TIMOTHY 127 



nutritive value ; and fourth, the small amount of after- 

 math. The last objection affects its value as a pasture 

 plant ; the others are not important. 



111. Rotations. Timothy is used in the most common 

 of all rotations in the North ; namely, corn, oats, wheat, 

 clover, timothy. The corn may be replaced by potatoes 

 or other cultivated crop, the wheat by rye and the oats 

 sometimes by cowpeas or soybeans, but there is no equally 

 good substitute for the clover and timothy. 



In places where timothy is grown for market, or where 

 the land is poor, timothy is often allowed to stand for five 

 years or even more. On such fields the yields may be kept 

 up by top-dressing with barnyard manure or other nitrog- 

 enous fertilizers. 



Old timothy sod is apt to harbor insects, and therefore 

 it is best to plow in winter, if possible. 



112. Seed. Timothy seed is nearly always very pure, 

 and is never adulterated except with old seed. The small 

 size and characteristic appearance of timothy seed, as well 

 as its low price, make adulteration with other seeds prac- 

 tically impossible. Some of the grains are free. 



The purity of good seed should be 99 per cent or more, 

 and the viability 98-99 per cent. Germination ensues in 

 5-6 days. 



The legal weight of the seed is commonly 45 pounds per 

 bushel. It actually varies, however, from 42 to 50 pounds. 

 One pound contains 1,170,500 to 1,320,000 seeds. 



The viability of timothy seed is retained better than 

 that of most grasses. Stebler and Volkart state that it 

 loses very little during the first year in viability, about 

 10 per cent the second year, and 15 to 25 per cent the third 

 year. At the Vienna Seed Testing Station seed 4 years 

 old had lost but 9.4 per cent of its viability. At the 



