244 New Method of making Clover-Hay. FApril

manifeſt itſelf by a ſtrong honey-like ſmell: when a proper fer- mentation is begun, the cocks will, on being opened, ſmoke, appear browniſh, and may then be ſpread abroad. If in the morning the ſun is warm, and a little wind ariſes, the Clover- Hay will quickly dry; it may then, towards noon, be tui ned with the rake or. pitch-fork, and about four in the afternoon, will be ſufficiently dried, ſo that it may be immediately carted into the barn, without any danger of a ſecond fermentation,

By this method of management the Clover will reguire only three days, from the time of mowing, to its being houſed, and very little work: whilſt in the common way, even in good wea- ther, it requires fix or eight days 5 in the old method it frequently becomes of a black colour; but in the new method it is only brown, has an agreeable ſmell, and remains good and unchange- able in the barn. The farmer has alſo another advantage, that if he has not carts enough to carry it into the barn, he needs only, at ſun-ſctting, to heap it again into large well-trodden cocks, and thatch them with ſtraw, in which ſtate they will re- main the whole ſummer without damage or loſs. This Clover- Hay is not only greedily eaten by ſheep and lambs, but alſo by horſes, calves, and cows.

The laſt in particular prefer it to the beſt Meadow-Hay: it produces a great quantity of rich milk; and the butter made from it, is almoſt as yellow as ſummer butter.

As this new mode of making Hay depends principally upon two circumftances—firſt, that the mown Clover, when brought together into large heaps, may ferment equally and expedioufly; ſecondly, that if the day ſucceeding the fermentation be dry, ſunny, and windy—on this account it may be proper to point out what ſhould be done when circumftances are unfavourable.

Let us ſuppoſe, therefore, that the night after the Clover-Graſs hás been placed in the great cocks, be cold, damp, or rainy, the fermentation will yet take place, although it may reguire a term of twelve, ſixteen, or twenty-four hours to efe it. If it be a ſecond or third crop, at which ſeaſon the“ nights are colder, it may even require from thirty-ſix to forty-eight hours before the fermentation enſues: it will, however, commence, and may be aſcertained from this circumſtance, that you can ſcarcely bear your hand in the interior of the cock.

Even if the night be dry, yet if a ſtrong cold wind blows, the cock may not ferment equally, but only in the middie and on the fide oppoſite to the wind; the other parts may fill remain green, In ſuch a caſe the following rules muſt be attended to:—

Firſt, If the cock ha5 only fermented in the middle, and on that ſide where the cold wind did not a upon it, the whole heap muſt, nevertheléſs, be opened the following morning. That which has already fermented muſt be ſeparated and ſpread todry; it muſt be turged towards noon, and may be carted into the