162 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



sible by using the tedder freely to cut in the morning 

 after the dew has lifted and to store the same evening. 



The average ^delds of red top lie between one and 

 two tons per acre. On ordinary soils the yield would 

 not usually be much more than one ton, and on rich 

 low land it would seldom be less than 2 tons. Under 

 the most favorahle conditions, as much as 4 tons per 

 acre have been harvested. In mixtures, as when grown 

 with timothy and alsike clover, the average crop would 

 probably exceed two tons per acre. 



Securing Seed. — Illinois and New Jersey would seem 

 to be the centers of seed production at the present time. 

 The crop is ready for being harvested in about 20 days 

 from the time when it is in full flower, but this will vary 

 with the weather. It should not be left unharvested for 

 a very long period after the grain is fully grown within 

 the chaff. 



At least three methods of harvesting the seed have 

 been adopted. By the first of these it is cut with the 

 self-rake reaper, and laid off in loose sheaves. By the 

 second it is cut with the binder and the sheaves are stood 

 up in long shocks. By the third the seed is secured by 

 the aid of the stripper. The first method can be- best 

 practiced only when the weather is good. It facilitates 

 rapid curing. The second method is safer when the 

 weather is broken, and it facilitates the easy handling 

 of the crop. The stripj^er may be used in the same way 

 as in harvesting the seed of blue grass. The last named 

 method is by far the most expeditious of the three, but it 

 leaves the straw in the field where it grew. This, how- 

 ever, is not a total loss, as when it falls do^\Ti in the au- 



