22 TIMOTHY. 



Timothy begins to die out. If it is then plowed and 

 seeded with Timothy again, this exhausted soil is 

 turned to the bottom of the furrow, and the inert soil 

 brought up to have the process repeated. A few 

 years of such treatment will take the virtue out of 

 any land, provided Timothy is grown alone." 



The experience of farmers in different parts of the 

 country, in the cultivation of Timothy, is as diverse 

 as the soils on which it is grown. While many of 

 the theories advanced by them may be correct to the 

 extent of their own observations, there are circum- 

 stances of soil and climatic influences which tend to 

 produce results not alwaj^s accounted for in their 

 calculations. 



For instance, in the dairy district proper of Herki- 

 mer county, iSew York State, where the land is 

 moist with a rich surface underlaid with a compact 

 subsoil, Timothy can be grown to advantage under 

 systems of treatment that would not answer in Suffolk 

 county, Long Island. My observations and experi- 

 ence in the growth of Timothy on the Island leads 

 me to favor the practice of allowing it to stand until 

 the seed is well formed. My reasons are as follows, 

 viz.: 



1st. The analysis made by Sinclair and Way both 

 agree in showing that this grass affords double the 

 quantity of nutriment when its seeds are ripe that it 

 does if cut when in flowers. 2nd. That about the 

 time the seed begins to ripen, the rains of August are 

 drawing neas. And 3rd. That the stubble roots of a 

 matured perrennial plant will suffer less from the 

 heated rays of a July sun thau those of an immatured 

 one. And lastly, the ripe seeds falling from the hay 



