Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/855

 HAY

common Hay, whofe (lender ftalks fall clofe together. Salnt- foin, on this account, gets no harm on funday's by remaining in the cocks ; whereas the laws of this country, tho' not of others, prohibiting the working on this occafion on that day, the Englifh farmer often lofes his whole charges by the ruin of his Hay, from the cocks not being opened on a wet funday. When the little cocks of faintfoin Hay have ftood one night, let them be fpread out the next morning, and three or four of them then made up into one larger cock ; this may be done after they have been fpread about an hour; and if the weather be unfavourable, they fhould not be fpread at all, but three or four cocks lightly ftiook upon one another, fo as to leave them hollow, and the air a free paflage between them. Clover Hay will turn black, not only with every little mower of rain, but even with any mift or fog that happens while it is making ; but faintfoin having thinner leaves, is not fo ea- fily fpoiled this Way. The ricks of faintfoin Hay ought al- ways to be thatched over as foon as they are made. That which is laid up when well dried, will come out of a fine green colour, but that which is fomewhat wet or damp when put up, will not be green nor black, but brownifli. Whatever uplands are deftgned to be mowed for Hay, are to be fliut up in the beginning of February, and no cattle fuffered to Come upon them afterwards ; but the meadows and marfh-Iands, where the grafs grows quicker, need not be ihut up till April, except the fpring be bad ; and many far- mers feed thofe meadows which are in danger of overflowing till the firft of May, and then ihut them up for mowing. Mortimer's Husbandry.

In fpring, the ftones, flicks, and all other kinds of foulnefs that lie upon the land, are to be picked up, and the mole- hills all levelled and fpread, becaufe they hinder the mow- ers. If the meadows lie any thing uneven, or if they have been trodden down in winter, they fhould be rolled all over with a large wooden roller ; the mowers will then be able to cut much clofer ; for this, and the quantity of the Hay, will very well anfwer the trouble.

The time of mowing the grafs muft be proportioned to its ripenefs ; nothing can be more prejudicial to the crop, than the cutting it too foon, becaufe the fap is not then fully come out of the root; and fuch grafs when dry'd into Hay, (brinks up almoft into nothing. It is very wrong alfo to let it fhnd too long, for when the feed has been ripened, and is fhed, the moiilure of the fap all dries away out of the ftalks, and they become no better than (o much Hubble, as is plainly feen in thofe grades which grow in hedges, and not being mow'd, dye away after they have perfected their feed, and become taftlefs and very different from Hay. The middle or latter end of June is the general feafon for mowing ; and the red flowers of the honey-fuckle beginning to wither, generally give the farmer notice that the time is coming on. But he may be more aflured of this, by the tops or heads of the grafs looking full, bending downwards, and looking brown : It is then in the proper ftate to be cut down.

If there is great plenty of the Hay, and it lie thick in the fwarth, the haymakers mould follow the mowers, and turn the fwarths as they cut them, unlefs there feems danger of wet weather ; but in that cafe it is better to let them lie in the fwarth. At night it muft be made up into little cocks, and thefe in the morning muft be fpread again and turned, fo that the other fide may wither. After this it is to be made into (mail cocks again, and the next day it is to be fpread again, and drawn into long rows, which they call win- rows. From thefe it is to be made up into large cocks after a little drying ; and thefe large ones, if any wet comes, are to be fpread open once again before they are carried in. Mowing of land too often, and continuing it too long, is a very great prejudice to it, unlefs it have the advantage of be- ing fed and renewed by land floods at times. The farmer who has not this advantage to his lands, mould feed them once in two or three years, inftead of making Hay from them, unlefs he chufes to lay on manure conftantly to keep them in heart. Feeding the Hay lands is the fame fort of re- spite that fallowing is to corn lands, both very neceffary and advantageous.

Mr. Boyle tells us, that by furrounding glaffes with refufe Hay, well preffed and uniformly wetted, it would for feveral days afford fuch a heat, as rendered that of horfe-dun» ufe- lefs. Works abr. Vol. I. p. 72.

It is well known that Hay laid up wet in ftacks, often takes fire. Hence the cuftom of the antients to place their Hay ftacks, or fcenilia, out of their villages. HAY-waler, a liquor prepared by the curious, and kept for the examination of the microfcope, as affording numbers of ani- malcules. Hay is not the only fubftance ufed to this purpofc, but either that, or ftraw, or grafs, oats, wheat, or barley, or indeed any other vegetable production, being infufed in water, after a few days a whitifli fcum or motherinefs will appear upon it, which always contains a multitude of animal- cules, and thofe of very various fizes, fhapes, and kinds. Many of thefe are the fame with fome of the animals in pep- . per-water; for there are fome which are found indifferently in all watery fluids expofed to the air. The moft general Suppl. Vol, I.

