274 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



Harvesting for Hay. Western rye grass should be 

 harvested with much promptness or it will lose rapidly 

 in palatability. When allowed to get ripe or nearly so, 

 before it is cut, it will not be eaten readily by farm ani- 

 mals. It should be cut as soon as fully out in head 

 which will be early in July. When grown along with 

 Russian brome, the latter will be further advanced but 

 it will not seriously injure it for hay. 



It is harvested for hay with the mower and is han- 

 dled in the same way as timothy; it is easily handled, 

 being straight like timothy. The yield under ordinary 

 conditions will run from 1 to 2 tons per acre, but under 

 superior conditions of cultivation has yielded as high 

 as 3 to 4 tons per acre. 



Securing Seed. Western rye grass seeds freely. 

 Good average crops will produce 300 to 400 pounds of 

 seed per acre and the seed weighs 20 pounds per bushel. 

 But seed very clean and good weighs 25 pounds. The 

 crop should be harvested with the binder and when the 

 seeds are fully ripe. This may be known by the change 

 in the color. It should then be harvested promptly or 

 there will be loss of seed from shelling. It is threshed 

 with the grain thresher and winnowed with the fanning 

 imill, much the same as timothy. (See p. 75.) The 

 ! seed is nearly as easily cleaned as that of an ordinary 

 oat crop. 



Renewing. It is not usual to try to renew western 

 rye grass, when it begins to fail, but rather to break it 

 up by ploughing and sow again, if necessary. It will fur- 

 nish remunerative crops of hay or seed for three or four 

 seasons. The ground then becomes so settled and dry 



