I.--It was laid _very thinly_; almost might I say, that no stalk of grass covered another. The swaths were _turned_ once a day. The bleaching was completed at the end of _seven days_ from time of scalding and laying out. June is a fine month. The grass was, as it happened, cut on the _longest day in the year_; and the weather was remarkably fine and clear. But the grass which I afterwards cut in Sussex, was cut in the first week in August; and as to the weather my journal speaks thus:--
2d.--Thunder and rain.--_Began cutting grass._ 3d.--Beautiful day. 4th.--Fine day. 5th.--Cloudy day--_Began scalding grass, and laying it out._ 6th.--Cloudy greater part of the day. 7th.--Same weather. 8th.--Cloudy and rather misty.--_Finished cutting grass._ 9th.--Dry but cloudy. 10th.--Very close and hot.--_Packed up part of the grass._ 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th.--Same weather. 15th.--Hot and clear.--_Finished packing the grass._
K.--The grass cut in Sussex was as _well bleached_ as that cut in Hertfordshire; so that it is evident that we never can have a summer that will not afford sun sufficient for this business.
L.--The part of the straw used for platting; that part of the stalk which is _above the upper joint_; that part which is between the _upper joint_ and the seed-branches. This part is taken out, and the rest of the straw thrown away. But the _whole plant must be cut and bleached_; because, if you were to take off, _when green_, the part above described, that part would wither up next to nothing. This part must die in company with the whole plants, and be separated from the other parts after the bleaching has been performed.
M.--The time of cutting must vary with the seasons, the situation, and the sort of grass. The grass which I got in Hertfordshire, than which nothing can, I think, be more beautiful, was, when cut, generally in _bloom_; just in bloom. The _wheat_ was in full bloom; so that a good time for getting grass may be considered to be that when the _wheat is in bloom_. When I cut the grass in Sussex, the _wheat was ripe_, for reaping had begun; but that grass is of a very backward sort, and, besides, grew in the _shade_ amongst coppice-wood and under trees, which stood pretty thick.