JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 7, 1883 ] 
for use at the present time, but also for the purposes to which 
it or some modification or improvement upon it may lead in 
the future. It is advertised as the Perpetual Press, and is an 
American invention, which was shown in its present form at 
Philadelphia in 1876. It was then described as Uederick's Ilay 
Press, from the name of the patentee. It was exhibited by John 
H. Ladd & Co. of 116, Queen Victoria Street, London, at the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England meetings at Derby in 
1881, and again at Reading in 1S82. It is said to have been 
adopted by Her Majesty’s Government for the War Department 
for the purposes of baling hay, straw, and fibres of all descrip¬ 
tions, and was awarded a special silver medal by the Royal Agri¬ 
cultural Society of England at the Derby meeting of 1881, and 
was shown in motion in the yard at the meetings of 1881 and 
1882. It is variable in length, is mounted on wheels for travel¬ 
ling, and can be worked by either horse or steam power. 
After taking particular notice of the above machine as illus¬ 
trated in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, we find 
that the hay is fed into a hopper by the attendant, and that at 
regular intervals, when the traverser is withdrawn, a fork or 
board descends and forces the hay or straw into a chamber below 
the hopper, where it is subject to the compressing action of a 
reciprocating traverser ; it is then driven forward by the traverser. 
This combined action causes each section of the bale to be folded 
up and forced into the chamber, which is provided with steel 
springs, to retain all the hay forced beyond them and prevent 
expansion backwards when the traverser is withdrawn. The size 
of the chamber is 12 inches by 15 inches, and this, of course» 
regulates the dimensions of the bale, which can be made of any 
convenient length, although the usual size is 3 feet, by the in¬ 
sertion in the hopper of light wooden followers with slots on their 
surface, through which the wires are passed for tying the bale as 
it passes through the chamber. The wires of proper length 
being first prepared, an attendant below passes the wires through 
the slots in the followers, and brings them together on one side of 
the truss or bale with pincers. The liberation of the truss from 
the discharge end of the chamber by allowing some lineal ex¬ 
pansion tightens the wires. The mouth is adjustable, so that by 
turning a nut the bale is released or held, thus forming light or 
heavy bales as required. 
Two men are required to work the machine, the hay being 
supplied on to a platform. One feeds the machine, whilst the 
other attends to the wiring of the trusses or bales. The bale con¬ 
sists of a number of independent sections pressed closely together, 
so that when the ties are removed each section may be taken off 
without pulling the bale to pieces and without the waste insepa¬ 
rable from the distribution of a homogeneous mass, and this is a 
point of considerable importance. The sections can be piled up 
as so many blocks ready for use, or the bale can be placed on end 
and gradually reduced by the removal of consecutive sections. 
Considering the rapidity of the work there is very little waste. 
The Judges weighed a truss 12 inches by 15 inches by 36 inches, 
which scaled 1 cwt. 1 qr. 16 tbs., being about 42 lbs. to the cubic 
foot. The exhibitors, however, claim to, and probably could, 
compress 45 lbs. per cubic foot, which would allow 1 ton of hay 
to be packed within 1 ton measurement of 40 cubic feet. In a 
time test it was found that 3 feet 8 inches of hay was dis¬ 
charged in two minutes. As this weighed 191 lbs., and the work 
is continuous, it follows that the machine can bale about 2£ tons 
per hour. The Judges also considered that this machine has merit 
and utility for the following reasons :—The rapidity of execution 
and the small cost of manual attendance ; the peculiar way in 
which the hay is passed in sections, the simple action of the 
pressure minimising the waste ; and the advantage of rectangular 
form of truss for stowage as compared with cylindrical trusses. 
483 
In our idea it has yet to be decided to what extent, if any, such 
a machine may be applied to half-made hay, or even greener ; but 
the opinion we find prevailing amongst men of experience and 
hay salesmen is that through its operation hay may be saved from 
the field in a greener and therefore more valuable condition for 
various purposes than when stacked and heated in the ordinary 
manner. It would be in a state well adapted for sale and transit, 
for an ordinary railway truck when properly packed will carry 
8 tons with bales of the density of 45 lbs. per cubic foot. Again, 
it is extremely well adapted for packing on board ship, or in 
ordinary transit per waggon for delivery to towns and stations. 
