Red Top 621 



especially palatable to stock ; and that it may become under favor- 

 able conditions a weed pest in cultivated fields. Hay buyers 

 object to redtop in timothy hay, and, as it will volunteer for many 

 years when once established on a farm, it may in some cases 

 become quite troublesome. It will add somewhat to the total 

 yield of hay produced when combined with clover and timothy. 

 At the Virginia experiment station redtop alone yielded at the 

 rate of 3,307 pounds per acre; timothy, 3,857 pounds; timothy 

 and redtop, 4,460 pounds; and timothy, redtop, and clover, 5,440 

 pounds. (Bull. 193, Virginia Exp. Sta.) An addition of redtop 

 to the hay mixture is probably advisable in all cases under New 

 York State conditions, except where the farmer is producing a 

 fancy grade of timothy for market. 



CULTURE 



In most cases redtop should not be seeded alone. It may be 

 combined with meadow fescue and alsike clover for wet lands, and 

 with timothy and red clover for those that are better drained. 

 The seed is very small and if not over two years old usually ger- 

 minates well. A less amount of seed of redtop is needed per acre 

 than is required of timothy or clover. Three or four pounds of 

 good redtop seed per acre are usually sufficient when seeding in 

 mixture and twice those amounts will do where it is seeded alone. 

 The seeding may be done at any time when it is safe to seed 

 timothy. 



A common practice is to mix the redtop with the timothy seed 

 and sow along with whetit in the fall, or with oats in the spring. 

 A stand may be obtained with a greater degree of certainty by 

 preparing a fine, mellow seed bed and seeding the grass about 

 the middle of August without a grain crop. In that case the clover 

 may be seeded with the grass instead of waiting until early spring, 

 as is commonly practiced. 



In conclusion it may be stated that redtop is recommended for 

 soils needing lime, for wet soils, for holding banks and terraces, 

 and in hay mixtures under general farm conditions. 



