166 GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



From these five propositions the following conclusions are 

 drawn : — 



1. That Timothy grass cannot, under any circumstances, be 

 adapted for pasture ; as the close nipping of horses and sheep 

 is fatal to the tubers which are also extensively destroyed by 

 swine if allowed to run in the pasture. 



2. That the proper time for mowing Timothy is at any time 

 after the process of desiccation has commenced on the stalk, as 

 noted in the third proposition. It is not very essential whether 

 it is performed a week earlier or later, provided it be postponed 

 till that evidence of maturity has become manifest. 



3. All attempts at close shaving the sward should be avoided, 

 while using the scythe, and in gauging mowing machines, care 

 should be taken to run them so high that they will not cut the 

 Timothy below the second joint above the tuber. 



I have frequently, during the past autumn, pulled up the 

 bulbous roots of Timothy, from the stubble from which a heavy 

 crop had been cut with the scythe, while in flower, for the pur- 

 pose of studying the changes which were taking place in these 

 tubers, and have found them very similar to those represented 

 in Figs. 97 and 98, not only on moist, damp soils, but also on 

 soils comparatively dry. Any farmer can satisfy himself of the 

 correctness of these representations by a little observation in 

 his own fields ; and as the point is of practical importance, it is 

 worthy of careful attention. 



The facts above alluded to have fallen under the observation 

 of a practical farmer of Middlesex county, who says : " The 

 proper time to cut Herds-grass or Timothy, is after the seed is 

 formed and is full in the milk. It will then give about twenty 

 per cent, more weight than when it is just coming into the 

 blossom, and the cattle will eat twenty per cent, less and keep 

 on their flesh. And I prefer also to cut it at that stage qjL its 

 growth on account of the roots being better able to withstand 

 the drouglit. It should be cut four inches from the ground, as 

 most of the Timothy is killed by mowing close and early 

 before it. lias come to maturity. I have kept Timothy thick 

 and strong in the land six years, by following this method. I 

 have noticed that most of it has died out by once or twice close 

 and early mowing before the grass has come to maturity ; if it 

 is dry weather it is sure to die when so cut. I lost a whole 



