58 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



to produce results such as may be desired. The oat crop 

 is a favorite one to sow immediately after timothy. The 

 same is true of flax, in areas where that crop is success- 

 fully grown. When the sod can be ploughed immedi- 

 ately or soon after the timothy has been harvested for 

 hay, or even earlier when it is being used as pasture, 

 winter wheat or some other winter cereal may be sown 

 upon it with much advantage. Peas or vetches will grow 

 luxuriantly after this crop, and they aid in reducing the 

 sod where this may be necessary to bring the land in 

 proper condition for sustaining successfully some cereal 

 that has less power to gather its food. Overturned tim- 

 othy sod is also advantageous to the growth of such 

 crops as corn, potatoes, the sorghums and rape. All of 

 these feed ravenously on the decaying vegetable matter 

 in the sod. But, since these are all grown as cleaning 

 crops, the growing of such cereals as oats, barley and 

 Canada field peas, the peas to be followed by wheat, are 

 more commonly made to follow crops of timothy. 



Preparing the Soil. In ordinary practice, when tim- 

 othy is sown with a nurse crop, that degree of pulveriza- 

 tion which prepares the soil sufficiently for sowing the 

 nurse crop is considered sufficient for the timothy also. 

 But this does not always hold true. Clay soils are fre- 

 quently covered with small clods on the surface, the 

 pulverization under these being so fine that the small 

 grains sown on them will start with sufficient vigor, 

 while the timothy seed, being planted nearer the surface, 

 will not germinate well unless the weather should prove 

 more than ordinarily moist. In nearly all instances, 

 therefore, it will prove advantageous to work the ground 



