In March 1897 President McKinley ap pointed him United States Minister to England, and the selection was declared by all without distinction of party to be most suitable. In London he was well received, did much to bring about friendly understanding between England and the United States and to keep relations between the two countries on a most friendly basis during the difficult era of the war with Spain. His London experience was also most valuable training for the important position to which he was appointed in August 1898, when he became Secretary of State. Very few of those who had been at the head of the State Department had dealt with so many important questions as Secretary Hay, and probably none had been more thoroughly trained diplomats. At the time of the Boxer outbreak in China he was successful in obtaining justice for the Chinese, and preserving the integrity of the Chinese Empire, in 1899 he directed the United States Ambassadors at London, Berlin and Saint Petersburg to propose that each of these gov ernments make a declaration in favor of the °open door" policy in China. They were invited to give assurances: first, that there would be no interference with any treaty port or vested in terest; second, that the existing Chinese cus toths tariff would be continued without dis crimination and administered by Chinese officials; third, that there would be no discrim ination in harbor dues and railroad rates. France, Italy and Japan were afterward in cluded in the negotiations. No treaties were exchanged, but all the governments approached pledged themselves by definite promises to the °open door" policy. He also negotiated and signed the Treaty (q.v.), and several reciprocity treaties, including one with Cuba; gave support to The Hague Conference (q.v.), and induced the Powers demanding in demnity from Venezuela to refer the question to The Hague tribunal; and, in 1903, signed within 48 hours of each other a treaty with the Colombian government granting right of way for the Panama Canal, and a treaty with Great Britain providing for the submission of the Alaskan boundary question to arbitration. During McKinley's first administration, also, Secretary Hay's position was of a peculiar sig nificance, because, owing to the death in November 1899 of Vice-President Hobart, Hay would have become McKinley's successor had the President died or resigned before the end of the term. A similar condition existed after McKinley's assassination and death, when, by Roosevelt's succession to the Presidency, the Vice-Presidency became vacant again. Imme diately upon Roosevelt's succession, the latter urged Hay to continue as of State, which he also did after his re-election. During the last few years of his service in the State Department John Hay's health was in a very precarious state and he continued in office only out of a deep sense of duty and in response to a general demand. He held honorary de grees of LL.D. from Western Reserve, Brown, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale and Harvard. He is buried in Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland. In November 1910 the John Hay Library, built in his memory out of funds contributed by Andrew Carnegie and 28 other friends and ad mirers, was opened at his alma mater, Brown University, Providence.
Early in life he showed a deep interest in literature, an interest which he maintained from then on. He wrote a number of poems while still at college, among them the class poem which was considered quite above the average. His busy life, however, left com paratively little leisure to devote to literary work and his list of publications, therefore, is not very long. It includes 'Pike County Da!lads> (Boston 1871). ' Days' (Boston 1871), one of the best books on Spain in the English language; 'The Bread Winners> (published anonymously, New York 1E84); (Boston 1913); 'The Com plete Poetical Works of John Hay'. (Boston 1916). His addresses were published after his death as 'Addresses of John Hay' (New York 1906). In collaboration with J. G. Nico lay (q.v.) he wrote 'Abraham Lincoln: A History' (10 vols., New York 1890). It first appeared in serial form in the Century Maqa arose and is considered the most comprehensive and authoritative biography of Lincoln. To gether with the same he edited 'Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, etc.' (2 vols., New York 1894). Consult Brown University, Providence, R. I., Dedication of theJohn Hay Library, Nov. 11, 1910' (Providence 1911); Chapman, 'Boyhood of John Hay' (in Century Magazme, Vol. LXXVIII, (n. s. Vol. LVI), p. 444, New York 1909); Howells, W. D., 'Hay in Literature' (in North American Review, Vol. CLXXXI, p. 343, New York 1905); Hunt, G. 'The Department of State of the United States; Its History and Functions' (New Haven 1914) ; Sears, L., 'John Hay,
Author and Statesman> (New York 1914); Stedman, E.C., (John Hay' (in Bos ton 1908); Thayer, W. R., Life and Letters of John Hay? (2 vols., Boston 1915); Ticknor, C., ed., Poet in Exile; Early Let ters of John Hay' (Boston 1910) ' • United States, State Department, of the De partment of State of the United States, etc.' (Washington • 1901); id., 'Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, etc.' (Washington 1898-1905).