Moreover, in ten hours from 15 to 20 tons can be baled in the 
field where it grew, and may be easily disposed of in a covered 
shed or Dutch hay barn or in an old-fashioned barn, either of 
which would save thatching ; in fact, the hay being so closely 
compressed, would by excluding the air prevent heating. Again, 
the bales may be so piled as to secure some ventilation between 
them. One machine capable of pressing 2^ tons per hour could 
deal with a crop in the field as quickly as by ordinary stacking. 
The hands employed would be less in number, and when intended 
either for sale or for use on the home farm this method of saving 
the hay has all the appearance of a practical scheme. The wire 
rope or bands can be used over again until worn out. One more 
point in favour of the Perpetual Press is its useful application to 
the trussing or baling of straw, and especially when used for 
baling as the straw is leaving the threshing machine. 
As our previous observations and quotations have referred 
almost exclusively to the application of machinery for the saving 
of hay, we must now, however, refer to details connected with 
getting the hay into such a condition as will warrant its being 
stacked with safety in the absence of machinery, and various 
other matters of protection against losses after being stacked. 
One of the points is whether it is gain or loss that the hay should 
be discoloured by heat in the rick, and also whether our present 
implements for tedding are injurious in any respect. In 
this matter it will be readily admitted that the tedding machine 
is so important in the saving of labour that it becomes an impor¬ 
tant question whether any objection can be raised against it to 
compare at all with the cost of labour saved in the making of 
meadow or pasture hay. Grass, when examined under a micro¬ 
scope, will be seen to be covered with a waxy matter on the 
stems, which Dr. Yoelcker calls its “ waterproof coat,” which has 
been furnished by Nature for the protection and securing the 
nourishment or feeding value it contains. Under certain con¬ 
ditions, however, especially when the grasses are damp, if you 
ted it with the machine, which knocks and tosses it about with an 
energy in proportion to the supposed excellence of the machine, 
you will frequently rupture the best part of this covering, or 
injure it to some extent. Again, if after being subjected to this 
active process the hay is stacked without rain having fallen on it 
little or no harm may have been done ; but in the event of rain 
falling upon the hay, you might just a well expect a man to stay 
out during a thunder shower without getting wet through, after 
having pulled off his macintosh and thrown it on the ground, as 
that the hay will not be seriously injured by the rain—much 
more so than if it had been carefully and gently turned with the 
fork instead of being tedded by an improved machine. The 
home farmer knows by experience that grass lying untouched in 
the swathe, or having been carefully cocked or pooked by laying 
each successive forkful one on the other of moderate dimensions, 
in either of these conditions, although subjected to a considerable 
fall of rain, yet it often makes good hay if allowed to remain 
undisturbed until the occurrence of fine weather, when it is 
eventually moved, and in consequence of the waterproof covering 
of the grass having been retained and unbroken. We must enter 
rather more into the realm of conjecture, as we have not so much 
assistance as may be required from actual experience to aid us in 
forming an opinion. The amount of water, however, contained 
in grass when cut for hay is probably about 70 per cent., or a 
little more ; but it has been proved by analysis that hay when fit 
to carry without fear of over-heating has lost 50 per cent, of this 
moisture, and that 15 per cent, is the amount of moisture gene¬ 
rally supposed to exist in well-made hay. It is certain that hay 
containing 38 per cent., as ascertained in an experiment by Dr. 
Yoelcker, the stack heated so much that a great deal of it was 
reduced to carbon, and crumbled between the fingers. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—Preparation for the later crops of roots must be 
continued. The seeding for Swedish Turnips and Scotch hybrids 
should now be completed—the sooner the better, even in the earliest 
districts like the dry soils of the eastern and southern counties; 
