Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 1, A-AME

454 A G ft I C U
inoft always hnd that the uncut grafs will dry foouer
aru^Storing than that which has been cut when wet j and there-
up Corn fore, the gatherers may always begin to put up that
and Hay. which is frefh cut before the other j which will ufually
' require two or three hours to dry after the new-cut hay
may be cocked. And if, at any time, in cafe ol ne-
cellity, you lliould be obliged to cut your hay before it
is dry, the fame rule mult be obferved always to allow
it to remain in the fwathe till it is quite dry : but, as
there is always a great riik of being long in getting it
up, and as it never in this cale wins (k) lo kindly as it
it had been dry cut, the farmer ought to endeavour, it
pollible, in all cafes to cut his hay only when dry; even
if it lliould colt him fome additional expence to the cut¬
ters, by keeping them employed at any other works, el¬
even allowing them to remain idle, il the weather ihould
be variable or rainy.
“ But if there is a great proportion ol clover, and
the weather lliould chance to be dole and calm at the
time, it may, on fome occalions, be neceffary to open
up the cocks a little to admit fome freih air into them ;
in which cale, il they have ftood a day or two, it may
be of great ufe to turn theie cocks and open them up
a little, which ought to be done in the drielt time ol
the day •, the operator taking that part ol each cock
which was the top, and with it forming the bale of a
new one} fo that the part which was moll expoled to
\ the air becomes excluded from it, and that which ivas
undermoll comes to be placed upon the top, lo as to
make it all dry- as equally as poflible.
“ If the hay has not been damp when it was firll put
up, the cock may be immediately finiihed out at once ;
but if it is at all wet, it will be of great ule to turn
over only a little of the top of the cock at firll, and
leaving it in that Hate to dry a little, proceed to an¬
other, and a third, and fourth, &c. treating each in the
fame way > going in that manner till you find that the
infide of the firll opened cock is iufficiently dried, when
it will be proper to return to it, turning over a little
more of it, till you come to what is llill damp, when
you leave it, and proceed to another, and io on round
the whole } always returning alrefli till the cocks are
entirely linilhed. This is the bell way of laving your
hay, if y6u have been under the necellity of cutting it
while damp j but it is always bell to guard againll this
inconvenience, if polfible.”
In the yard, a Hack of hay ought to be an oblong
fquare, if the quantity be greater than to be ealily
llowed in a round Hack } becaule a fmaller iurface is
expofed to the air than in a number of round Hacks.
For the fame reafon, a Hack of peafe ought to have
the fame fox-m, the Hraw being more valuable than that
of oats, wheat, or barley. The moment a Hack is finilh-
ed it ought to be covered j becaufe the furface hay is
much damaged by withering in dry weather, and moill-
ening in wet weather. Let it have a pavilion roof j
for more of it can be covered with Hraw in that lliape,
than when built pei'pendicular at the ends. Let it be
roped as directed above for corn-Hacks -, with this dif¬
ference only, that in an oblong fquare the ropes muH
L T U ft E. Practice.
be thrown over the top, and tied to the belt-rope be- Manures.
low. This belt-rope ought to be fixed with pins to the ’ “J
Halk : the reafon is, that the ropes thrown over the Hack
will bag by the finking of the Hack, and may be drawn
tight by lowering the belt-rope, and fixing it in its neW
polition with the fame pins.
The Hems of hops, being long and tough, make ex¬
cellent x’opes } and it will be a faving article, to propa¬
gate a few plants of that kind for that very end.
A Hack of rye-grafs, a year old, and ot a moderate,
iize, will weigh, each cubic yard, n Dutch Hone. A
Hack of clover hay in the fame circumHances weighs
fomewhat lefs.
Sect. VII. Manures.
472
Jlay-ftacks.
“ The life of manures (fays M. Parmentier*), hasM. Par- 1 j
been known in all ages j but we are yet far from having meatier s
any clear and precife ideas oi the nature of the.juices°P““°^®.
which are deilined for the nourilhment of vegetables, manures> 8
and of the manner in winch they are tranfmitted to c Memoirs
their organs. The writers on agriculture who have en- of the Ray-
deavoured to explain thefe matters, perceiving falts in
moH plants, were perfuaded that theie falts, by the help j.l(re n0y
of water and heat, palled, in a laline form, through the Paris.
vegetable filter. Theie firH philoiophers did not hefi-
tate to confider every thing that has been done by the
induHry of man, to improve the nature of land, and its
productions, as merely forming refervoirs of thefe ialts,
which they confider as the principle of fertility. This
opinion was fo well eflablilhed among the improvers oi
’ land, that, to this day, many of them have no object in
view, in their operations, but to difengage ialts j and,
when they attempt to explain certain phenomena which ,
take place in their fields or orchards, they talk confi¬
dently about the nitre of the air, of rain, off now, of
dew,'and fogs ; of t\w falts of the earth, of dung, of
marl, of lime, of chalk, &c. and make ufe of thole
vague terms, oil, fulphur, fnrit, &e. which ought
henceforward to be baniihed from our elementary books
on agriculture.
“ Among the authors who have attacked, and com¬
bated with moll fuccefs the opinion that the fruitfulnefs
of foils, and the aliment of vegetables, refide in faline
fubHances, muH be reckoned Eller and Wallerius.
Thefe philofophers examined, by every means which
chemiHry at that time could furnifh, the various kinds
of earth proper for cultivation, and alfo thofe fubHances
which have always been conlidered as the moll power¬
ful manures, without being able to obtain, from any of
them, any thing more than mere atoms of lalt.
“ Animated with the fame zeal, and taking advan¬
tage of the inllructions found in their Writings, 1
thought it neceffary to determine, by experience, whe¬
ther, as has been afferted, there really exill neutral
falts in earths j and alfo, whether thofe earths are more
fertile in proportion to the quantity of fuch lalts they
contain. With this view, I lixiviated by means oi
dillilled water, many fpecies of cultivated earths, ta¬
ken in various Hates from frelh earth to that which
(k) By winning hay,
of a dry fodder.
is meant the operation by which it is brought from the fueculent Hate of grals to that