The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-31 00:00:00

POTTED. HAT. 7

Mr. John Wrightson, of the Royal Agnicraltural
College;.Cirencester, writes to The Times:--;-"Trarly in
June you _allowed me to 0.11 attention, through The
Times, to the possibility of storing grass in trenches in
a green state. Since then I have received a large
number of letters, asking for such particulars as would
enable the process to be carried out with success. To
such inquiries I have answered that, although I had
seen the potted hay' greedily eaten by stock, it had
not been my good fortune to witness the process of
preservation carried out practically, but that all agri-
culturists with whom I had conversed described it as
exceedingly simple. The details of the process have
been so clearly described by M. Goffart, in a pam-
phlet upon maize cultivation, published early in the
present year in Paris (Masson), that I venture to make
you a translation of the passage in which his method
of proceeding is given. M. Goffart has preserved
green rye and maize, both above ground and in
trenches, after a manner similar to -that described by
me in a former letter, and there seems to be no reason
to doubt that the same process might be applied with
equal success to grass in this country. The passage is
as follows :---` About 60 metres from my stables I
opened a trench upon the bank of an old pond, in com-
pact clay, perfectly impermeable, and of a hardness
such that a pick-axe was required to open it up.
The trench was 10 metres long, two wide, and two
deep. I lined it with masonry of half a brick
thick, and well cemented, and the bottom was also
paved and cenrented. The side walls were made
vertical, and not inclined, which seems to me only ra-
tional. The pressure is exercised vertically, and inclined
sides appear to me contrary to the end for which they
are intended—to facilitate, and not to prevent, thq,
setting or sinking of the mass. A chaff•cutter (by ,
Richmond and Chandler) was placed upon the edge of
the trench, and being worked by a five-horse power
engine, filled it in less than ten hours. The chaffed
maize was spread over the area and trodden down
(Joule) by two persons until it rose about 40 centime-
tres above the level of the masonry. This raised por-
tion, compressed like the rest, was disposed as a long
mound, and covered with a light coat of long straw,
and then WWI 40 centimetres of well flattened down
earth. I watched the result for several consecutive
-dayoi; atui-filledi up the fissures BO as to prevent any
space from forming_ between the covering of earth
and the preserved maize, which would -be highly
.7injurious. My chaff-cutter delivers the maize in
'lengths from one to two centimetres. I prefer
the former length ; it gives to the preserved maize the
aptieilanoe of a compact pulp; reduces it (at once) to
the least volume possible, and does not permit the air
to lodge between the email morsels, which it does when
they are longer. The smaller the maize is cut the less
will it sink afterwards, and, in consequence, the less
chance is there of its altering. • . . At the side of this
trench, which inspires me with the greatest confidence,
I have excavated a less one, with vertical sides; but
this one I have not lined with masonry, and the maize
rests in contact with the soil. Here lam less sure of
a perfect preservation.' Those of your numerous readers
who, during this extraordinary wet season, may wish
to try the experiment of making a little sour or 'potted'
hay may find the above details useful."