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ns farther north. It grows well to the west, particularly in the north 

 western states, but if is not quite so great a favorite here as in the 

 northern Atlantic states. This may be owing in part to the high 

 value they set upon some of the native western grasses, and one in 

 particular called the Kentucky Blue Grass ; they consider it (timothy) 

 coarser, harder and drier than some others, and that cattle will not 

 eat^so freely, nor will they do so well on it either as pasture or forage 

 as a few other kinds. This is the opinion also of some northern and 

 English farmers. It is believed this is owing in a great degree to the 

 erroneous impression of some — they are few though, compared with 

 the whole number, and it is thought, are diminishing every year — of 

 the proper time of cutting timothy grass for hay. It is contended 

 that it should be cut late, after the seed is formed, or hard or ripe ; 

 that much of its weight and nutriment is lost, perhaps more than half, 

 by being cut early j that cattle will not thrive on it so well, and 

 especially horses ; that this is the case with some other of our grasses, 

 but more with timothy than any other ; that the after math is not so 

 profitable ; that the young grass will not grow up so rapidly nor so 

 rich. This it is thought is directly at war not only with the character 

 of the grasses so called, but with the cereals or grain producing plants. 

 The proper time it is thought for cutting the grasses of our country, is 

 when they are in full flower, (timothy excepted) ; at this period, the 

 juices are more generally diffused throughout the whole plant, the stem 

 leaves and branches, than at any other. These juices constitute the 

 nutriment of the grass plant for animals ; they are in greater quantity 

 and richer in quality, a very small portion of them only have passed 

 up into the head or culmen to form the flower ; they are more con- 

 centrated, have more of the elements of saccharine or sugar, mucilage 

 and starch, which give all the value to the grass plant as feed. The 

 more of the natural juices preserved in grass when cured for hay, the 

 more nutriment the latter contains, and the more animals relish it. 

 When a considerable portion of this, and probably the greatest, passes 

 from the stem to the culmen to form and harden the seed and mature 

 the plant, the lower parts are dry, sapless, and contain considerable 

 woody fibre and very little nutriment. Experience has shown that 

 stock of no kind relish it, and if they eat it, it cannot nor does it 

 keep them in so good condition. This too accords not only with 

 theory and reason in the case, but practice. Four out of five of our 



