106 AGRICULTURE FOR COMMON SCHOOLS 



land. It should be cut for hay for horses just after the bloom 

 begins to fall. For cattle it should be cut just as it is coming 

 into blossom. It is then not so woody. 



Orchard grass will grow on drier soils than timothy. The 

 seed is sown in autumn or spring on wheat ground or loam. 

 It takes about two bushels of orchard grass seed to the acre 

 to ensure a good stand of plants. Orchard grass is ready to 

 cut for hay before timothy, so the two grasses should never 

 be sown together. It should be cut as soon as it begins to 

 blossom, or else the stems will get too firm and woody to 

 make good hay. 



Red Top is a grass much used for hay in the eastern states, 

 but it does not give as heavy a yield per acre as timothy. A 

 good timothy or orchard grass crop should give two tons of 

 dry hay to the acre. 



The clovers are much used for hay, especially for cattle 

 and sheep. Timothy and orchard grass are much better for 

 horses. There are four clovers used for hay. 



Red Clover. — ^This clover usually lives two years, hence 

 it is a biennial. A biennial is a plant that produces blos- 

 soms and seeds the second year after the seed is sown. It 

 grows best on loam soils. It is sown broadcast in the spring 

 on wheat ground or with oats. Usually the seed is sown in 

 February or March on wheat ground at the rate of one bushel 

 to five or six acres of ground. The seed is worked into the 

 ground by the freezing and thawing, and when the weather 

 becomes warm enough it sprouts and grows. Sometimes the 

 seed is sown later and covered by harrowing with a spike- 

 tooth harrow. The harrowing does not injure the wheat. 

 After the grain is cut the young clover plants grow up rapidly, 

 if the weather is good, and furnish fall pasture. The next 



