[183] This Hay, so cut before blossoming, has kept a Team of working Stone-horses, round the Year, fat without Corn; and when tried with Beans and Oats mixed with Chaff, they refused it for this Hay. The same fatted some Sheep in the Winter, in a Pen, with only it and Water; they thrived faster than other Sheep at the same time fed with Pease and Oats. The Hay was weighed to them, and the clear Profit amounted to Four Pounds _per_ Tun. They made no Waste. Tho’ the Stalks were of an extraordinary Bigness, they would break off short, being very brittle. This grew on rich Ground in _Oxfordshire_. The other Part of the Ground was afterwards cut in the Prime of its Flower, and made into Hay by the Heat of the Sun, without Rain or Mist: This came out of the Ricks at Winter with a much finer Colour, and as fine a Smell as the Virgin Hay; but did not come near it in fatting of Sheep, or keeping Horses fat at hard Work without any Corn, as the Virgin Hay did. This superfine Hay cannot well be had of poor uncultivated[184] _St. Foin_: because that may not be much above an Handful high, when ’tis in Condition to be so cut; and would then make a very light Crop, and would be a great while ere it sprang up again: But the rich will have Two or Three Tun to an Acre, and spring again immediately for a second Crop; so that little or no Quantity would be lost by so great an Improvement of its Quality. For ho’d _St. Foin_ upon a poor chalky Hill, cut at the same time with that uncultivated on a rich Valley, does in dry Weather grow again without Delay, when the Valley attends a Month or more for a Rain, to excite its vegetative Motion. [184] I reckon Manure of _Peat-Ashes_, _Soot_, or the like, to be a Culture. This Hay the Owner (if he be wise) will not sell at any common Price; but endeavour to have some of it every Year, if possible, for his own Use. The Second Sort of _St. Foin_ Hay is that cut in the Flower; and tho’ much inferior to the _Virgin_ Hay, it far exceeds any other Kind, as yet commonly propagated in _England_; and if it be a full Crop, by good Culture, may amount to above three Tun to an Acre. This is that _St. Foin_ which is most commonly made; and the larger it is, the more nourishing for Horses. I have known Farmers, after full Experience, go Three Miles to fetch the largest stalky _St. Foin_, when they could have bought the small fine leafy Sort of it at home, for the same Price by the Tun. The next and last Sort of _St. Foin_ that is cut only for Hay, is, the _full-grown_, the Blossoms being gone, or going off: This also is good Hay, tho’ it fall short, by many Degrees, of the other Two Sorts: It makes a greater Crop than either of them, because it grows to its full Bulk, and shrinks little in drying.