Part 43

HAY, JOHN (1838-1905), American statesman and author, was born at Salem, Indiana, on the 8th of October 1838. He graduated from Brown University in 1858, studied law in the office of Abraham Lincoln, was admitted to the bar in Springfield, Illinois, in 1861, and soon afterwards was selected by President Lincoln as assistant private secretary, in which capacity he served till the president's death, being associated with John George Nicolay (1832-1901). Hay was secretary of the U.S. legation at Paris in 1865-1867, at Vienna in 1867-1869 and at Madrid in 1869-1870. After his return he was for five years an editorial writer on the New York _Tribune_; in 1879-1881 he was first assistant secretary of state to W. M. Evarts; and in 1881 was a delegate to the International Sanitary Conference, which met in Washington, D.C., and of which he was chosen president. Upon the inauguration of President McKinley in 1897 Hay was appointed ambassador to Great Britain, from which post he was transferred in 1898 to that of secretary of state, succeeding W. R. Day, who was sent to Paris as a member of the Peace Conference. He remained in this office until his death at Newburg, New Hampshire, on the 1st of July 1905. He directed the peace negotiations with Spain after the war of 1898, and not only secured American interests in the imbroglio caused by the Boxers in China, but grasped the opportunity to insist on "the administrative entity" of China; influenced the powers to declare publicly for the "open door" in China; challenged Russia as to her intentions in Manchuria, securing a promise to evacuate the country on the 8th of October 1903; and in 1904 again urged "the administrative entity" of China and took the initiative in inducing Russia and Japan to "localize and limit" the area of hostilities. It was largely due to his tact and good management, in concert with Lord Pauncefote, the British ambassador, that negotiations for abrogating the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and for making a new treaty with Great Britain regarding the Isthmian Canal were successfully concluded at the end of 1901; subsequently he negotiated treaties with Colombia and with Panama, looking towards the construction by the United States of a trans-isthmian canal. He also arranged the settlement of difficulties with Germany over Samoa in December 1899, and the settlement, by joint commission, of the question concerning the disputed Alaskan boundary in 1903. John Hay was a man of quiet and unassuming disposition, whose training in diplomacy gave a cool and judicious character to his statesmanship. As secretary of state under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt his guidance was invaluable during a rather critical period in foreign affairs, and no man of his time did more to create confidence in the increased interest taken by the United States in international matters. He also represented, in another capacity, the best American traditions--namely in literature. He published _Pike County Ballads_ (1871)--the most famous being "Little Breeches"--a volume worthy to rank with Bret Harte, if not with the Lowell of the _Biglow Papers; Castilian Days_ (1871), recording his observations in Spain; and a volume of _Poems_ (1890); with John G. Nicolay he wrote _Abraham Lincoln: A History_ (10 vols., 1890), a monumental work indispensable to the student of the Civil War period in America, and published an edition of Lincoln's _Complete Works_ (2 vols., 1894). The authorship of the brilliant novel _The Breadwinners_ (1883) is now certainly attributed to him. Hay was an excellent public speaker: some of his best addresses are _In Praise of Omar; On the Unveiling of the Bust of Sir Walter Scott in Westminster Abbey_, May 21, 1897; and a memorial address in honour of President McKinley.

The best of his previously unpublished speeches appeared in _Addresses of John Hay_ (1906).

HAY, a town of Waradgery county, New South Wales, Australia, on the Murrumbidgee river, 454 m. by rail W.S.W. of Sydney. Pop. (1901), 3012. It is the cathedral town of the Anglican diocese of Riverina, the terminus of the South Western railway, and the principal depot for the wool produced at the numerous stations on the banks of the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan rivers.

HAY, a market town and urban district of Breconshire, south Wales, on the Hereford and Brecon section of the Midland railway, 164(1/2) m. from London, 20 m. W. of Hereford and 17 m. N.E. of Brecon by rail. Pop. (1901), 1680. The Golden Valley railway to Pontrilas (18(3/4) m.), now a branch of the Great Western, also starts from Hay. The town occupies rising ground on the south (right) bank of the Wye, which here separates the counties of Brecknock and Radnor but immediately below enters Herefordshire, from which the town is separated on the E. by the river Dulas.

