26 FARM PRACTICE WITH FORAGE CROPS IN OREGON, ETC. 



without a nurse crop. Still another way is to sow the clover in the 

 spring with a nurse crop and in September, after the grain has been 

 harvested, sow the timothy on the stubble. When sown with a nurse 

 crop, timothy and clover are shaded too much, especially if the nurse 

 crop is allowed to mature for grain, and unsatisfactory stands are 

 often obtained in this way. Perhaps the most satisfactory wa}^ of 

 sowing both timotlw and clover is to sow them without a nurse crop 

 in the late summer or early fall on land that is as free as possible 

 from weeds. Good stands are secured in this way, and they give 

 excellent vields the first year. Timothy is two or three weeks later 

 than red clover, and when the}^ are grown together for hay either the 

 timothy must be cut a little immature or the clover allowed to become 

 too ripe. For this reason some other grasses are better suited than 

 timothy for sowing with red clover. AMien sown alone from A to 

 10 pounds of timothy seed per acre are sufficient. For a seed crop 

 timothy yields much better when the stand is comparatively tliin. 

 A much finer quality of hay is produced when it is thick. It is the 

 general rule to cut timothy for hay just at the end of the blooming 

 period. Cattle prefer the ha}- when cut at this stage, while horses 

 seem to relish it better if it is a little more mature. 



THE RYE-GRASSES. 



English rye-grass {Loliiim perenne) and Italian rye-grass {Lolium 

 itnlicum) are more popular on the Pacific coast west of the Cascade 

 Mountains than in any other part of the United States. The moist, 

 mild climate of this region is well adapted to their growth, and they 

 are very popular with the comparatively few farmers who grow them. 

 Stock seem to prefer them to all other grasses, and the herbage they 

 produce is certainly of a very fine quality. The rye-grasses form a 

 close sod and stand cropping and tramping well, but they do not 

 yield so well as some other masses. Thev mature early and are well 

 suited to sow with red clover. They are especially adapted to low, 

 moist soils, and when grown under favorable circumstances they may 

 be cut two or three times during a season. Italian rye-grass is prac- 

 tically an annual. The plants do not all die at the end of the first 

 year, but they amount to but little after the first season. Although 

 usually considered a perennial, English rye-grass is short-lived and 

 is very little better than Italian rye-grass in this respect. In Eng- 

 land, where these grasses occupy a similar position in agriculture to 

 that of timothy in the United States, it is a common practice to allow 

 seed to mature before they are cut for hay. In this way they reseed 

 themselves and last from year to year. It is claimed also that this is 

 a safe thing to do so far as the qualit}^ of the hay is concerned. 



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