CHAPTER XVII. 

 THE HAY CEOP 



Timothy. One of the chief hay crops of America 

 is timothy. It is grown chiefly in the northern part 

 of our country east of the Eockies. Timothy is pop- 

 ular with farmers, because the seed is cheap and 

 because it will produce a good hay crop the first 

 year after it is planted (Fig. 78). It is easy to kill 

 it by plowing. Timothy fits well into a system of 

 rotation with other crops. It needs a good soil and 

 plenty of rainfall. It is not only an excellent hay 

 crop, but it is used in nearly all lands intended for 

 pastures. After a few years other pasture grasses 

 take its place. 



The Clovers. Another hay crop is red clover. 

 This plant, like so many others, came to us from 

 Europe. It has been grown for many hundred 

 years. Farmers have known for a long time that 

 clover seemed to make the land richer, but they did 

 not understand why this was so. "We now know 

 that .clovers and their kin, such as alfalfa, cowpeas, 

 and soy beans, enrich the soil through the work of 

 the bacteria on their roots. We have learned that 

 the bacteria take nitrogen from the air and store it 

 in little swellings on the roots of th'ese plants. When 

 the sod is plowed for other crops, the nitrogen helps 

 to produce much better yields (Fig. 53). These 



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