The haying season was
not a bright one, and our clover was drawn a little greener than usual,
and went into the mow in large and compact forkfuls. The result was
intense heating, and consequently very rapid evaporation and sweating of
the mow. On a bay holding ordinarily twenty tons we put at least thirty
tons, as every load at the top seemed to make room for another. The barn
was rather open, which allowed quite free evaporation on all sides as
well as at the top. The result was that I had very bright and excellent
hay at the bottom, top, and sides of that mow, but severals tons in the
center were as completely charred as though burned in a coal pit. What
prevented combustion has always been a mystery to me. Since that escape
from a conflagration, I have not deemed it prudent to put clover in so
green as to cause intense heating, or to fill a mow too rapidly. If we
haul six loads per day to one mow, weighing thirty hundred each, which
will shrink during the sweating process to one ton each, we have three
tons of water to be thrown off by evaporation.
If we continue to put on six loads per day until the mow is full, the
principal part of that moisture must rise through the entire mass.
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