New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-08-07
FIXTURE OF THE ENGLISH Hay CROP.

CAPTAIN MAYNE REID DESCRIBES THE WIDESPREAD
RUIN WROUGHT BY PROTRACTED RAlNS-LoSsEs
AMOUNTING TO MANY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
TO The Edftor or The Tribune.
SIR: In THE TRIBUNE OF July i note para
grauh comment cling thus The English farmers are
threatened with the ruin Of the hay-crop owing 10
cold and rainy weather" / regret to Inform you
that the threat has been fulfilled and the ruin mas
come almost wholesale and complete. NO doupt
this inte gence has long since reached you Dy the
forestang cable still it may interest your readers
to learn the particulars of the caamity-ior ca
lamty it is In England two kinds of hay are made
one from clover, commonly called sfodder"; the
other or hay proper being the product OF field and
meadow grass In quantity the former is much less
than the latter probably only fourth or NTH OF
the whole CROP As the clover Is earlier ready Tor
the scythe nearly all of it mown by the middle
of June or a little later But scarce was 1t down
when a spell of rain set In, continuing lntermit-
tently for more than week. so that nothing could
be done with 1t. Luckily there succeeded an IN
terval of fine weather-th three OF four days OF IT,
when by quick work the fodder was got into the
rckyard too hastily, however, and as conse-
0uence it is icondItiOned, where not .altogether
spoiled During these dry days the mowers were
again active, and down vent the meadow grass all
over the land: at least three fourths of it having
that day the ram recommended, and has been pour
ing down ever since; of course not continuously,
bat in showers 100 closely for the curing
Of bay. La the moist climate of the British Isles
desccation is slow compared with that of your dry
elastic atmosphere: and for the last three weeks
we have had rain every day. with only one eXcep'
ton need not say that the cut grass is still upon the
ground rotting and rotted 1t is raining while
write July 20 with no appearance OF dry spell
likely to be permanent. But 1t matters not much
nov for even if fine weather were TO come TINS
day or to morrow, it will come too late. Most OF
the hay is already gone not to the rickyard but to
ruin and hear of large quantities being hauled to
| the manure-heap.
The result cannot fail to he lamentable; for the
loss must be great. Indeed, IA national loss :;
though, from what / read in the newspapers, the
nation does not appear yet fully 20 realize It,
Guided by agricultural statistics IN rough estimate
I make it out to be not less than f10OOO,OOO
though il may prove nearer f2O,0O0OO0. In Great
Britain and Ireland there are 19,OOOOOO acres oil
grassland and clover. Taking half OF this acreage
AS pasture with half kept for hay, and Nalulng the
latter at f5 per acre, we get nearly too,Ooo'ooo
worth of 1t. IT, then, a third, or even 1Ourth Of
this be lost as believe one OF other will be,-ln-
deed now is,-what gap it Will make In the IN
dustria receipts of the year and what an emptiness
in the pockets of the farmers. to say nothing OF
how their stock must suffer throughout the winter
TO come But half recovered from many blows Of
adversely late given them, this new one will send
them staggering back, DO doubt devotng SOME OF
themselves to ruin, as their hay.
The paragraph in your paper from which quoted
had reference TO an invention for drying hay III
the stack lately much talked of here. The plan Is
being experimental upon but so far the results are
dubious and anything but hopeful. Indeed, 1t Is
| already spoken OF as failure. Yours.
MAYNE REID
| Froqmore Ross, Herefcrdshire, July 20, 1882.