 parish of Newburgh, upwards of 400 stones of 

 hay have been taken from an acre, besides two 

 weighty after-crops cut and fed off green. But 

 the average produce will not much exceed 200 

 stones per acre. 



SECT. II. HAY-HAR7EST. , 



HAY-HARVEST begins in July, sooner or lat- 

 er, according as the season is more or less fa- 

 vourable. In hay-making, two things are chief- 

 ly attended to ; first, the time of cutting ; and, 

 secondly, the manner of winning or drying the 

 hay. When the rye-grass is sown with a view 

 to save the seed, as soon as it is fully ripe, it is 



