HAY (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Heu, Dutch hooi; the root from which it is derived, meaning “to cut,” is also seen in “to hew”; cf. “hoe”), grass mown and dried in the sun and used as fodder for cattle. It is properly applied only to the grass when cut, but is often also used of the standing crop. (See Haymaking below). Another word “hay,” meaning a fence, must be distinguished; the root from which it is derived is seen in its doublet “hedge,” cf. “haw-thorn,” i.e. “hedge thorn.” In this sense it survives in legal history in “hay bote,” i.e. hedge-bote, the right of a tenant, copyholder, &c. to take wood to repair fences, hedges, &c. (see [Estovers]), and also in “hayward,” an official of a manor whose duty was to protect the enclosed lands from cattle breaking out of the common land.
Haymaking.—The term “haymaking” signifies the process of drying and curing grass or other herbage so as to fit it for storage in stacks or sheds for future use. As a regular part of farm work it was unknown in ancient times. Before its introduction into Great Britain the animals intended for beef and mutton were slaughtered in autumn and salted down; the others were turned out to fend for themselves, and often lost all the fat in winter they had gained the previous summer. The introduction of haymaking gave unlimited scope for the production of winter food, and improved treatment of live stock became possible.
Though every country has its own methods of haymaking, the principal stages in the process everywhere are: (1) mowing, (2) drying or “making,” (3) “carrying” and storage in stacks or sheds.
In a wet district such as the west of Ireland the “making” is a difficult affair and large quantities of hay are often spoiled, while much labour has to be spent in cocking up, turning over, ricking, &c., before it is fit to be stacked up. On the other hand, in the dry districts of south-eastern England it is often possible to cut and carry the hay without any special “making,” as the sun and wind will dry it quickly enough to fit it for stacking up without the expenditure of much labour. This rule also applies to dry countries like the United States and several of the British colonies, and it is for this reason that most of the modern implements used for quickly handling a bulk of hay have been invented or improved in those countries. Forage of all kinds intended for hay should be cut at or before the flowering stage if possible. The full growth and food value of the plant are reached then, and further change consists in the formation and ripening of the seed at the expense of the leaves and stems, leaving these hard and woody and of less feeding value.
Grass or other forage, when growing, contains a large proportion of water, and after cutting must be left to dry in the sun and wind, a process which may at times be assisted by turning over or shaking up. In fine weather in the south of England grass is sufficiently dried in from two to four days to be stacked straight away. In Scotland or other districts where the rainfall is heavy and the air moist, it is first put into small field-ricks or “pykes” of from 10 to 20 cwt. each. In the drying process the 75% of water usually present in grass should be reduced to approximately 15% in the hay, and in wet or broken weather it is exceedingly difficult to secure this reduction. With a heavy crop or in damp weather grass may need turning in the swathe, raking up into “windrows,” and then making up into cocks or “quiles,” i.e. round beehive-like heaps, before it can be “carried.” A properly made cock will stand bad weather for a week, as only the outside straws are weathered, and therefore the hay is kept fresh and green. Indeed, it is a good rule always to cock hay, for even in sunny weather undue exposure ends in bleaching, which is almost as detrimental to its quality as wet-weathering.
In the last quarter of the 19th century the methods of haymaking were completely changed, and even some of the principles underlying its practice were revised. Generally speaking, before that time the only implements used were the scythe, the rake and the pitchfork; nowadays—with the exception of the pitchfork—these implements are seldom used, except where the work is carried on in a small way. Instead of the scythe, for instance, the mowing machine is employed for cutting the crop, and with a modern improved machine taking a swathe as wide as 5 or 6 ft. some 10 acres per day can easily be mown by one man and a pair of horses (figs. 1 and 2).
| Fig. 1.—Mower (viewed from above) with enlarged detail of Blade. (Harrison, M‘Gregor & Co.) |
It will be seen from the figures that a mower consists of three principal parts: (1) a truck or carriage on two high wheels carrying the driving gear; (2) the cutting mechanism, comprising a reciprocating knife or sickle operating through slots in the guards or “fingers” fastened to the cutting bar which projects to either the right or left of the truck; and (3) the pole with whipple-trees, by which the horses are attached to give the motive power. The reciprocating knife has a separate blade to correspond to each finger, and is driven by a connecting rod and crank on the fore part of the truck. In work the pointed “fingers” pass in between the stalks of grass and the knives shear them off, acting against the fingers as the crank drives them backwards and forwards. In the swathe of grass left behind by the machine, the stalks are, in a manner, thatched over one another, so that it is in the best position for drying in the sun, or, per contra, for shedding off the rain if the weather is wet. This is a great point in favour of the use of the machine, because the swathe left by the scythe required to be “tedded” out, i.e. the grass had to be shaken out or spread to allow it to be more easily dried.
| Fig. 2.—Mower (side view). |
After the grass has lain in the swathe a day or two till it is partly dried, it is necessary to turn it over to dry the other side. This used to be done with the hand rake, and a band of men or women would advance in échelon across a field, each turning the swathe of hay by regular strokes of the rake at each step: “driving the dusky wave along the mead” as described in Thomson’s Seasons. This part of the work was the act of “haymaking” proper, and the subject of much sentiment in both prose and poetry. The swathes as laid by the mowing machine lent themselves to this treatment in the old days when the swathe was only some 3 to 4 ft. wide, but with the wide cut of the present day it becomes impracticable. If the hay is turned and “made” at all, the operation is now generally performed by a machine made for the purpose. There is a wide selection of “tedders” or “kickers,” and “swathe-turners” on the market. The one illustrated in fig. 3 is the first prize winner at the Royal Agricultural Society’s trials (1907). It takes two swathes at a time, and it will be seen that the working part consists of a wheel or circle of prongs or tines, which revolves across the line of the swathe. Each prong in turn catches the edge of the swathe of grass and kicks it up and over, thus turning it and leaving it loose for the wind to blow through.