Leland and Camden ascribe a Roman origin to the town, and the former states that quantities of Roman coin (called by the country people "Jews' money") and some pottery had been found near by, but of this no other record is known. The Wye valley in this district served as the gate between the present counties of Brecknock and Hereford, and, though Welsh continued for two or three centuries after the Norman Conquest to be the spoken language of the adjoining part of Herefordshire south of the Wye (known as Archenfield), there must have been a "burh" serving as a Mercian outpost at Glasbury, 4 m. W. of Hay, which was itself several miles west of Offa's Dyke. But the earliest settlement at Hay probably dates from the Norman conquest of the district by Bernard Newmarch about 1088 (in which year he granted Glasbury, probably as the first fruits of his invasion, to St Peter's, Gloucester). The manor of Hay, which probably corresponded to some existing Welsh division, he gave to Sir Philip Walwyn, but it soon reverted to the donor, and its subsequent devolution down to its forfeiture to the crown as part of the duke of Buckingham's estate in 1521, was identical with that of the lordship of Brecknock (see BRECONSHIRE). The castle, which was probably built in Newmarch's time and rebuilt by his great-grandson William de Breos, passed on the latter's attainder to the crown, but was again seized by de Breos's second son, Giles, bishop of Hereford, in 1215, and retaken by King John in the following year. In 1231 it was burnt by Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, and in the Barons' War it was taken in 1263 by Prince Edward, but in the following year was burnt by Simon Montfort and the last Llewelyn. From the 16th century the castle has been used as a private residence.

The Welsh name of the town is Y Gelli ("the wood"), or formerly in full (Y) Gelli ganddryll (literally "the wood all to pieces"), which roughly corresponds to _Sepes Inscissa_, by which name Walter Map (a native of the district) designates it. Its Norman name, La Haia (from the Fr. _haie_, cf. English "hedge"), was probably intended as a translation of Gelli. The same word is found in Urishay and Oldhay, both between Hay and the Golden Valley. The town is still locally called _the_ Hay, as it also is by Leland.

Even down to Leland's time Hay was surrounded by a "right strong wall," which had three gates and a postern, but the town within the wall has "wonderfully decayed," its ruin being ascribed to Owen Glendower, while to the west of it was a flourishing suburb with the church of St Mary on a precipitous eminence overlooking the river. This was rebuilt in 1834. The old parish church of St John within the walls, used as a school-house in the 17th century, has entirely disappeared. The Baptists, Calvinistic Methodists, Congregationalists and Primitive Methodists have a chapel each. The other public buildings are the market house (1833); a masonic hall, formerly the town hall, its basement still serving as a cheese market; a clock tower (1884); parish hall (1890); and a drill hall. The Wye is here crossed by an iron bridge built in 1864. There are also eighteen almshouses for poor women, built and endowed by Miss Frances Harley in 1832-1836, and Gwyn's almshouses for six aged persons, founded in 1702 and rebuilt in 1878.

Scarcely anything but provisions are sold in the weekly market, the farmers of the district now resorting to the markets of Brecon and Hereford. There are good monthly stock fairs and a hiring fair in May. There is rich agricultural land in the district.

Hay was reputed to be a borough by prescription, but it never had any municipal institutions. Its manor, like that of Talgarth, consisted of an Englishry and a Welshery, the latter, known as Haya Wallensis, comprising the parish of Llanigon with the hamlet of Glynfach, and in this Welsh tenures and customs prevailed. The manor is specially mentioned in the act of Henry VIII. (1535) as one of those which were then taken to constitute the new county of Brecknock. (D. Ll. T.)

HAY (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. _Heu_, Dutch _hooi;_ the root from which it is derived, meaning "to cut," is also seen in "to hew"; cf. "hoe"), grass mown and dried in the sun and used as fodder for cattle. It is properly applied only to the grass when cut, but is often also used of the standing crop. (See _Haymaking_ below). Another word "hay," meaning a fence, must be distinguished; the root from which it is derived is seen in its doublet "hedge," cf. "haw-thorn," i.e. "hedge thorn." In this sense it survives in legal history in "hay bote," _i.e._ hedge-bote, the right of a tenant, copyholder, &c. to take wood to repair fences, hedges, &c. (see ESTOVERS), and also in "hayward," an official of a manor whose duty was to protect the enclosed lands from cattle breaking out of the common land.

