or three days, after which the hay is ready for being stored. When
clover is cured in the winrow, it does not go through the sweating
process to the same extent as when cured in the cock; hence, it is
liable to sweat in the mow, and to such an extent as to induce mold, if
it has been stored away with moisture in it beyond a certain degree. If
a wisp of clover is taken from the least cured portion of the winrow or
cock, and twisted between the hands, it is considered ready for being
stored if no liquid is discernible. If overcured, when thus twisted it
will break asunder. A skilled workman can also judge fairly well of the
degree of the curing by the weight when lifted with the fork.

Under some conditions, it may be advisable to "open out" the cocks two
or three hours before drawing them, that the hot sunshine may remove
undue moisture. When this is done, if the cocks are taken down in
distinct forkfuls, as it were, each being given a place distinct from
the others, the lifting of these will be much easier than if the clover
in each cock had been strewn carelessly over the ground. The lowest
forkful in the cock should be turned over, since the hay in it will have
imbibed more or less of dampness from the ground. But in some instances
the weather for harvesting is so favorable that the precaution is
unnecessary of thus opening out the cocks or even of making them at all.

=Storing.=--Storing clover under cover is far preferable to putting it
up in stacks, except in rainless climates. With the aid of the
hay-loader in lifting it from winrows in the field, and of the hay fork
in unloading, the hand labor in storing is greatly reduced, but when it
is unloaded with the horse fork, the aim should be to dump the hay from
the fork on different parts of the mow or stack, lest it should become
too solidly pressed together under the dump, and heat and mold in
consequence.

When the hay is stacked, especially in climates of considerable
rainfall, a bottom should be prepared on which to stack it. This may be
made of poles or rails. A few of these should first be laid one way on
the ground and parallel, and others across them. Where such material
cannot be had, old straw or hay of but little value should be spread
over the stack bottom to a considerable depth. Where these precautions
are not taken, the hay in the bottom of the stack will be spoiled for
some distance upward by moisture ascending from the ground. In building
the stac