202 NORTHEAST EXPERIMENT FARM. 
from 7 acres, which grew toa height of 24inches. Nextyear 
this field will yield largely timothy, and will not be left in 
grass longer than two more seasons. One of the oldest and 
longest cropped fields has been seeded down three times, the 
first in ’96. The clover crop of ’97 gaveabout 2 tons per acre 
with agood secondcrop. This field had been cropped to pota- 
toes three years previously and wassandy. In’98 the timothy 
yielded but .75 tons and would have continued to yield 
poorly ifleft in grass. It was plowed for grain which in ’99 
gave 36 bushels per acre, and again seeded with clover and 
timothy. The drought in 1900 prevented a good crop on 
this light soil, by spoiling the clover stand. A portion was 
tall plowed for corn. The rest of field yielded in’01, .91 tons 
timothy, and was then fall plowed. In 1902 this field gave 
39 bushels oats per acre, and an excellent stand of clover 
was secured for 1903. The crop of cornfodder raised on the 
sod in ’01 went five tons of cured fodder per acre. Thus in 
spite of a failure of the stand in 1900, spoiling one of the 
two clover crops, the field has continued to produce good 
crops of grain, cornfodder and grass, solely through the 
rotation of the crops and the benefit the soil obtained from 
the decaying sod and the fertility added by the clover. No 
manure has been put upon the field since ’95. 
In seeding, the usual amounts used have been clover 3 
qts., timothy 6 qts., or 6 lbs. and 9 lbs. respectively. As 
oats have been the chief grain crop, the grass seed has usual- 
ly been sown with oats, though wheat or barley are in some 
cases better nurse crops. The seed may be broadcast and 
harrowed in, after the grain is sown. Both should be sown 
as early as possible. The average date of sowing grass seed 
on the farm for seven years, for all fields and seasons is April 
26th, and it is planned to sow as early as the 18th or 20th 
if possible. 
In haying, it is the aim to cut clover as nearly as possi- 
ble at the period when about half the heads are brown. 
This date, for seven years has fallen between the 12th and 
the 18th of July, averaging about July 15th. Timothy, 
when pure and heavy, ripens three or four days later. The 
second crop of clover is fit to cut about Sept. 12th to 18th. 
Its weight depends not only upon the season and the soil, 