_Haymaking._--The term "haymaking" signifies the process of drying and curing grass or other herbage so as to fit it for storage in stacks or sheds for future use. As a regular part of farm work it was unknown in ancient times. Before its introduction into Great Britain the animals intended for beef and mutton were slaughtered in autumn and salted down; the others were turned out to fend for themselves, and often lost all the fat in winter they had gained the previous summer. The introduction of haymaking gave unlimited scope for the production of winter food, and improved treatment of live stock became possible.

Though every country has its own methods of haymaking, the principal stages in the process everywhere are: (1) mowing, (2) drying or "making," (3) "carrying" and storage in stacks or sheds.

In a wet district such as the west of Ireland the "making" is a difficult affair and large quantities of hay are often spoiled, while much labour has to be spent in cocking up, turning over, ricking, &c., before it is fit to be stacked up. On the other hand, in the dry districts of south-eastern England it is often possible to cut and carry the hay without any special "making," as the sun and wind will dry it quickly enough to fit it for stacking up without the expenditure of much labour. This rule also applies to dry countries like the United States and several of the British colonies, and it is for this reason that most of the modern implements used for quickly handling a bulk of hay have been invented or improved in those countries. Forage of all kinds intended for hay should be cut at or before the flowering stage if possible. The full growth and food value of the plant are reached then, and further change consists in the formation and ripening of the seed at the expense of the leaves and stems, leaving these hard and woody and of less feeding value.

Grass or other forage, when growing, contains a large proportion of water, and after cutting must be left to dry in the sun and wind, a process which may at times be assisted by turning over or shaking up. In fine weather in the south of England grass is sufficiently dried in from two to four days to be stacked straight away. In Scotland or other districts where the rainfall is heavy and the air moist, it is first put into small field-ricks or "pykes" of from 10 to 20 cwt. each. In the drying process the 75% of water usually present in grass should be reduced to approximately 15% in the hay, and in wet or broken weather it is exceedingly difficult to secure this reduction. With a heavy crop or in damp weather grass may need turning in the swathe, raking up into "windrows," and then making up into cocks or "quiles," i.e. round beehive-like heaps, before it can be "carried." A properly made cock will stand bad weather for a week, as only the outside straws are weathered, and therefore the hay is kept fresh and green. Indeed, it is a good rule always to cock hay, for even in sunny weather undue exposure ends in bleaching, which is almost as detrimental to its quality as wet-weathering.

In the last quarter of the 19th century the methods of haymaking were completely changed, and even some of the principles underlying its practice were revised. Generally speaking, before that time the only implements used were the scythe, the rake and the pitchfork; nowadays--with the exception of the pitchfork--these implements are seldom used, except where the work is carried on in a small way. Instead of the scythe, for instance, the mowing machine is employed for cutting the crop, and with a modern improved machine taking a swathe as wide as 5 or 6 ft. some 10 acres per day can easily be mown by one man and a pair of horses (figs. 1 and 2).

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Mower (viewed from above) with enlarged detail of Blade. (Harrison, M'Gregor & Co.)]

It will be seen from the figures that a mower consists of three principal parts: (1) a truck or carriage on two high wheels carrying the driving gear; (2) the cutting mechanism, comprising a reciprocating knife or sickle operating through slots in the guards or "fingers" fastened to the cutting bar which projects to either the right or left of the truck; and (3) the pole with whipple-trees, by which the horses are attached to give the motive power. The reciprocating knife has a separate blade to correspond to each finger, and is driven by a connecting rod and crank on the fore part of the truck. In work the pointed "fingers" pass in between the stalks of grass and the knives shear them off, acting against the fingers as the crank drives them backwards and forwards. In the swathe of grass left behind by the machine, the stalks are, in a manner, thatched over one another, so that it is in the best position for drying in the sun, or, per contra, for shedding off the rain if the weather is wet. This is a great point in favour of the use of the machine, because the swathe left by the scythe required to be "tedded" out, i.e. the grass had to be shaken out or spread to allow it to be more easily dried.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Mower (side view).]

