( 17) 



may be urged against it that are to timothy. It yields, on moist 

 bottom land, from one and a half to two tons per acre, but on up- 

 lands it is not a good producer. On thin lands it will not gain a 

 sufficient height to justify harvesting at all. It withstands the 

 effects of drought much better than timothy. In England it is 

 supposed to grow best on sandy soils. Its effects when fed to milk 

 cows are to greatly enrich and yellow the butter, and European 

 dairymen think they cannot do without it in their pastures. By 

 the Wopurn experiments at the time of flowering, it yielded 10,209 

 pounds of grass, which lost in drying 5,615 pounds, and furnished 

 532 pounds of nutritive matter. Cut when the seeds were ripe, it 

 yielded 9,528 pounds of grass, which lost exactly half its weight 

 in drying, and afforded only 251 pounds of nutritious matter. 

 From this it would appear that this grass is doubly as valuable for 

 feeding purposes when cut at the time of flowering. 



For' stopping gullies in old fields it is superior to blue-grass, as 

 it will throw its long, searching roots from the top down the slop- 

 ing banks of the washes, and fasten to every patch of good soil at 

 the bottom, and then from every joint starts up a stalk to get a 

 fresh hold. It affords a very good aftermath from which, in wet 

 falls, a fair crop may be cut. Unless well tramped in the late fall 

 it is liable to form tufts that rise out of the soil from the effects of 

 freezing, and is destroyed. Therefore, after cutting, let on the 

 stock, and their feet will insure a good turf, and besides, will de- 

 stroy weeds. But the cattle should be taken off the pasture after 

 rains have filled the earth with water, or it will become too rough 

 for the proper use of the mower. 



The quantity of seed per acre, when sown alone, is about one 

 bushel. The seed is usually sold in the chaff, it being difficult to 

 separate it. 



The time for havesting is when it is in full flower, or as soon 

 thereafter as possible, when all the elements that are necessary to 

 form the seeds are still in the stalk and leaves. Left to ripen fully 

 it becomes woody and innutritious. 



Many pursue the plan of sowing the timothy and Herd's grass 

 together, as they ripen together, and the Herd's grass being much 

 lower than the former fills in well, and the two will make a more 



2 



