76 PRACTICAL NOTES ON .GRASSES AND GRASS GROWING, 
-over-made, a wide stack is desirable; but if the hay has 
been rapidly made, a long, narrow-shaped rick is better, 
as it is desirable to generate a gentle heat, and by this 
process convert the starch in the hay into sugar; if the 
heating be too strong, the sugar will be converted into acetic 
acid. On the completion of each course, a little salt may be 
sprinkled over the stack, but this must not be overdone. On 
some estates where large areas have to be dealt with, a frame- 
work is used, which is made something like a gate, having 
vertical bars with ropes fixed at each end, in the form of a 
bridle, by means of which horses are attached. This frame- 
work is used to draw up the rows of the hay until a large 
cock of five to seven hundredweight is formed, which, by 
reason of the manner of making, will be found to be drawn so 
tightly together and to be so compressed, that it can be left in 
the field for a week or more with impunity. 
Should bad weather set in after the hay has been cocked, 
the uppermost lock of hay or the caps to the cock should be 
removed and re-adjusted without interfering with the body’of 
the cock, except by turning the solid mass quite over, which 
prevents the bottom hay from becoming mouldy or unsweet, 
whilst the process can be attended to at any time of the day 
when it is not actually raining. In such weather, and when a 
favourable opportunity occurs, the cocks should be thrown out 
and aired before stacking. 
Having selected the ground where it is intended to raise one’s 
stacks, some little consideration should be shown for making 
the stack bottom. A free access of air must be allowed, so 
that it can pass between the stack and the ground. Iron 
appliances are often used, but where expense is a consideration, 
logs and trees will be found almost, if not quite, as good, 
and they will last for years. We deprecate the use of straw 
or litter, because it becomes tightly compressed, thus en- 
<ouraging capillary attraction, which moulds and spoils a 
