5 18 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDEEER. 
[ June 18, 1885. 
after the haymaking. By this simple but sensible plan we 
obtain an early strong growth of grass with so much cer¬ 
tainty that for the moment we felt puzzled upon reading at 
the end of May of bare pastures and no hay crop. 
Granting, then, that the grass is the best for hay before 
any of its juices have been absorbed in the process of seed 
development, we have to consider how long we require to 
harvest the whole of the grass, and make our arrangements 
so that the last of it shall not be spoilt. There must also be 
an allowance in our calculations for unsettled weather, which 
is our chief difficulty in haymaking ; yet with care, watchf ul¬ 
ness, and promptitude in turning every hour of fine weather 
to account, we have never had a summer so wet but that 
sweet wholesome hay could not be made. It is true that 
some of the hay has more than once been in cocks for ten 
days or a fortnight; but it has been saved eventually, and 
though somewhat dark in colour it was wholesome. We are 
free to acknowledge a preference for hay that has never been 
in cocks, as being both cheaper and better ; but in unsettled 
weather cocks preserve hay from becoming washed and 
spoilt, and there is no danger of mustiness if it is dry when 
put in the cocks. 
Begin to mow with a steadily rising barometer, and with 
bright hot weather the tedding machine may at once be used. 
We have frequently passed it two or three times over the 
hay in a single day with advantage, and then before night 
the hay is drawn into slight rows, termed wind rows, with 
hand rake3 to allow the air to pass freely through it, the 
dew to evaporate quickly in the morning, and that the 
numerous green locks of hay left in hollows by the tedder 
may be moved, and the whole left in the best possible 
manner for the following morning. If the night proves fine, 
and is followed by a sunny morning, then the hay may be 
shaken out again as soon as it is dry ; but if rain has fallen 
in the night it is better to wait until the top and sides of the 
rows are dry, and then to pull them over with the hand rakes, 
so that the whole may be fairly dry before the tedding 
machine is used again. The general plan, then, is to draw 
the hay into long wide rows with horse rakes, so that if ready 
for the ricks it may at once be put upon the waggons, or if 
not the tedding machine may pass up and down the rows 
once or twice. If the weather becomes unsettled the hay can 
then be put quickly into cocks; but they are uncalled for in 
fine weather. However dry the hay may be when put into 
cocks, it must never be taken to the rick till the cocks have 
been shaken out sufficiently for the hay to be fully exposed 
to the air, or there will be a risk of mustiness. Never 
let an hour of fine weather be lost during the hay harvest; 
when once it is in full swing there will always be some hay 
ready, or almost ready, for the rick, which is precisely the 
condition in which it is most liable to damage. Make the 
most not only of fine days but of fine evenings; better, far 
better, is it to pay double rates of wages for overtime than to 
run the slightest risk of exposing the hay to rain, apart from 
the greater outlay involved in the subsequent work of getting 
it dry again. 
Avoid making very small ricks; the only practical reason 
for small ricks must be the want of a rick-cloth to 
keep off the rain. We can hardly conceive of a farm man¬ 
ager being without a rick-cloth when he has a large area of 
pasture laid down for hay, and yet we know of many an 
instance of this careless wastefulness, by which the hay is 
so often spoilt. The bottoms of our ricks are 33 feet long by 
18 feet wide; the rick-cloth is 12 yards by 10 yards; the 
cloth pole is 36 feet, and the two upright end poles 84 feet in 
length. There are guy ropes for the uprights and pulley 
blocks and ropes to raise and lower the cloth, which is never 
suffered to lie closely upon the rick, but is kept sufficiently 
above it to throw off rain, and to allow the vapour arising 
from the rick to escape freely from it. The rick is built upon 
a double layer of brushwood faggots, and there is an air-shaft 
—or rather a shaft for the escape of hot vapour—made in the 
centre of the rick by means of a sack stuffed with hay and 
drawn gradually upwards with the building. In a wet 
summer we make two such shafos or safety valves, neither of 
them being in the exact centre, but on each side of and a 
few feet from it in the direction of the ends. It has been 
said that such shafts spoil the hay close to them, but we have 
never found it so, nor can we understand what could have 
led to so erroneous an impression, for the narrow shaft only 
remains open long enough to afford vent to the hot vapour 
caused by fermentation, and becomes permanently closed as 
the rick settles down. The rick-cloth is always let down 
and made fast over-night, but on fine mornings as soon as 
the dew or any mist is dispersed, it is rolled round the pole 
and drawn up well out of the way to let sun and air play 
fully upon the rick. 
WORK ON THE HOME EARM. 