After the grass has lain in the swathe a day or two till it is partly dried, it is necessary to turn it over to dry the other side. This used to be done with the hand rake, and a band of men or women would advance in _echelon_ across a field, each turning the swathe of hay by regular strokes of the rake at each step: "driving the dusky wave along the mead" as described in Thomson's _Seasons._ This part of the work was the act of "haymaking" proper, and the subject of much sentiment in both prose and poetry. The swathes as laid by the mowing machine lent themselves to this treatment in the old days when the swathe was only some 3 to 4 ft. wide, but with the wide cut of the present day it becomes impracticable. If the hay is turned and "made" at all, the operation is now generally performed by a machine made for the purpose. There is a wide selection of "tedders" or "kickers," and "swathe-turners" on the market. The one illustrated in fig. 3 is the first prize winner at the Royal Agricultural Society's trials (1907). It takes two swathes at a time, and it will be seen that the working part consists of a wheel or circle of prongs or tines, which revolves _across_ the line of the swathe. Each prong in turn catches the edge of the swathe of grass and kicks it up and over, thus turning it and leaving it loose for the wind to blow through.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Swathe-turner. (Blackstone & Co., Ltd.).]

The "kicker" is mounted on two wheels, and carries in bearings at the rear of the frame a multiple-cranked shaft, provided with a series of forks sleeved on the cranks and having their upper ends connected by links to the frame. As the crankshaft is driven from the wheels by proper gearing the forks move upward and forward, then downward and rearward, in an elliptical path, and kick the hay sharply to the rear, thus scattering and turning it.

It is a moot point, however, whether grass should be turned at all, or left to "make" as it falls from the mowing machine. In a dry sunny season and with a moderate crop it is only a waste of time and labour to turn it, for it will be cured quite well as it lies, especially if raked up into loose "windrows" a little before carrying to the stack. On the other hand, where the crop is heavy (say over 2 tons per acre) or the climate is wet, turning will be necessary.

With heavy crops of clover, lucerne and similar forage crops, turning may be an absolute necessity, because a thick swathe of a succulent crop will be difficult to dry or "make" excepting in hot sunny weather, but with ordinary meadow grass or with a mixture of "artificial" grasses it may often be dispensed with. It must be remembered, however, that the process of turning breaks the stalks (thus letting out the albuminoid and saccharine juices), and should be avoided as far as possible in order to save both labour and the quality of the hay.

One of the earlier mechanical inventions in connexion with haymaking was that of the horse rake (fig. 4). Before its introduction the hay, after making, had to be gathered up by the hand rake--a tedious and laborious process--but the introduction of this implement, whereby one horse and one man can do work before requiring six or eight men, marked a great advance. The horse rake is a framework on two wheels carrying hinged steel teeth placed 3 in. apart, so that their points slide along the ground below the hay. In work it gathers up the loose hay, and when full a tipping mechanism permits the emptying of the load.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Self-acting Horse Rake. (Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies, Ltd.).]

The tipping is effected by pulling down a handle which sets a leverage device in motion, whereby the teeth are lifted up and the load of hay dropped below and left behind. On some rakes a clutch is worked by the driver's foot, and this put in action causes the ordinary forward revolving motion of the driving wheels to do the tipping.

The loads are tipped end to end as the rake passes and repasses at the work, and thus the hay is left loose in long parallel rows on the field. Each row is termed a "windrow," the passage of the wind through the hay greatly aiding the drying and "making" thereof. When hay is in this form it may either be carried direct to the stack if sufficiently "made," or else put into cocks to season a little longer. The original width of horse rakes was about 8 ft., but nowadays they range up to 16 and 18 ft. The width should be suited to that of the swathes as left by the mower, and as the latter is now made to cut 5 and 6 ft. wide, it is necessary to have a rake to cover two widths. The very wide rakes are only suitable for even, level land; those of less width must be used where the land has been laid down in ridge and furrow. As the swathes lie in long parallel rows, it is a great convenience in working for two to be taken in width at a time, so that the horse can walk in the space between.

The side-delivery rake, a development of the ordinary horse rake, is a useful implement, adapted for gathering and laying a quantity of hay in one continuous windrow. It is customary with this to go up the field throwing two swathes to one side, and then back down on the adjacent swathes, so that thus four are thrown into one central windrow. The implement consists of a frame carried on two wheels with shafts for a horse; across the frame are fixed travelling or revolving prongs of different varieties which pick up the hay off the ground and pass it along sideways across the line of travel, leaving it in one continuous line. Some makes of swathe-turners are designed to do this work as well as the turning of the hay.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Sweep Rake.]