476 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
L June 5, 1890, 
HAYMAKING. 
Never had we a better time for haymaking than that of last 
year, and never did we make better hay. The crop was abundant, 
the weather favourable, and the work was done so quickly and so 
well that even if we had sold the hay at the low price which has 
ruled since then the crop would have been fairly profitable. But it 
was not sold, and is still held over for the advance in price which 
may always be expected, and is bound to come till the silage stacks 
of the future become as plentiful as haystacks have been in the 
past. With such fine settled weather as we had for this work last 
year it seemed almost impossible to make bad hay, yet we had to 
dake some decidedly inferior hay in valuation last Michaelmas, and 
-still have some of it. 
To ensure good nutritious hay that answers to the literal mean¬ 
ing of food as a substance that sustains, nourishes, and augments 
we must mow while the herbage is rich in albuminoids, which it 
is till the grass is in full bloom. As the flowers fade and seed is 
■developed its value as food declines, and when the seed ripens the 
•herbage contains very little more nutrition than sawdust. We 
may mow it then, and go through the process of haymaking, and 
though the bottom herbage may be sufficiently abundant to induce 
fermentation and the development of 'some flavour in the stack, 
•such fodder affords very little sustenance to stock, nor can any 
doctoring with cattle spice render it worthy of a place in the 
•category of sound wholesome food. It is therefore self-evident 
'that we must be on the alert now, and be ready to time the 
mowing so as to take the herbage at its best as nearly as may be. 
'Those who have only a small area reserved for hay ought to do 
this with precision, but where several hundred acres have to be 
dealt with it is not an easy matter to secure the whole of it at its 
hest, even under the most favourable conditions of weather. It 
may assist some of our readers if we give some details of our 
practice at the home farm. 
The pasture is so extensive that we have found it answer best 
4o have three groups of ricks at points easy of access. Here there 
are stacks of bush faggots in readiness for the rick bottoms, which 
•are made of a compact layer of faggots covered by a little straw. 
A couple of rick cloths with poles, ropes, blocks, and pulleys are 
also indispensable. With a couple of Hornsby’s two-horse mowers 
we can mow twenty acres of grass daily by having two pairs of 
horses for each mower, and changing horses at intervals of time 
determined by bulk of crop. For a mower to get over ten acres 
daily in good style and make really good work of it the mower must 
be in perfect order at the outset, with duplicate connecting rods and 
■other parts liable to sudden breakage ; the bearings must be kept 
well oiled ; the driver must be a willing, strong, experienced man ; 
his pay must be sufficient to render him eager to start his machine 
by 4 A.M., and he must have sound active horses. The old heavy 
type of shire horse would not answer for such work. That it has 
plenty of strength we are free to admit, but it is sadly deficient in 
speed. It is because we have tried both breeds at this work that 
we are bound to give preference to the Suffolk Punch, that with its 
free elastic stride and nimble pace moves naturally twice as fast as 
the sluggish shire horse. Pace may be imparted by cross-breeding, 
as we have proved by using a shire horse for all the Suffolk mares 
of one farm, the result of this experiment being a lot of hardy 
useful horses. But the Punches are so entirely satisfactory that we 
have not tried the cross-breeding on any of the other farms. 
A tedder and two horse rakes are required for each mower, and 
an extra tedder should always be at hand with plenty of waggons, 
horses, and men. The bailiff must be constantly with his men, and 
must have full control of them. He must be held responsible for 
everything, and a wise agent will not interfere unduly, nor will he 
have occasion to do so if the bailiff is a skilful farmer and zealous 
servant. We have been fortunate in securing the services of several 
good bailiffs, and when we have well proved them care is taken to 
render it worth their while to serve us faithfully. During the 
haymaking our own farm bailiff is often on duty from 4 A.M. till 
about 8 or 9 p.m., and we have never heard a murmur about over¬ 
work ; but then his pay for overtime is a solatium which keeps 
down any such feeling, and the money so expended is alike good 
for master and man. 
The actual process of haymaking is very simple. Now at any 
rate before seed is formed, and preferably while the grasses are still 
in flower. Let the tedder follow the mower closely ; draw the 
hay into big rows with the horse rakes as soon as it is sufficiently 
advanced in the making, work the tedder up and down these 
rows, using the back action ; put into cocks if the weather is at all 
unsettled, and only then. Never cart direct from the cock, but 
shake out and dry thoroughly before loading on the waggons. 
