498 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jane 13, 1890. 
•unsettled weather, and it prompts the Inquiry if some curtailment 
•of this work is not possible ? It is undoubtedly possible by those 
who make hay chiefly for home consumption, and we devote a 
■fiecond paper to this subject to call special attention to the im¬ 
portance of retrenchment in this direction and of a considerable 
extension of ensilage, as well as to mark the importance of 
■thoroughly good practice in both haymaking and ensilage. As 
■novel terms are often troublesome, we may explain that the literal 
meaning of ensilage is the mode of preserving green fodder in a 
■sweet, fresh, wholesome and nutritious condition as food for cattle 
and other animals of the farm ; the fodder so preserved is termed 
silage. Haymaking never has obtained that recognition and im¬ 
portance north of the Trent which southern farmers assign it, and 
many a north countryman has never seen hay made at all. Yet we 
have seen some attempts to make hay in the highlands of Scotland 
^y very primitive means, and there is no question that wherever 
dodder is stored for use in winter throughout Great Britain and 
Ireland, that ensilage will prove of immense advantage because of 
■the facility with which it is done, the certainty of success under 
ordinary care, and the economy of the process in comparison with 
Siaymaking. Yet we have actually heard exception taken to silage 
upon the score of its heavy carriage in the green state from 
meadow to stack. Well, all we can say to that is, that the man 
who could make such a complaint would be a suitable companion 
‘for the dog who used to lean his head against the wall when he 
barked, and we are not writing for his benefit at all. * 
Undoubtedly a goodly lot of hayricks is a fine sight, and we 
must plead guilty to a feeling of much satisfaction when the ricks 
are finished, and our entire appreciation of such a character as 
George Eliot pourtrays in Kester Bale who knew the “natur’’ 
of all farming work, and who would walk to the rick yard on a 
Sunday morning in his best clothes to admire his own handiwork^ 
Yhat is the sort of feeling of which we want more in master and 
man, and then we should hear nothing about heavy carriage or an 
•extra hour or two of work, but rather how well the work was done 
and how satisfactory was the result. 
What is a good haycock ? It is a heap of grass being made 
into hay so constructed as to throw off rain, and to expose as little 
■of the hay as possible to it. To ensure this due care must be 
<taken to keep the middle of the cock full, to press it together 
in the building sufficiently to ensure stability, and to make it so 
erect and tapering as to throw off rain as it falls. Two of the 
worst seasons for haymaking we remember were those of 1879 and 
1888, and in both wo saved the hay in fair condition by having 
recourse to haycocks, some of which remained unopened for an 
entire fortnight. Had those cocks been mere heaps thrown loosely 
together as we have so often seen done, the hay would have been 
•spoilt, but they were made with all possible care, and though the 
bay was discoloured it eventually fermented well in the rick, and 
had plenty of flavour. A high authority upon matters agricultural 
has laid it down that the best full flavoured hay is of a rich brown 
hue ; but we must take exception to this dictum, and assert our 
•cenviction born of long experience, that the very best hay has in 
addition to full flavour a bright green hue in token that no rain fell 
upon it after the mowing. It is true enough that mere colour is of 
no particular importance, and we have had green hay sadly deficient 
in flavour simply because it was not carted as soon as it ought to 
have been. 
In stacking hay the aim is a mean between an undue green 
state and over-dryness, a gradual drying or evaporation of sap from 
the herbage being always most satisfactory. It is for this reason 
that one hears of the best hay being made in wet weather, as a 
scorching sun is liable to impart dryness to the touch, which is 
misleading, especially when there is much Clover or other soft 
growth among the herbage, and such hay stacked prematurely 
generally becomes overheated, and sometimes ignites and is de¬ 
stroyed by fire. It is for this reason that ive advise the use of 
sack stuffed full of straw being built upright in the centre of 
the bottom of the stack, and drawn upwards during the building 
of the stack, so as to form a sort of narrow chimney or safety 
valve, out of which the more violent heat can escape, to promote 
which the sack is withdrawn every night, and inserted when the 
building is begun again next day, and so on till the top is reached, 
when the sack is discarded altogether. The passage so made quite 
closes as the hay heats and settles down, so that anything like an 
objectionable permanent opening in the centre of the rick is 
avoided. We have seen various attempts at improvement upon 
this plan by means of open shafts of woodwork, but not one of 
them has proved equal to the effectual if primitive method we 
have described. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
What a good time we are having ! We complain loudly enough 
about our fickle climate, but surely we can hardly find anything like a 
seasonable reason for a growl just now. The heavy land which became 
so hard during the dry weather at the beginning of May was softened 
sufficiently by timely showers to be got ready for the roots, and Swedes 
have never been got in better or come away more briskly into a good 
strong plant. Mangolds are also a fine, full, strong plant, and care has 
been taken to set right any faults of singling. This is a matter to be 
looked into closely, for as the singling is done by the acre there is 
wont to be much scamped work. A glaring example of this has again 
occurred in a thriving field of Swedes, where in walking over the work 
with our weeding spud we began pulling up plants left too thick. We 
soon found it was so generally all over the field, and had not only to 
complain of inefficient superintendence, but to withhold enough of the 
workmen’s pay to ensure a proper finish being given to the work. Alas ! 
