346 THE PRINCIPAL CULTIVATED GRASSES 



strong and usually will not produce as heavy a hay crop the following 

 season as when fall sown with wheat. 



In dry regions, the timothy should be sown alone in the spring as 

 well as in the fall. 



Lime and Fertilizers. Timothy does best on a limestone soil, 

 but is not as sensitive to a lack of lime as red clover or alfalfa. How- 

 ever, on a large proportion of the land where timothy is grown in 

 northeastern United States lime has been found to be very beneficial 

 to timothy. 



Fertilizing timothy meadows is just now becoming a general 

 practice throughout the timothy belt. In general, timothy gives the 

 greatest response to some form of nitrogen, and, second, to phosphate. 

 It is a general practice to apply the fertilizer as a top dressing in 

 the spring, and for this reason it should be in a very soluble form so 

 that the first rain may dissolve the fertilizer and carry it into the soil. 

 The top dressing is usually applied just after spring growth starts 

 (see Chapter XXXVI). 



Where timothy is grown in rotation, it is believed that a greater 

 return for fertilizers or manure can be obtained when applied to 

 timothy than any other crop, with the possible exception of potatoes. 

 Not only is the timothy itself much improved, but it has been found 

 that the grain crop following a timothy sod that has been fertilized 

 is always much larger than after unfertilized timothy, thus giving a 

 double return. 



Time to Cut for Hay. All young grass is very nutritious and 

 highly digestible, and decreases in quality as it matures. However, 

 the total dry weight in timothy increases steadily until the seed has 

 reached the dough stage, after which it usually decreases somewhat in 

 dry. weight, probably due to the loss of dead leaves and perhaps the 

 storing of some material in the roots. In general, when both quality 

 and quantity are considered, timothy should be cut for hay when 

 in full bloom. From this time on to the dough stage of the seed it 

 deteriorates slowly, but after the dough stage it loses in quality very 

 rapidly. In general, there is a period of two to three weeks after 

 full bloom when good quality of hay can be secured. The main objec- 

 tion to cutting timothy in full bloom is that there will be more or less 

 pollen dust present, which is sometimes irritating to horses. It is 



