CHAP. I. 



TIMOTHY GRASS. 



921 



On dry soils and upon shallow calcareous lands it yields a very 

 uncertain produce. Experiments prove that timothy responds freely 

 to liberal manuring, and even a poor, light, sandy soil when dressed 

 with sulphate of potash gave a much increased yield of timothy. 



Grown by itself, timothy produces a somewhat irregular sward of 

 moderately close tufts. Associated with other grasses or with clovers, 

 it gives an abundant produce, for its hay is heavier than that of any 

 other cultivated grass. It should be mown before flowering, otherwise 

 its fibres become woody and its hay heavier and harder. The first cut 

 is usually more productive than the second. 



Whether grown alone, or mixed with clover, timothy is more useful 



Fig. 423. Timothy Grass (Phleum 

 pratense). 



Fig. 424. "Seed" of 



Phleum pratense (Timothy, 



or Meadow Catstail). 



With and without the chaff, 

 magnified 1 5 diameters. 



as green forage than as hay, because, even if the crop has been cut at 

 the most desirable time, this species always hardens in drying. 



The chief supplies of timothy " seed " (fig. 424) are derived from 

 North America, and in part from Eastern Germany and Austria. The 

 American seed is usually much purer than the European, a circum- 

 stance no doubt due to the extensive cultivation of timothy as a crop 

 by itself in North America. In the Eastern Provinces of Canada, and 

 in the United States, we have seen large fields of pure timothy which 

 would astonish British farmers, and the example of which they would 

 be ill-advised to follow. The raw European seed commonly contains 

 from 10 to 20 per cent, of impurities, consisting of harmless particles 

 of soil and vegetable fragments, and of the seeds of bad weeds. In 

 timothy seed received at the Swiss seed control station at Zurich, from 

 Breslau, the weed seeds usually comprise field charnomile (Anthemis 

 arvensis), bladder campion (Silene inflata), mouse ear chickweed 

 (Cerastium triviale), spurrey (Spergul a arvensis), small scorpion grass 

 (Myosotis intermedia), rib grass or plantain (Plantago lanceolata), 

 sorrel (Rumex Acetosella), self heal (Prunella vulgaris), sandwort 



