46 FODDER AND PASTURE PLANTS. 



Clover on heavy, moist or wet soils, and with Red Clover on dryer 

 and lighter land. By relatively thick seeding a grass of finer texture 

 is produced, which should be cut soon after the spike is well formed 

 and flowering has commenced. If left until late flowering, some in- 

 crease in yield is obtained at the expense of the quality and feeding 

 value of the hay. When it reaches its maximum growth, the stalk 

 becomes hard and woody. If a second growth is wanted, it should 

 be cut just before the flowering period, as this makes the aftermath 

 greater. 



When sown alone, from nine to fifteen pounds of good, fresh 

 seed should be applied per acre. 



Timothy is not a desirable pasture grass, except as a part of a 

 mixture. On account of its shallow root system and somewhat 

 bunchy growth, it will not stand tramping as well as other grasses 

 commonly recommended for pasture. In the dryer uplands it will 

 within a few years give place to the native grasses, especially if the 

 fields are allowed to be grazed bare by sheep. 



Seed: For a seed crop Timothy should be liarvested as soon as 

 possible after the plant has reached full maturity — when the spike 

 turns from green to yellowish. If harvested too early, the seed will 

 be small, undeveloped and of poor germinating power. If harvested 

 after it is ripe, the seed is apt to hull when it is threshed and to lose 

 its bright silvery lustre, thus giving it the effect of old seed. 



Timothy is commonly threshed with an ordinary grain thresher, 

 although the best obtainable seed is harvested by hand and threshed 

 by flail. It is grown in the St. Lawrence valley and Georgian Bay 

 district, and the quality of this seed from the standpoint of boldness 

 and bright silvery colour is not surpassed. It is sometimes saved 

 from screenings of fall wheat sown after Timothy sod, but such seed 

 is generally polluted with False Flax and other weed seeds not common 

 in grass lands. 



Seed of good quality is of a bright silvery lustre, and only a 

 small amount is hulled. Dull-looking seed is either old or has been 

 harvested or stored under unfavourable conditions. When newly 

 threshed, the vitality of the hulled seeds is not inferior to that of 

 the unhulled; but the naked seeds lose their vitality earlier than those 

 enclosed in seed coats. If fully matured seed is preserved in a cool, 

 dry place, it retains its vitality from three to five years; even when 

 nine years old it gives a high total percentage of germinable seeds, 

 although at that age the germ is usually perceptibly weakened. 



