ITALIAN RYE GRASS. 289 



Britain and also in some countries on the continent. 

 It slionld be cut for liay Avlien coming nicely into 

 bloom and for soiling food after it has made sufficient 

 growth to make it worth while cutting it. In Louisiana 

 it has been cut for hay as early as April. And in some 

 parts of the South it has been cut for soiling food in 

 December, from seed so^ti earlier in the autumn. Un- 

 der favorable conditions several tons of cured hay are 

 harvested per acre. The mode of harvesting for hay 

 is about the same as would be suitable for timothy 

 (see p. 72). 



Securing Seed. — This grass, like perennial rye gTass, 

 seeds freely. A seed crop and one hay crop at least 

 should be obtained the saine season, and also a seed 

 crop and more than one soiling crop. Whether seed 

 should be taken from the first or second cutting should 

 depend on conditions such as relate to c inate and 

 gTowth. The aim should be to have the seed crop ma- 

 ture when the weather is usually favorable for harvest- 

 ing the same. It should also be taken from that cut- 

 ting for the season in which is found fullness of growth 

 without excessive rankness. The seed may be harvest- 

 ed with the binder, dried sufficiently in long shocks and 

 threshed with an ordinary grain thresher. The yield 

 of seed from an ordinary crop shoidd be not less than 

 20 l)ushels per acre. The seed is gTown to some ex- 

 tent in the counties of Polk, Benton and Del Xorte, 

 California. 



Bene wing. — It would seem possible to renew this 

 grass by scattering seed over the sod every year or every 

 second year, at a suitable season and harrowing it care- 

 Grasses — 19. 