SAY, or FORAGE, the stems and leaves of grasses and other plants cut for fodder and dried in the sun. In haymaking the object of the farmer is to preserve the hay for winter use in the condition most nearly resembling the igrass in its natural state. Of the various in gredients which compose grass, those portions which.are immediately soluble in water are the most fitted for the purposes of nutrition; and therefore the mowing should be done when the plants contain the largest amount of sugar and other soluble matter. During the latter part of the process of fructification, when the seeds have arrived at maturity, the stem and leaves begin to decay; so that if the grass is not cut when in flower, a great amount of nutriment will be wasted. On the third day after mowing, if the weather is the newly made hay will be ready for gathering into large windrows for carrying and stacking; but otherwise it will have to be put up into large cocks, and the carrying deferred until the next day. It is not desirable that grass should be too rapidly made into hay under a burning sun, as it is liable to scorch and lose its nutritive value. Great care must also he taken to preserve the hay from dew and rain, as water washes away the soluble salts and other matters, and when in the stack will cause fermentation, which, if excessive, destroys some of the most valuable properties of the hay. Some farmers salt their hay in stacking; others do not. Salt is gener ally commended. A good plan, when the hay harvest has been accompanied by wet weather, is to place a few layers of straw in the stack at intervals to absorb the moisture from the heating hay. On farms the spreading out of the hay after it is cut down is performed by a haymaking machine drawn by a horse, which will do the work of 12 or 15 bay makers, and distribute the grass more thinly and evenly as it crosses the field. It is only for the haymaking of the true grasses, how ever, that it is adapted, as clover must not be shaken so violently. To be transported to markets at a distance, hay is now compactly pressed into bales by presses worked by hand or power. In fact baled hay has increased the importance of haymaking, owing to the readi ness with which it can be transported by rail or water. On the Pacific Coast, especially in California, hay cut from alfalfa is very produc tive and profitable, and three or more crops a year are frequently obtained. In the United States 61,691,166 acres of land were utilized in cultivating hay and forage in 1900, the entire crop amounting to 84,011,299 tons, valued at The average value per acre of the hay and forage crop is :. Included in the above esti mate were 4,759,353 tons of cornstalks which were cut from fields cultivated mainly for the grain. These figures for 1900 show an increase in area since 1889 of 8,742,369 acres, or 16.5 per cent, and in production of 12,420,466 tons or 18.6 per cent.
Of this total area, 6.7 per cent was devoted to clover, 50.7 per cent to tame and cultivated grasses other than clover, 6.3 per cent to grains cut green for hay, 5.1 per cent to forage crops, 3.4 per cent to alfalfa or lucerne, 2.8 per cent to millet and Hungarian grasses, and 25.1 per cent to wild, salt and prairie grasses.
The North Central division contained 57.8 per cent of the total hay and forage acreage of the country, the North Atlantic 21.0 per cent, the Western 11.4 per cent, the South Atlantic 3.5 per cent and the South Central 6.3 per cent.
The rate of increase in area devoted to hay and forage since 1889 was greatest in the South Central division, being 103.0 per cent. The Western division shows an increase of 91.4 per cent, the South Atlantic of 12.2 per cent and the North Central of 10.7 per cent. The North Atlantic division shows a decrease of 22 per cent.
The total value of the hay and forage crop of 1900 averaged $135 per farm. The average yield per acre, exclusively of cornstalks, was 1.28 tons, and the average value per ton $6.11. The average yield per acre of the various classes was as follows: Forage crops, 2.62 tons; alfalfa or lucerne, 2.49 tons; millet and Hun garian grasses, 1.64 tons; grains cut green for hay, 1.28 tons; clover, 1.26 tons; tame grasses other than clover, 1.14 tons; and wild, salt and prairie grasses, 1.12 tons.