298 



Farming of Cumberland, 



through the overlap of both sheets at a time, so that they exactly 

 fit the nail-holes, and do not admit rain. The cost of this cover, 

 on larch pillars let into stone pedestals, to contain 270 cubic 

 yards, has been ten guineas. The present mode of lifting or 

 lowering the roof is by pulleys at the corners, or by a ladder ap- 

 plied at the corners in succession. 



The great advantage of this cover is the safety it gives to the 

 hay under it at all times, whether it contains a great or a small 

 quantity. The roof is easily secured at any elevation, so as to 

 admit a current of air to pass over the hay, and carry away the 

 moisture arising from fermentation, or lowered to keep out rain 

 or snow. When the hay is in the act of first settling down, it is 

 apt to rest a little on the cross-beams connecting the pillars, and 

 then has a tendency to reverse the layering of the hay immediately 

 below the beams, and to admit a little rain. A trifle of thatch 

 (at a on the sketch) on the exposed (south or west) side, has been 

 all the extra protection hitherto found necessary on that account.* 



The saving of hay, by either of these methods, over that of 

 stacking in the ordinary way, is so great, taking into account the 

 loss occasioned by precarious seasons, that few who have expe- 

 rienced the benefit would now be without them ; and the wonder 

 is that so few are erected. 



The piking of hay is very properly little resorted to in Cum- 

 berland, except in cases of emergency, and by those who do not 

 calculate the loss. 



It is of some importance to the farmer to attend well to the 

 way in which his hay is consumed. Few take the trouble to 

 calculate or think of the difference in the quantity consumed by 

 the same number of cattle, of hay pulled from the side of the 

 " mow," and of that recently housed from the cutting of a stack, 

 or carelessly tumbled from the top of a mow. It cannot be that 

 cattle relish and eat more of the newly housed hay, than of that 

 which is newly pulled from the solid mow ; for it is a fact that 

 much of the aromatic flavour soon leaves it on exposure to the 

 air. But it is well known and admitted on all hands that cattle 

 consume, or go through, with ordinary feeders, very much more of 

 the recently disturbed hay than they do of that not disturbed till 

 it is wanted and pulled for immediate use ; and that 20 or 25 per 

 cent, in the quantity may be saved, with as good an effect, in hay 

 pulled from the mow when wanted, over hay of the like quality 

 tumbled loosely down into the hay-barn from the stack. 



Part of the loss may be attributed to the waste caused by the 

 removal ; for hay cannot be removed in the winter season, in any 

 way, without waste ; but the greater part may be accounted for 

 by the fact that what is easily got is readily given. The cattle 



* Eight years since two were erected on one farm, and another six years ago ; 

 and the expense of repairing has only been two or three coats of coal-tar each. 



