146 FOE AGE PLANTS AND THEIE CULTURE 



timothy hay cut when in bloom and for 41 days with 

 timothy hay cut 17 days after bloom. In the first period 

 the steers gained 1.47 pounds per diem and in the second 

 period 1.49 pounds per diem. 



133. Injurious insects. Timothy is not much subject 

 to insect injury, but a few species may at times do con- 

 siderable damage. 



Bill-bug (Sphenophorus zece) . The larva of this weevil 

 burrows into the bulbs of timothy and feeds on the in- 

 terior, thus weakening the culm. In Illinois Forbes found 

 50 to 75 per cent of the bulbs infested or injured in fields 

 three or four years old, and 10 to 20 per cent in fields two 

 years old. Hopkins expresses the opinion that the bill- 

 bug is one of the prime causes of early failure of timothy 

 meadows in West Virginia, and suggests as a remedy that 

 the stubble be fertilized with stable manure, tobacco dust 

 or lime immediately after hay harvest. As the same 

 insect attacks corn, the timothy sod should, if possible, 

 be plowed in winter to destroy as many of the insects as 

 possible. 



Joint-worm (Isosoma sp.). The larva of this insect 

 infests the stems of timothy, never more than a single 

 larva in a culm. As a result of the injury it causes the 

 head and upper portion of the stem to die prematurely. 

 The dead spikes conspicuously reveal the work of this 

 insect. Where abundant it may reduce the hay yielded 

 10 to 20 per cent. 



134. Diseases. Timothy is affected by but few 

 fungous diseases that cause damage worthy of notice. 



Timothy rust (Puccinia phlei-pratensis) occurs in 

 nearly all states east of the Mississippi, and in Minnesota 

 and Iowa. It caused serious injury in timothy breeding 

 plots at Arlington Farm, Virginia, in 1906, where someselec- 



