GRASSES FOR MEADOWS 23 



it easy to get a good thick sod. One need not sow more 

 seed after one gets a sprinkling of grass ; one needs only 

 in some way to increase the fertility of the soil either by 

 manuring or fertilizing or by sowing legumes, and in a 

 'short time nature will plant the grass plot so thickly that 

 no room will be found for more plants. 



SOME GOOD GRASSES FOR MEADOW. 



Timothy. More has been said for and against timothy 

 grass than almost any other grass or forage crop. It 'ias 

 been lauded as the best feed for horses: It has been de- 

 nounced as the poorest forage coming from the meadow. 

 It has been declared unfit for sheep or cows because of 

 its deficiency in protein. It has been declared to be no 

 better than straw in a ration for cattle or horses. Livery 

 stable keepers refuse to buy any other hay for their hard- 

 driven horses. Many men declare that horses will work 

 better on timothy hay than on alfalfa or almost any other 

 hay. The fact remains, after all has been said, that tim- 

 othy is, and will long remain, the standard hay crop of 

 America. There are several very good reasons for this 

 fact. It is very easily established; the seed is cheap and 

 easily sown. It comes soon and yields its best crop, very 

 likely, the year after it is established. It is an easy grass 

 to make into hay. It has fair palatability and horses once 

 accustomed to it relish it. It is not very nourishing when 

 cut as ripe as is common practice, and thus there is no bad 

 result from feeding horses plenty of it; in truth, they 

 will not ordinarily eat too much of it, as it is not suffi- 

 ciently palatable? to tempt them. Contrasted with alfalfa, 

 it has far less of nourishment in it, but alfalfa is often 



