HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF TIMOTHY 



Jaeed Van Wagenen, jk. 

 Farmers' Institute Lecturer 



Timothy {Phleum pratense) is known 

 a.8 hercl's-grass in New England and is 

 sometimes called meadow cat-tail. 

 \ In Xew York State the most important 



\ single crop is our meadows and pastures, 

 and the one grass found on every farm 



/ 



throughout the years — the one grass 

 that in value and in general use over- 

 shadows every other - — is timothy. Our 

 agricultural literature and our seedsmen's 

 catalogues contain the names of many 



grasses; hut, outside of a little red top, timothy is the one true 



grass almost universally sown in our state. 



niSTOEY 



There is a great deal of confusion as to the origin and history 

 of the plant. There is a somewhat remarkable story (not well 

 supported) as to how one Herd found it growing wild in a swamp 

 near Piscataqua, New Hampshire, and was the first to sow its 

 seed. It is interesting that New England fanners still call it 

 herd's-grass, although it is not settled whether this name embalms 

 the memory of its reputed discoverer or merely indicates its use 

 as food for the herd. 



The name "timothy" js derived from Timothy Hanson, who 

 introduced its cultivation into the Carolinas, about 1720. From 

 thence it is said to have been later carried to England. Some of 

 our best botanists, however, hold to the opinion that it is a native 

 of the temperate regions of both hemispheres. 



DISTEIBUTIOISr 



In America, at least, timothy finds its most congenial habitat 

 in the northern part of the corn-belt states, the northeastern states, 



