HAY AND PASTURE CROPS 113 



common grass mixture for seeding meadows or pastures 

 is : 6 pounds medium red clover and 8 pounds of timothy seed 

 per acre. When timothy is sown alone, about 10 pounds 

 of seed are required. The seed is usually sown with a 

 nurse crop such as wheat, oats or barley. The grain crop 

 protects the young plants from the hot sun and dry winds, 

 and also prevents the growth of weeds. The grain crop 

 also produces on the land a valuable crop during the year 

 the grass crop requires to get started. In this way no time 

 is lost, and a crop is secured every year. 



Cutting for Hay. — Timothy usually produces but one 

 crop of hay each year, though sometimes a light second 

 cutting is secured. Like clover, it should be cut when in 

 bloom, but it does not bloom until about two we.^ks after 

 red clover blooms; so, if the two are grown together, one 

 crop must be cut a little too early or the other a little too 

 late. Timothy is cut and cured very much the same as 

 clover; but it is much easier to cure, because it does not grow 

 so heavy or have such large juicy stems. In favorable 

 weather it may be cut in the morning as soon as the dew is 

 off and raked up the same afternoon. 



Value for Feed. — Owing to the ease of growing and cur- 

 ing, and its freedom from dust, timothy hay is the fav- 

 orite for horses. If cut in proper season it is readily eaten 

 by all classes of animals. It is not popular, however, as 

 feed for cattle, chiefly because it is not rich in protein or 

 muscle-forming material. 



Timothy Pasture. — Timothy is very generally used for 

 pasture, but it is not so valuable for this purpose as for 

 hay. It is used because seed is cheap, and because meadows 

 that have produced hay for a year or more are very commonly 

 used for pasture. For one or two years timothy furnishes 

 fairly good pasture, but after that the stand gets thinner 

 and rather bunchy. If it is to be used for pasture, it is 

 well to seed with the timothy alsike clover and if one is 

 seeding down a permanent pasture, that is a field to be in 

 pasture five or more years, it is better to add five pounds 

 to ten pounds per acre of Kentucky blue grass seed. The 

 timothy and clover will furnish the greater part of the 

 pasture for the first two or three years, and after that the 



