62 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



earlier that such crops can be sown the more assured 

 the stand of the clover in a normal season, since more 

 time is then given to the plants to become well rooted 

 before the arrival of dry and hot weather, when the 

 summer is moist, timothy would succeed when sown 

 late, but since such seasons cannot be foretold, late 

 sow^ing is always attended with more or less hazard to 

 the timothy. 



When timothy is sown alone, it may be best sown in 

 the late summer or in the early autumn. When sown 

 thus in the spring a stand may also be secured, but seed 

 sowm thus in the spring seldom produces a full crop of 

 hay the same season, while the reverse is true of seed 

 sown in the fall. When sown with any of the winter 

 crops named above, the aim should be to sow the 

 timothy seed along with the nurse crop, or as soon 

 as possible thereafter. Early sowing in the autumn 

 enables the plants to become so strong that they can 

 well resist the adverse influences of Avinter weather. 

 Early sowing in the spring enables the plants to become 

 rooted and strong before the coming of the hot and usu- 

 ally dry weather of summer. When the seed is soAvn late 

 in the fall the vitality of the young plants may become 

 weakened if not destroyed by cold Avinds and Ioav tem- 

 peratures Avhich prevail in certain areas. On soils that 

 heaA''e Avith the frost, the stronger the plants the better 

 can they resist the influences Avhich produce such heav- 

 ing. Timothy Avhen soAvn in the autumn Avould seem to 

 be able to Avithstand adA^erse influences at least as well as 

 Avinter AA^heat, AAdnter oats or Avinter barley. Some farm- 

 ers in the northern states claim good results from sow- 

 ing timothy in August on overturned stubble land, and 



