296 FIELD CROPS 



clover. These will not make enough growth to be v^ry 

 noticeable in the hay during the first year or two, but they 

 will become firmly established by the time it is desired to 

 use the land as pasture, and will furnish better and more 

 permanent pasture than timothy and clover without them. 



379. Harvesting the Seed Crop. As timothy usually 

 makes but Uttle second growth, it is necessary to use the 

 first crop of the season as the seed crop. It is allowed to 

 ripen and is cut with the grain binder, shocked, and handled 

 in every way similar to a grain crop. The usual yield is 

 from 3 to 5 bushels of seed to the acre. Timothy which is 

 grown for seed should be free from weeds and from mixtures 

 of other grasses. The price of the seed varies somewhat 

 from season to season, but it is almost always possible to 

 sow an acre of timothy at less cost than an acre of any other 

 grass. This reason probablj' accounts for the fact that 

 timothy is so generally sown. 



KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS 



380. Origin and Description. Kentucky blue grass, Poa 

 pratensis, is either a native of the United States from Pennsyl- 

 vania west to the Mississippi River, or it was introduced 

 from Europe at a very early date. It is also called June 

 grass, wire grass, and spear grass. It is now commonly 

 found as far south as Tennessee and as far west as eastern 

 Nebraska. It is a rather shallow-rooted grass, but makes 

 a close, even sod, and one which is not easily injured by 

 trampling or close grazing. The culms do not grow more 

 than 2 feet tall. The cuhn leaves are scanty, not more than 

 6 inches long and }4 iiich broad, but the basal leaves are 

 numerous and much larger, making the plant valuable for 

 pasture. The flowers are produced in open, spreading pani- 

 cles; the spikelets are from three to five-flowered. The 

 grain, or caryopsis, is enclosed in the flowering glume and 

 palea. The seed, that is, the grain and its enclosing envelope 



