GRASS AND HAY 23 



counted a full seeding when used alone. When clover is used with 

 the timothy, six to eight pounds of the latter, seven pounds of red 

 clover and three pounds of alsike clover have been found satisfactory. 

 Unless seeded during freezing weather when the ground is cracked 

 open with frost, the seed should be covered with a light harrow or 

 weeder. When seeded with wheat or oats it can be distributed 

 through the grass seeding attachment of the grain drill and dropped 

 in front of the drill hoes. (Dept. Agr. Y. B. 1896.) 



Harvesting. Many experiment stations have tested the value of 

 timothy cut at different stages of growth. Briefly summarized these 

 i .suits show that the total dry matter increases until the seed is close 

 to maturity ; that the total protein and fat, as well as the digestibility 

 of the different nutrients decrease slightly after timothy passes full 

 bloom ; that the fiber and nitrogen-free extract increase during this 

 period. All things considered timothy may safely be left until 

 shortly after the blossoms have fallen, but not later than when the 

 seed is in the dough. Comparatively late harvesting is favorable to 

 rapid curing and consequently lessens the danger of loss from rain, 

 with the alternate dissolving of soluble feed elements and bleaching 

 in the sun, so destructive to quality and palatability. With good 

 weather and the use of the hay tedder, there is little difficulty in 

 curing and storing timothy in the barn or stack the day it is cut. If 

 weather is settled, some time is saved by mowing it late in the after- 

 noon before. 



Yield. In tests timothy led all other grasses in yield per acre. 

 In 1905, the yield of hay was 2.92 tons per acre; in 1906, 2.62 

 tons; in 1907, 3.60 tons. The test plots were plowed up in 1908 and 

 new seedings of all the different grasses tested were made July 1, 

 1909. In July, 1910, the new seeding of timothy gave a yield of 4.85 

 tons per acre of thoroughly cured hay. The four-year average yield 

 is 3.497 tons per acre. (Ohio E. S. B. 225.) 



The Production of Seed. As a seed producer timothy is usually 

 to be depended upon. The yields seldom drop below five bushels 

 per acre and frequently reach ten or twelve bushels. It can be har- 

 vested with the ordinary farm machinery. It is cut with a grain 

 binder; at once put in shock "two by two," without caps, and allowed 

 to cure about a week, when it may be threshed with a common grain 

 separator, using special sieves. Timothy seed is usually much freer 

 of weed seeds and generally has a higher percentage of vitality than 

 clover or blue grass seed. This is perhaps because timothy seed is 

 generally grown on comparatively new meadows and the seed crop is 

 more certain. 



Timothy seed is light gray in color, from 1-16 to 1-12 of an inch 

 long, usually with the flowering glume and palet attached to the seed. 

 The flowering glume or larger scale is marked by several more or 

 less prominent nerves or veins ; it is truncate at the top ; the shorter 

 scale or palet is also prominent. Many of the seeds are hulled in the 

 process of cleaning; these seeds are more or less transparent. At the 

 lower end of the hulled seed is a darker elongated area, the embryo. 

 Timothy seed hulled or unhulled is easily recognized. 



