News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-10-02
FARM AND GARDEN.

How TO MAKE STAoK.-Farmers
who are acquainted with the habits of
the English in respect of stacking hay
and grain are often surprised that we
fail so often here in this work notwith-
standing our supposed drier weather,
There is q mistake about this. We fail
in making weather-proof stacks because
we ought to build them even better
than English farmers do (Which, how
ever, is very rarely done indeed), for
the reason that while we have more dry
weather here, yet when it rains it pOurs,
and in England it drizzles. Our rain
fall is nearly double that of E gland,
and we have it in large and heavy, but
not frequent, installments, and this is
one reason why we have trouble with
our stacks and get them sodden inside
from top to bottom. The English are
very particular in stacking, and thatch
the top with great care, binding on the
straw with bands or ropes and pins.
They also build their stacks on reason
able principles, so that if water should
enter it will quickly find its way to the
sides and escape by the caves. In
building a stack the centre should be
kept much higher than the sides, and
each forkful put on after the bottom
has been laid should overlap the pre-
vious one, as one single does another
on a roof. 1t is quite as easy to do this
as it is for man to stand IN the centre,
in hollow, and pile the hay or fodder
all around him on the sides, keeping the
centre few feet lower than the rest of
the stack. In stacking corn fodder,
which is better kept in this way than
III barns, it is necessary to begin in the
centre of the stack, and it is a good plan
for novice to set Il long pole in the
ground and build the stack around it.
At first the bundles are set upright
around this pole or in the centre, and
others are leaned against these, gradu-
ally lowering the slope of the bundles
until the outer row is nearly level.
When two or three layers have been
stacked the bundles are first laid on the
outside, and are made to project few
inches over the side so as to spread the
stack. This protects the sides from the
drip of the caves. One bundle overlaps
the other, the butt of one coming little
below the band of the lower one. The
former inclination is preserved until the
stack should be at least foot and
half wider on each side than the base of
it. It is then drawn in gradually, the
centre being still kept increasing in
height above the sides until the last
few bundles are set nearly upright
around the pole and are bound firmly to
it. If the stack top is well beaten down
it will then shed any rain, however
heavy, that may fall upon it.
saved, cornstalks are as good fodder as
common hay. The early corn will soon
be getting ready for cutting, and the
sooner it is then cut the better the fod-
der will be. If it is carelessIy left until
it is frozen, one-half the value of the
stalks is lost. When one works farm
for profit he cannot afford to waste any
thing; he must preserve, not only the
crops themselves, but he must save them
in such way as to preserve all their
value. A lot of cornstalks, first frozen
and then nodded by neglect, might as
well have been thrown into the manure
yard at first. After cutting up the crop
in good season the next care is to Sc
cure the shocks. This is best done by
the stalks about one hill left
uncut, which gives great support to the
shock against storms. If the shock is
well made it is better to have it some
what large, our own practice being to
take 40 hills, or seven each way, and
around the central one. The
butts are spread considerably at first to
get firm basis and to give access to the
air; the rest of the stalks are carelessly
placed to balance the shock, and the
whole is then firmly bound with two
bands before it is left. If it is left until
the END of the days work before it is
bound the shock will have settled and
become deformed and out of shape, and
some of them will have fallen and must
be set up again, so that the delay not
only makes bad worse, but more of it,
and is an example of the truth of the
old adage that "delays are dangerous
aud make waste" One band should be
put about the centre of the shock and
one at the top, and both should be
firmly drawn and fastened Shocks
thus put up will not blow over or mold
in the centre. After the corn is husked
the stalks should be bound in small
bundles and set up in stacks of about
four shocks each, or the stacks may be
made two tiers high, having about u
shocks in each. If these are bound
well with two bands they will keep per-
fectly well through the winter in yard
or in the field,