Make big ricks, with one or more vents from top to bottom, to 
allow superfluous heat to escape freely. If there are no hay basins, 
top up so as to throw off wet well from the roof, and then the 
thatching need not be done till all risk of overheating is at an end. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
“A prime season” this has well been called, and he who has not 
taken full advantage of it to well work his fallows and push on the 
sowing of Swedes and other Turnips is unworthy to have the care of 
land at all. Bright May days have been the rule, and cloudy ones 
the exception this year. The moist warm soil has been most favourable 
to seed germination and brisk growth, and on the whole we never saw 
crops more full of promise than at the present time. Sheep and lambs 
are scarce and dear on the markets, and there is a better prospect for 
the wool sale than we have had for several years. Wool stocks are 
exceptionally light, and the woollen trade is brisk, so that wool is 
certain to be in fair demand, but we shall not hold the wool over for 
any great advance as that is out of the question with our enormous 
colonial production of this article. 
As was to be expected, there is a glut of beef in metropolitan 
markets, and butchers must be having a good time of it, for while we 
hear of live cattle in prime condition only realising 3s. per stone of 8 lbs., 
yet there is no appreciable reduction in retail prices. If this reaction 
tends to cheapen young stock it may answer to purchase a few extra 
calves, but with such an abundance of green food such stock is likely 
to be held for grazing. The lesson taught here once more is not only to 
keep on breeding and rearing stock as well as we can, but also to watch 
markets closely, and to sell with caution. Neither a slack market or a 
full one can be taken as a safe guide, for we have repeatedly seen 
matters driven to an extreme at the next market by the keen competi¬ 
tion of men who apparently forget for the moment that there are plenty 
of others as keen at business and as watchful for a chance as themselves. 
Exception was recently taken to the appearance of some young 
Suffolk sows which we had specially selected for breeding, on the score 
that they were too fat. Our critic was a dairy farmer, who, in common 
with so many others, thinks it right to keep store pigs in a state of semi¬ 
starvation. We were at some pains to explain that what he termed fat 
was mere frame development, for the sows are exceptionally fine ones, 
and as they stoop to eat display a rare breadth of body, while the ribs 
have very little superfluous flesh or fat upon them. Upon the principle 
that like produces like, the parent animal must be well nourished if it 
is to breed fine porkers, and the proper course of treatment is to strive 
for the happy mean between an extremely low or high condition. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE. LONDON. 
DATE. 
1890. 
May. 
Monday., 
Thursday.., 
Friday . 
9 AM. 
IN THE DAY. 
Hvgrome- 
d . 
Shade Tem- 
Radiation 
B 
ter. 
perature. 
Temperature. 
1$:: 
la 
On 
Dry. 
Wet. 
5 o 
Max. 
Min. 
SUll. 
grass 
Inches. 
dept. 
deff. 
del?. 
dejf. 
de«. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
25 
29.tM)0 
68.8 
59.0 
N.E. 
68.8 
77.6 
'52.8 
119.3 
49.6 
— 
28 
29.949 
51.1 
46.4 
N.W. 
59.7 
63.9 
44.4 
120.1 
41. b 
— 
27 
29.984 
54.9 
48.1 
N.W. 
68.1 
61.1 
42.0 
115.9 
37.8 
— 
28 
30.105 
53.3 
47.9 
N.W. 
57.2 
60.9 
43.9 
96.9 
88.8 
— 
29 
30.149 
56.1 
50.4 
N.E. 
56.9 
65.4 
47.2 
110.9 
41.6 
0.064 
30 
29.954 
53.9 
52.1 
N.E. 
67.3 
65.1 
50.0 
1U.4 
46.7 
— 
31 
30.160 
50.0 
43.9 
N.W. 
65.9 
64.0 
39.1 
112.3 
35.5 
30.030 
56.0 
49.7 
67.7 
65.9 
45.6 
112.8 
41.7 
0.034 
KEMARKS. 
2oth.—Bright and hot. . . 
‘jGtb.—Cloudy early, and occasionally during the day; inucn cooler. 
27th.—Bright throughout, bat still cool, 
28th.—Overcast and cool in morning, frequent sunshine in afternoon. 
29th.—Fine and generally bright. 
30th.—Wet till 9 A.M.; cloudy morning; generally bright in afternooDj ana co d Dignt. 
Fine cirrus bands H P.M. 
3l9t.—Brilliant early; tine and generally bright day. ^ 
Uenerally fine, but rather cooler than the previous weelc.—G. J SYMONS. 
