TIMOTHY AND CLOVER. 129 



mistake. Instead of fostering the grass it really robs it of its food, 

 and the shade checks its growth. By carefully preparing the ground 

 in August, and sowing the seed in the usual way, the young grass 

 grows vigorously and rapidly, and a crop of hay can be taken the 

 next year. In this preparation it is of the greatest importance that 

 the soil be made very fine and very firm, not only to give a perfect 

 bed for the small seeds, but to thoroughly compact the fine soil about 

 them. In doing this work it must not be forgotten that it is intended 

 to last for many years, and no expense or care that are necessary to 

 secure perfection in it should be withheld. It has been previously 

 recommended to sow the clover seed in the spring ; this is not 

 always necessary, as, if it is sowA.in August, the clover roots become 

 strong enough to withstand the winter safely. It cannot be reiterated 

 too often or too strongly, that the rolling of the soil after grass 

 seeding is of the greatest necessity for success, particularly when 

 done in August. 



Q. When stock raising is the main object in view on the farm, 

 would you advise the sowing of grains at all ? 



A. We gain many little advantages by sowing grain. We often 

 get half the value of the manure used the first season, and we 

 get the straw besides. 



Q. When grass seed and clover are sown with a grain crop, is 

 there any return from the grass the following summer or autumn ? 



A. There usually is not, but when sown alone there is. 



Q. What is your usual time of sowing grass seeds alone without 

 the grains? 



A. The latter part of August. The next year it will give a fair 

 crop of hay by the end of Juno or early in July, a crop always as heavy 

 and often heavier than the ordinary crop from established Timothy 

 lands. Timothy, in my experience, is the most exhaustive grass to 

 land that we have. The first and second seasons it is as bad as a crop 

 of wheat for exhausting the soil, and I find my neighbors can only 

 run it three years, the last crop being very poor or hardly worth cut- 

 ting. Weeds seem to take the place of Timothy, and especially if the 

 summer previous has been dry, the small roots of the grass suffering 

 from the sun beating down upon them, and the freezing and thawing 

 of winter leaves the ground bare in many places; hence destruction 

 of the roots and consequent failure of the crop. 



Q. I would ask, however, Mr. Crozier, if Timothy and Clover, 

 treated as liberally by top dressing with manure as you treat all your 

 grass lands, would not continue much longer than the period you 

 name ? 