H A Z

anion* thefe, is an oval one, fomewhat refcmbling an ant's egg in fhape. Thefe are extremely nimble, and run back- ward and forward with great velocity ; fometimes alfo they will flop, and turn feveral times with furpriling fwiftnefs round their own axis. This is owing to a great number of legs or fins winch they have, placed in a circular order ; not is this ftrange motion peculiar to thefe, but is found in many other animalcules.

Another kind there is alfo very like the former, but that they have one end confidcrably (harper than the other; they al- ways move with this {harp end foremoft ; they are moft ly tranfparent, but nbb'd longitudinally like a melon ; others are only tranfparent at their fmaller end : Thefe have no legs nor fins. Another fort are alfo found in thefe infufions, which are nearly as long as thofe of the larger fize in pepper- water ; they are very nimble, and have a power of contraa- mg themfelves as they fwim along. Thefe have feveral feet vifible at the end, which feems their forepart, and thefe are moll: diftinguifhable as the water dries away, and the bodv of the animal ftirinks up. Another fort of animals are found in thefe infufions, whofe bodies are fpherical, but pointed at one end fomewhat like a pear : Thefe much refemble bladders filled with water, and there are always feen a number of dark particles fwimmmg in them. The motion of»thefe animals is chiefly a revolving one, they will turn round an hundred times in a minute, firft one way, and then another, and all the while will never ftir a hair's breadth out of their place ; but they are able alfo, when they pleafe, to run backwards and forwards very nimbly. Baker's Microfcope, p. 79. Animalcules in the fhape of eels are frequently met with alfo in thefe infufions, and in many other liquors ; their ftze is extremely different ; fome being more than a hundred times fmaller than others.

Hay-iot™. Befide the fmall worms or animalcules bred in water, in which Hay has been infufed, which are only the objefls of microfcopical obfervations, we find that it is a pro- per nidus of itfelf, fometimes, for a much larger fpecies of infect called the Hay-worm, whofe origin and changes have not, as yet however, been properly obferved. An animal which can be produced from the egg, and grow to its full fize during the fhort time that Hay is left in the field in mak- ing, muft be very quick in its growth, but yet it is found that multitudes of fuch are produced, tho' probably few come to perfefiion, the removing of the Hay naturally deftroying many. In the Philofophical TranfaSions we have an account of the fame fort of infefl breeding among the cocks of barley while left in the field, many millions of them being difcovered together on ftirring or lifting up the cocks with a cane. They are alfo found in the barns where barley is laid up, and are fo numerous that they ftrow the way the carts go that carry the barley home, by the multitudes that are (hook off. They are about half an inch long, as thick as a pi- geon's feather, and of a whitifh colour (haded with faint ftripesofayellowifh. brown. They have fourteen feet, and feem evidently by all their marks to be true caterpillars. They are of an offenfive fmell, and their excrements are hard white pellets of pure flour, like that of barley ; whence it is plain that they eat the grain.

HAZLE, Corylus, in botony, the name of a genus of trees, the charaaers of which arc thefe : The flower is of the amenta- ceous or catkin kind, being compofed of a number of leaves affixed in a fquammofe order to an axis ; under each of thefe there are placed a number of apices. Thefe flowers are bar- ren, and tire embryo fruits are placed in different parts of the tree ; thefe finally become a hard and roundifti (hell, contain- ing a fingle kernel, and furrounded by a callous fimbriated cup.

The fpecies of Corylus enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, 'are thefe : 1. The common Corylus with a fmall white fruit. 2. The Corylus with a very large round fruit. 3. The Corylus with a very long reddilh fruit. 4. The Corylus with a large and long red fruit, covered with a white pellicle. 5. The duller fruited Corylus. 6. The common wild Hazle. And, 7. The dwarf exotic or Conftantinople Corylus. Tourn. Inft. p. 581.

rlAZLE-farfi, in agriculture, a moderately compadt earth, much approaching to the nature of the chifely foil, and in- deed properly a fpecies of it, but always containing a large quantity of a refm-colour'd (and. Morcton's Nortbampt. p. 39.

Hazle-/;w, in zoology, the name of a bird of the gallinaceous kind, common in the woods of Germany, and iuppofed by many to be the attagen of the antients. It is of the fize of a very fmall pullet ; its belly is all over per- fectly white; its bread white, variegated with black; its throat is reddilh, and under the beak black, in the male, but in the female, of the fame colour with the reft ; it has on each fide of the head a white line ; its head is of a greyilh brown, and its back and rump much of the fame colour with the par- tridge ; its fides are of a yellowifh or reddifli brown, varie- gated with white ; its wings are variegated with black, brown, and white, as is alfo the tail, but that has an admixture of red. It is caught in thick woods, and feeds on vegetables. Ray's Ornithology, p. 126.

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