HAXO, FRANcOIS BENOIT; baron, 1774-1838; b. France; gen. of engineers. He was concerned in a number of sieges, and constructed many important fortifications. The " Haxo casemate" is a work built inside the parapet, arched, and covered with earth, opening in the rear to the terreplain. The guns are protected from the enemy's fire, and can be entirely hidden by masking the embrasures.
HAY (Ger. hen, Dutch, hoy; probably from the root of Ger. hauen; Eng. hew, to cut), the stems and leaves of grasses or other plants dried for fodder (q.v.) of cattle. Throughout the grazing and dairy districts of England, and especially in the vicinity of large towns, the hay-harvest is as important as the corn-harvest, and a large breadth of old pasture is annually cut. In Scotland, however, little of this old natural grass is converted into hay, and the crop consists mainly of clover and rye-grass. This requires less turning and labor than the closer succulent natural grass, and with twice turning, and a week or ten days' drying, will generally be fit for the rick, into which the English farmer at once pkices it. In Scotland the weather is seldom sufficiently fine to fit the hay, within a moderate time, for a large rick, and the practice is to put it, after a few days, in cocks, containing one or two hundredweight, and thence, after another week, into what are technically called tramp-ricks, containing from one to two tons. From these it is transferred at any convenient time to the rick-ya•d. This practice, although almost universal in the north, is attended with loss of time and labor, and, moreover, bleaches and dries up the hay, giving it the appearance of straw, and preventing that gentle heating which English farmers desire both in their clover and grass hay.
The management of the natural grasses of which most EngliSh hay consists is some what different, and the process is seen in perfection in Middlesex and various of the counties about London, The great matter—too generally overlooked in Scotland—is to preserve the color and flavor of the grass; and this can only be done by keeping it con stantly turned, and having it rapidly dried, if possible, without the deteriorating wash ing of repeated rains. Artificial drying best attains this end, but is of course imprac ticable on the large scale. In the best style of English hay-making, the grass, after being cut with the scythe or machine, and as soon as the dew is off. is shaken and spread out by means of forks or of a tedding-maehine drawn by a horse. It is not allowed to lie long
exposed in the sun, but before evening, is drawn togetlitr by rakes into wind-rotos,which, if there is any prospect of rain, are made up into small heaps or cocks. It is again spread out next morning, or on the return of favorable weather; and when the opera tions are expedited by wind and sun, the hay will be ready for the rick by the second or third day. There however, much difference in the time during which the requires to lie out; the bulk of the crop and the quality of the land must be especially considered. When the grasses are cut, as they should be when in bloom, and before their seeds ripen and their stems get tough and hard, they contain the largest amount of moisture, and require careful making, but produce then the most nutritive and palatable bay. As soon as it is thoroughly dry, it should be put at once into the stack or rick, and well trodden down, A certain ainotint of heating improves the flavor. and renders the hay more palatable to every sort of stock. When, as is soInetinfeS the case, it is imperfectly made, or picked up too soon, it gets overheated, and becomes dark brown or black, its nutritive properties are diminished; it is, apt to diiagree with both horses and cattle, and can only be profitably used when mixed with straw and cut into chaff. May put together when damp from rain or dew does not heat, as when it con tains an undue amount of natural moisture, but speedily molds. When hay has been weathered and injured by repeated rains, it may be rendered more palatable by scatter ing a little common salt over the rick whilst it is being built. Throughout Scotland eight or ten pounds of salt to the ton is very generally used alike for the clover and grass hay. Iu the midland and southern districts of England the best hay is generally got up in June; but in Scotland, little is carried until the middle of July. When the crop is good, and everything done well, the cost of hand and horse labor expended upon the hay before it is safely ricked will approach 20s. per ton. The crop averages from one to two tons per acre. Hay that has stood for seed is tougher and less nutritive than that cut earlier, for the sugar, gum, and gluten of the matured seed have been abstracted from the stems, which are then apt to be little better than straw. For milch co•s,well made English bay is deservedly prized; but good clover-hay is richer in albuminous matters, and better adapted for horses and sheep.