The very hot weather has proved so trying for our long-woolled sheep 
that the shearing was done as soon as possible after the washing. We 
strongly object to shearing the sheep in May and subjecting them to risk 
of exposure to inclement weather ; but in June there need be no hesita¬ 
tion. It is difficult to get careful men f r this work, and in any case the 
common practice of allowing shearers a large quantity of beer while at 
work is decidedly wrong. Greed for drink leads the men to imbibe so 
freely that there is much slovenly work and brutality, the skin is cut, and 
the wounds are at once attacked by flies. The head shepherd or bailiff 
should keep a close watch upon the work and dress every wound before 
the sheep are let out again. The feet should also be examined, and every 
case of foot-rot carefully treated ; broken hoofs must be yut off, filth or 
hard pieces of soil washed away—every affected foot is undoubtedly 
better for being washed, and then Gell’s ointment should be well rubbed 
in. It is impossible to effect a cure of the whole of the sheep, for some 
will have hot swollen feet, but no external wounds. With such, bathing 
may do good, but nothing more can be done till the hoof cracks and 
there is a discharge of humour from it. That there is much general 
negligence of sheep afflicted with this troublesome complaint there can 
be no doubt, requiring as it does much patient perseverance to overcome 
it. VVe have effected a complete cure of it in our Southdown flock, and 
as a first step to such a desirable end in our long-woolled flock all suffer¬ 
ing from foot-rot will be put in a separate meadow as scon as lamb- 
weaning is over. We have already taken 200 of the early lambs from 
the ewes and put them upon Trefoil, with a little nourishing dry food. 
Haymaking will now be upon us, and we have been pushing on the hoe¬ 
ing and thinning of Mangolds and Swede-sowing. The clearing of 
fallows and sowing of White Mustard is still being done, and we shall 
continue this work as opportunity offers till the middle of July. Land 
which from its foulness has been left uncropped till the present time as 
fallow, should have our special attention, and not be left till we have 
nothing else to do, for that time seldom comes, and we regard bare un¬ 
cropped soil at midsummer as a serious loss upon a farm. We may 
repeat here how decidedly profitable green crops are near large towns 
£6 an acre as the crop stands may be stated as the lowest price we have 
heard of this year, and all harvest expenses and risk are avoided. Of 
such crops we may mention Eye, Trifolium incarnatum, Winter lares, 
and—most profitable of all where it answers—Lucerne. As the Trifolium 
and Tates are cleared off the land, it may be prepared for a crop of White 
Turnips, or if required for winter corn there is still time for a crop of 
White Mustard. We are constantly doing what we can to draw the 
attention of all farmers of light land to the importance of Winter Oats as 
a paying crop, and we hope to induce many m re to give them a fair 
trial next season. Meanwhile, try and see a good field of Winter Oats 
this year in July, and remember that it represents a sure crop, early 
green food for sheep, and a saving of labour in spring. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32'40” N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet 
DATE. 
» A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
3 
*5 
cs 
1885. 
June. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32 a 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
O . 
O 
Z2 a 
5 o 
0-2 . 
. a! 
e —■ g 
Sc-2 
(DQOh 
H 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
8unday . 7 
Monday. 8 
Tuesday. 9 
Wednesday .. 10 
Thursday .... 11 
Friday. 12 
Saturday .... 13 
Inches. 
29.857 
29.741 
29.983 
30 353 
30.405 
30.372 
30.232 
deg. 
68-9 
60.6 
52.3 
56.6 
55.2 
61.9 
66.8 
deg. 
62.8 
59.8 
51.1 
49.4 
47.8 
53.7 
58.0 
sw. 
N. 
N.W. 
S.E. 
K. 
W. 
N. 
dee. 
60.2 
60.6 
£8 8 
57.4 
57.2 
57 6 
58 2 
deg. 
73.4 
62 8 
64.2 
67.3 
67.7 
73 4 
76.8 
69.4 
d«»er 
56 2 
57.7 
50.1 
47.8 
41.4 
46.4 
48.6 
49 7 
deg. 
110.9 
72.2 
93.7 
1167 
108.3 
107.9 
112.0 
deg 
53.1 
54.9 
50.9 
40.8 
36.4 
4;.9 
41.2 
In. 
0.283 
0.786 
0.010 
30.135 
60.3 
54.7 
58.6 
103.1 
46.2 
1.079 
REMARKS. 
7th.—Fine day, but frequently cloudy. 
8th.—Heavy rain from early morning. 
9th.—Wet morning, fair afternoon, fine bright evening. 
10th.—Fine and bright. 
11th.—Fine throughout. 
12 th.—Fine clear morning, oppressive afternoon. 
13th.—Fine and bright. 
Cool and rainy in the early part of the week, and bright and fine in the latter part. 
Rainfall and barometric pressure above the average; temperature almost exactly the 
average.—G. J. SYMONS. » 
