FODDER IN INDIA. 37 



a day or two if you can manage it and trample down parti- 

 cularly well. Continuing from this point don't overlap too 

 suddenly to get your increased area at the eaves, the mere 

 process of stacking of itself has a tendency to make this out- 

 ward slope without much extraneous assistance ; spread your 

 grass evenly and equitably all the time to get shape and 

 stability and the more trampling the better ; pay your stacker 

 a good wage and make a friend of him. There is a useful 

 implement for saving labour in stacking invented by Mr. 

 J. L. Flowerdew, Grass Farms, Bangalore, which is 

 simple, inexpensive, and worth a trial. A few handfuls of 

 the commonest salt crushed coarsely and scattered amongst 

 the grass at intervals "does" improve the quality of the 

 hay. 



[M B. — As regards the shape of stacks, it is a question of ''point of 

 view" — but the Government Order says that stacks are to be built of 

 rectangular shape, chiefly probably for the sake of uniformity and easier 

 measurement.] 



Contents of Stacks. — Seeing that within reasonable limits 

 the figures can always be checked if desired or required by 

 authorised persons, the system of recording the contents of 

 stacks " by measurement " seems the best, much the best; 

 but the measurements must of course be made accurately 

 and intelligently. As the Manager, the man at the wheel, 

 is the person who should know what is in his own stacks so 

 he|should measure them himself. Having got so far "the 

 crux of the whole business " rests upon what figure is going 

 to be taken as the density of the stack, this is to a great 

 ■extent a matter of judgment. Time, experience, observation, 

 and care are the best teachers, but there is no real difficulty 

 to those anxious to learn. The following will help you in 

 making your decision : — (i) Time taken in building, stack. 

 (2) Method of stacking whether by labour with ladders or 

 ramps, or mechanical elevators. {3) Fine and dry or 

 damp dull weather. (4) Quality of grass as regards coarse- 

 ness and length. (5) Within the writer's own experience 

 ■among various average stacks the density has been found 



