STACKING. 



employed ; as well as the drawing up the middle of the 

 ftacks, while they are building, a b.-.ilvct or a fack full of 

 hay, ftraw, or other fimilar materials. And in fome cafes, 

 on the ilacks heating too much, fquare openings are cut 

 from the tops to the bottoms of them. 



In (tacking of hay, the ufc of fait has likewife been found 

 to have the valuable property of keeping it from heating too 

 much in fuch fituationf, and, by that fneans, preferving it 

 of a finer green colour than would otherwife be the cafe. 

 Its dilpofition to counteraft or prevent heat is fo great, it 

 is faid, in fuch cafes, as to render it particularly fuitable, 

 proper, and valuable in every inftance where it may be fuf- 

 pedled that the hay has been put together without being fuf- 

 ficiently made. 



The hard benty hay of poor uplands may moitly be 

 Hacked up without any rifle or danger of heating too much ; 

 but that which is of a more open fuccnlent nature arid qua- 

 lity, on rich or highly manured lands, is for the moft part 

 ▼ery liable to take on too great a degree of heat, and Ihould 

 confequently be longer delayed in Hacking, as well as put 

 up in fmaller quantities together, in order to avoid being in- 

 jured by being burnt in the mow or ftack. 



The hay of clover, tare, faintfoin, and fome other fimilar 

 kinds of gralfes, are commonly more difpoled to heat in too 

 great a degree than almoft any other forts when put up in 

 Itacks, not only on account of their being more fuccvilent 

 and fappy, but in coniequence of their nature requiring that 

 they fhould be a good deal lefs made, in order to preferve 

 their foliage as perfcftly as poflible. In Racking them, 

 therefore, thefe circumdances {hould be carefully attended to 

 and kept in mind, and fmaller, as well as more loofely 

 formed ftacks of them raifed. In tlie county of Middlefex 

 alfo, many farmers are laid to make ufe of ialt, in fuch 

 cafes, with very good effect, in keeping down the heat. 



Where there are great quantities of hay ready on hand at 

 the fame time, it is of much confequence that it Ihould all 

 be ftacked up as foon as ever it is fully made, which, though 

 difficult to be accomplilhed in many cafes, (hould feldom be 

 negleftcd, as its weight and good quality greatly depend 

 upon it, there being every moment from that time a lofs in 

 the weight, as well as tlie nutritious properties of it, by what 

 is forced off by heat into the atmolphere. The difference 

 of even a few hours in very hot fealons, may, it is fuppofed, 

 be the caufe of a lofs of fifteen or twenty per centum on the 

 hay, by its having been carried beyond the point of perfec- 

 tion in making ; and not unfrequently a much greater lofs 

 is fuftained. The flacking, therefore, in fuch circumftances, 

 (hould always be done as expeditioufly as poffible. 



In regard to the lofs of the materials before and after thev 

 have been Hacked up, it has been fuppofed by the writer of 

 the Middlefex Agricultural Report, that four hundredweight 

 of grafs wailes in forming into hay, three hundred before it 

 is ready for Hacking ; it is then further reduced by heat and 

 evaporation, in about the fpace of a month, to perhaps 

 ninety-five pounds ; that at between that and ninety, it is 

 apprehended it continues throughout the winter. That 

 from about the beginning of fpring until the commencement 

 of the following autumn, the different operations of trulfing 

 and conveying it away, render it confiderably lighter, pro- 

 bably to eighty, by expofing it fo much to the fun and 

 wind : that is, fuch hay as would weigh ninety pounds on 

 being taken from the ftack, would be reduced to eighty by 

 the time it i? difpoled of, as in tlie courfe of twenty-four 

 hours. On fuch ftacked hay being kept longer, little or 

 nothing is loll in the fucceeding winter : it i« nearly obvious, 

 it is thonglit, tliat the tame (lacked hay will weigh on being 

 difpoled of eighty pounds in the fummer, and ninety in the 



winter. From this circumftance, and fome others which re- 

 late to price, the farmer may, it is conceived, dLterminc 

 what feafon of the year is the moll advantageous and proper 

 for him to difpofe of his flacked hay : on large hay-farms 

 flacked hay is fometimes kept for four or five years, and 

 there are not unfrequently very large quantities of hay on 

 them in this Ifate. 



The ftacking or mowing of hay is fometimes performed 

 in large hay-barns conftrufled for the purpofe, which are 

 found to be extremely ufeful and convenient on many occa- 

 fions, as well as to produce confiderable favings in different 

 ways, bcfides the fafety which they afford. See Stack //ajr- 

 Barn. 



After the work of ftacking the hay has been finifhed, and 

 the ftack been properly pulled and topped up, it may be 

 left until it has fweated, and is bee ^me perfectly fettled, 

 which molUy takes place in the courfe of a week or i wo. 

 It is then ready for thatching. See Thatching of Stackt. 



It may likewife be noticed, that in building the upper 

 parts of thefe, as well as grain and other ftacks, the ufe of 

 a (lage often becomes necedary, in order that the materials 

 may be pitched more conveniently to the ftacker, as has beeu 

 feen under the head Stack. See STACKiN(;.y/<2f<r. 



Stacking nf Pulfe Crops, the art and pradtice of putting 

 all the forts of farm produce, which have pods in the place 

 of ears, up into ftacks. It is always necellary, in building 

 theni, to keep the pod parts, as much as poflible, from 

 being expofed to the aftion and effects of the atmofphere, 

 as they are very liable to be much injured or quite fpoiled 

 by the influence of much moillure or wetnefs, whether com< 

 municated by the air or in any other manner. It is confe- 

 quently proper in ftacking up thele different materials, to 

 always let the flem or root-ends of the crops have an out- 

 ward direftion and appearance, they being bound inwardly 

 by fuch wad=:, fheaves, or bundles as have but little ftem or 

 root parts in them, which is mollly fufficiently the cafe in all 

 fuch forts of produce. The middle parts of fuch (lacks 

 fhoiild always be kept well filled up with fuch materials 

 while building. The ftem or (haft parts may moftly be 

 carried up in a pretty plumb or upright manner, but if the 

 outward fide parts are made and carried up fo as gradually 

 to diverge or projeA a very little at the top or cave parts, 

 it will be fo much the better, and the ftack will be fo much 

 the fafer from the danger of the droppings of the rain-water 

 or any other wetnefs that may fall upon it. 



It is hardly ever necellary to carry up the top parts in 

 conflrufting fuch flacks to any great height, the lower they 

 are indeed the better, provided they are formed in a regular 

 manner, and fo as to efleAually carry off the water that may 

 fall upon them. 



The topping-up of fuch forts of ftacks (hould never, 

 however, be much delayed, as the feed of fuch kinds of pro- 

 duce readily f well, and are apt to become injured by a very 

 little moiftiire in fucli fituations. 



Thefe forts of ftacks, as well as thofe of other kinds, 

 fliould always be built upon proper ftaddles in fafe yards or 

 other fituations. 



Stacking unJ prcfervmg nf Hop- Poles, \.\\e praftice and me- 

 thod of piling them up in ftack-., for the purpofe of render- 

 ing them fafe and fecure agaiiill wind and bad weather; and 

 the means of preparing their bottom parts againft the inju- 

 ries they may receive from the earth or foil in which ihey 

 may be placed. See Yioi'-Polt. 



In the (quare manner of Hacking up hoppoles, the num- 

 ber of from thirty to forty or more arc ufn.illy let up to 

 each corner fo as to form it, which Humid inoHly Hand eight, 

 ten, or twelve feet apart in each or every dircdtion at the 

 4 R 2 biife 



