HAY AND PASTURE CROPS IN DRY AREAS 345 



stances, it will answer to mix the seed with the grain and 

 sow it thus. It feeds out more evenly when sown thus 

 than timothy, but under average conditions, it is safer to 

 sow it by running the drill a second time over the land at 

 right angles to the rows that were made when the nurse 

 crop was sown. If sown alone, which may in some in- 

 stances be a good plan, it may answer .simply to broad- 

 cast and harrow the seed where a grain drill is not avail- 

 able. The seed may be buried between 1 and 2 inches, 

 but should it be necessary to bury it even more deeply 

 on loose soils, it will come up from a greater depth. 

 When sown alone from 8 to 10 pounds of seed should 

 suffice per acre under dry land conditions. 



Care of the crop. When sown in the early autumn, 

 this grass may be so far advanced that it will not inter- 

 fere with the harrowing that should be given to the grain 

 crop at that season, but there are instances when such 

 harrowing would do harm. In the spring neither the 

 grass nor the nurse crop will be harmed by judicious 

 harrowing when the first blade points of the grain begin 

 to show. Under some conditions it may answer to sow 

 the grain just before such harrowing is given 'to the crop. 

 If sown alone, the grass may be pastured the first season, 

 but care must be taken not to graze too closely. 



Harvesting. Western rye grass should be harvested 

 for hay soon after it is fully out in head. The hay soon 

 becomes woody if not cut promptly and when it does 

 much has been lost in palatability. The hay is firm, like 

 that made by timothy, and the yields are usually better 

 under dry conditions. The cutting and curing are done in 

 the same way as when handling timothy (see p. 342). 

 This grass should seldom yield less than a ton per acre 

 and in some instances it will yield considerably more. 



It is cut for seed with the binder, cured in the shock 

 and threshed with the grain thresher from the shock, or 

 stack. The winnowing is easily accomplished by the aid 



