Paddy at Home ("Chez Paddy")Mandat-Grancey, E. (Edmond), baron de
History
Paddy at Home ("Chez Paddy")
Mandat-Grancey, E. (Edmond), baron de
Ireland -- Description and travel
My kind host hastened to do the honours of ---- Lodge. He first showed
me his farm. Since he can now only employ the men provided for him by
the Cork Union he has naturally been forced to alter his method of
culture in order to reduce the number of hands as much as possible.
This gave him the idea of trying the ensilage, which has been so much
used amongst us for many years, but which is still quite unknown in
this part of Ireland. Only he had to struggle against a difficulty
peculiar to the country. The sub-soil is so damp that at a depth of
five or six feet water is found everywhere. He was therefore obliged
to undertake considerable works before he could render his pits
water-tight. He had some idea of trying ensilage above the soil. I
should like to say a few words about this arrangement, which appeared
to me extremely curious.
On the ground, side by side, were laid fifteen or twenty oak joists,
furnished at each end with a screw ring, to which an iron pulley is
attached. The hay is packed on this floor whilst it is still damp,
just as it comes from the meadow. When the pile is twenty foot high
they fix the end of a long steel cord to one of the extremities of
the first beam, the cord passes across the stack into the pulley at
the other extremity, returns to that of the second beam, and so on
across the stack. In our navy we call this a _passeresse_ (a brail).
When the whole stack is thus supported they apply a wheel purchase or
a tourniquet to the end of the chain. The cord sliding through the
pulleys produces so much compression that the height of the stack
diminishes by one-half. This pressure, which is about 200 lbs. to the
square foot, so completely prevents the entrance of any air to the
interior, that fermentation is produced in exactly the same way as
when the hay is in a pit. The external surface is sacrificed, but by
plunging the hand in the interior, we find that below the crust, which
is only from six to eight inches in thickness, the quality of the
ensilage is quite as good as that of the pits. It seems that the whole
apparatus only costs 18_l._ I am quite determined to offer one to the
first of my farmers who asks me to rebuild his barn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account