Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/473

441&#93; HAY it shed its seeds. hen the to i brow n, ii w ilJ thi a be tit ii owed, 1 1 :i making i v the vi g< table juices :
 * i, diflerent methods

lu e been adopted, of which we sJuill notice the principal. In the count) of Middl whence the London markets are chiefly supplied with hay, all the grass mowed on the first day, be- tiine o'clock in the morning, is tedded, that is, uniformly spread the meadow, divided as much us possible, and well turned, be- fore twelve o'clock, and perhaps a second time in the afternoon. It is then raked into wind-rows, and formed into small cocks. On the second day, the grass mown the preceding day after nine o'clock, and what is cut on this day before that time, is tedded, and treated in the manner above ibed. Previously to turning the grass of' the second day's work, the small cocks thrown up on the preceding day are well shaken out into straddles, or separate plats, five or six yards square. Jt the crop be so thin as to leave large spaces between the plats,, they ought to be raked clean. The next business is, to turn the plats, and also the grass cut on the second d.iy, which is generally done be- fore one o'clock, in order that all the grass which is mowed may be drying while the people are at din- ner. In the afternoon, the strad- dles or plats are raked into double wind-rows ; the grass into single ones ; and the hay is thrown tip into Jield-cocks of a middling size, also called tastardrcocks ; the grass is then cocked, as on the preced- ing day. Similar operations are succcs- 1 1 A V [44' grvcly performed < n the third day ; the hay in bastard-cocks is again spread into straddles, and the i hole is turned pit iously to the people going to dinm r. Should the tin r have proved lii nd.v arm, the bay that was made into bas- tard-cocks on I will, in the afternoon of the third day, be fit to be housed. On the fourth day, the hay is put into stacks. — This method has, from exp* lienee, proved very successful, especially in favourable weather. On the Duke of A&gvle's estates in Scotland, the hay is dried on pins in barns ; and, when thus made, it has been found to be re- markably green and sweet. According to Dr. Anderson's plan, the grass is to be cut only v. lien it is perfectly dry, without spreading it out into swaths, wind- rows, &c. or tedding it, as is the general practice. Immediately af- ter it is mowed, it is thrown up into small and narrow cocks about th:ve feet high ; each cock is slightly thatched, by drawing a lit- tle hay from the bottom of the cock, which is laid on the top, with one of the ends downwards. Thus, the hay may with case and expedi- tion be rendered equally sate from rain and wind, unless a violent storm should occur immediately after the cocks are raised. And, if they be put up when the grass is perfectly dry, Dr. Anderson af- firms that they " never sit so close- ly as to heat," though they become in the course of a day or two so firm as not to be liable to be over- turned, unless by a hurricane. In these cocks, the hay is suffer- ed to remain tor a week or a fort- night ; till, upon inspection, it is judged that they will keep in to- Icrably large Iramp-cccks ; in which case