how many times have we had to do this. Really shirking seems to be 
the order of the day, nor can we wonder when the rate of pay is 
brought down to starvation point; but where piecework is the rule, and 
it is possi'ole for the men to earn fair wages, shirking and scamped 
work is a shameful and abominable thing, to which we will give no 
quarter. 
As Eye, winter Tares, exhausted Sainfoin, and other crops are 
cleared off it will be well to give thought to the due provision of late 
Turnips and any successional green crops which may be required for 
the maintenance of full supply of such food. If Maize is not yet sown 
let no time be lost in getting in the seed, and do not forget the field 
must be closely watched during every minute of daylight, and the bird 
boys must be there on duty by 3 A.M., or the rooks will clear off every 
seed in a very short time. Lambs as usual have thriven exceedingly 
upon Sainfoin, the second growth of which may be turned to account 
either for seed or hay. Precisely the same plan is the best to follow 
where Clover seed is required, and everyone that can tries to have at 
least one field of Clover for seed. To mow a first crop of Clover, of 
which the second growth is intended for seed, involves such risk of 
failure that we never venture upon it, and those who did so last season 
had bitter cause to regret it, hundreds of acres of second crop Clover 
being spoilt by the rain after it was mown. 
Errors in the Home Farm article published June 5th :—Last par 
but one, “ During the haymaking our own farm bailiff ” should have 
been “ home farm bailiff.” Last par, second sentence, “ now at any 
rate” should be “ mow at any rate.” Last sentence, “If there are no 
hay basins” should be “ If there are no hay barns.”—E. L. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
C.VMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. I 9AM. I In TUB DAY. 
1890. 
llygr ■‘me¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
sou at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
fl 
■5 
« 
Jiiae, 
^ /n C 
I>ry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Bun. 
On 
grass 
Pnndav . 
1 
Inches. 
30.080 
deg 
55.* 
deg. 
48.4 
s.w. 
deg. 
55.7 
deg. 
65.2 
deg. 
40.8 
deg. 
117.2 
deg. 
36.9 
In. 
Monday .... 
*2 
^9.050 
59.7 
52.9 
s.w. 
56.4 
69.6 
6'».6 
U5.9 
46.6 
_ 
Tuesday ... 
3 
29.978 
o7.3 
50.9 
s.w. 
66.9 
63.3 
60.2 
98.1 
4.'). 7 
O.OJO 
Wednesday 
4 
29.845 
5B.3 
54.4 
S.E. 
76.9 
59.6 
54.1 
64.7 
51.1 
0.323 
Thursday ... 
5 
2V.993 
^7.9 
54.9 
S.E. 
66.0 
66.9 
53.2 
165.8 
50.3 
_ 
Friday . 
d 
29.yr'4 
76.2 
S.E. 
56.1 
67.9 
53.9 
H!2.7 
62.9 
_ 
Saturday ... 
7 
30.295 
57.2 
5).l 
N.E. 
55.8 
67.7 
46.0 
118.4 
42.3 
— 
30.011 
57.C 
52.5 
66.3 
65.7 
49.8 
103.3 
43.5 
0.353 
REMARKS. 
I9t.—Fine and generally bright. 
2ad.—Bright sunshine once or twice, but general'j' overcast and cool. 
3rd.—Overca.st and cool in the morning, a little sdnshine after 3 r.M. 
4th.—Wet from 7 .4 M to 11, and all the aftemoou. 
fith.—Overcast, with frequent drizzle. 
6th.—Overcast morning ; frequent sunshine in afternoon. 
7th.—Bright and fine. 
Generally flue but not hot, on the whole not unlike the previous one.—G. .T. SIMONS. 
