MEADOWS AND MAKING HAY. 413 



tation that is, in a sense, remarkable; from two to 

 five crops a year, according to latitude and altitude, are 

 regularly grown. Although the crop is commonly sown 

 alone, there may be combined with it various other 

 grasses. Those which grow quickly and which, like the 

 alfalfa, will furnish more than one cutting, should be 

 chosen. Italian rye grass would be one of the best 

 but that it is short lived; perennial rye lives longer 

 but does not grow so fast; orchard and tall oat grasses 

 may also be thus grown. Twenty pounds of alfalfa 

 seed is ample when sown alone, but when one of the 

 other grasses is added a few pounds of the seed of each 

 will suffice, more or less being used, according to the 

 object sought; the amount of alfalfa seed should be cor- 

 respondingly reduced. 



After alfalfa, the best permanent meadow, for these 

 valleys for the present time, is timothy ; if hay is wanted 

 for the market, more especially when it has to be trans- 

 ported in the baled form, sow about 12 pounds of seed 

 to the acre. When the hay is wanted for home or local 

 feeding, sow 10 pounds of timothy and 3 pounds of alsike 

 clover, or 6 pounds of red clover in lieu of the alsike, 

 or 3 pounds of the former and 2 pounds of the latter. 

 Such mixtures prove very satisfactory and last for many 

 years, especially the mixture of timothy and alsike 

 clover. The yield may be further increased on many 

 soils by sovdng timothy, redtop and alsike in combina- 

 tion, using 6, 4 and 3 pounds of the seed respectively 

 per acre. Various other grasses may be grown, but 

 none probably will prove so satisfactory as those that 

 have been named. 



