56 
Recent Improvements in Haymaking. 
profitable adjuncts for this purpose. Draining is also in some 
cases called for, in order that open trenches may be filled up. 
Thus, one jioint very greatly depends upon another : advances 
in one department of farm management call for corresponding 
advances in others. Levelling banks and high-backed lands 
must soon be the order of the day. 
The use of carts, instead of waggons, in hay carrying, has been 
in some cases a great advantage. We find it so here ; for one 
strong horse will take nearly as much on an old-fashioned broad- 
wheeled dungcart (furnished with suitable gearing) as many folks 
choose to place on a waggon drawn by two or three horses. But 
you will say that the waggon can be left beside the rick while 
the horses return afield for another load, whereas the horse must 
remain in the cart during the process of unloading. By having 
three props, one fastened to each shaft, and the other at the tail 
of the cart, this objection is done away with, and we have never 
had an accident arising from their use. 
Introspect to the ricks themselves, great improvements have 
taken place. Twenty or thirty years ago, a rick containing 
25 tons was usually considered to be of full-sized bulk ; conse- 
quently, with a multitude of small ricks, the amount of tops, 
bottoms, and outsides was considerable. But ricks of double 
that size are equally common now. And our own tastes lead us 
to prefer the hundred-ton rick, standing 20 feet to the eaves when 
well settled down, as being the most economical in erection 
(where the breadth of hay is large), containing less of inferior 
quality, improving that which is second-rate in itself, giving a 
larger proportion of hay fit for hunters or coach-horses, and there- 
fore of greater value to the farmer as grov/er or seller. In mak- 
ing these large ricks a strong force of hands is no doubt essential ; 
and a good rickmaker, who will both work well himself and 
keep everyone else to his post, is a decided acquisition, even at 
a high rate of wages. Portable scaffolds come into valuable use ; 
and horse-power elevators — though giving the temptation to put 
large lots together with undue haste and consequent loss — form 
an investment which many will not be slow to adopt. Rick- 
cloths, too, sufficiently numerous, and of the requisite dimensions, 
are much more abundant of late years. They should be regarded 
as a sine qua non on every hay-growing farm. 
Before leaving the first part of the subject, one further 
improvement, of comparatively recent, and, perhaps, limited 
adoption, which affects alike the interests of employer and em- 
ployed, the cost of labour, and the harmony and order of the 
farm, demands more than a passing notice. The custom, espe- 
cially prevalent in the Midland, Southern, and Western Counties, 
