

PASTURES AND MEADOWS 91 



being too loose. If the grass is cut for hay the first 

 year, the plants should not be allowed to ripen before 

 cutting, otherwise the plants will suffer. Thistles, if 

 present, should be cut in the late summer as soon as the 

 flowering heads have formed. Docks should be pulled 

 up, when possible, immediately after heavy rain. 



It is not advisable to graze a young pasture 

 constantly with the same kind of stock, as it scarcely 

 gives some of the plants a chance to spread and fill up 

 the bottom. An occasional short rest of say two weeks 

 gives plants like white clover an opportunity of spread- 

 ing. On the other hand, a pasture should be sufficiently 

 heavily stocked to prevent its becoming rough. Hard 

 grazing is much better than the other extreme. An 

 application of compost (lime and earth) is always effective 

 in sweetening the herbage and strengthening the clovers. 



Timothy Meadows. 



The value of timothy hay for horses is probably 

 not so widely appreciated as it should be. In the 

 first place, the seed is comparatively cheap, and the 

 grass flowers a fortnight or three weeks later than 

 Italian rye grass, consequently the hay harvest does 

 not all come in at one and the same time. Further, 

 timothy yields a very heavy crop of hay of high 

 feeding value. 



Timothy thrives best on moist, deep soils, and 

 should, generally speaking, not be sown on sandy or 

 thin, dry soils. The seed is sown in the usual way 

 with one of the cereal crops, at the rate of about 

 20 Ibs. per acre. Seeing that the seed is so small, it 

 is important to have the surface soil in a fine condition 

 before the seeds are sown, so as to obtain successful 

 germination. 



