80 THE GRASSES OF TENNESSEE. 



5. NEVER CUT THE SWARD BELOW THE FIRST JOINT. 



6. Be sure to have the ground well pulverized. 



It is necessary to impress one idea that has already been 

 stated. Do not allow the timothy to stand longer than 

 the time that the yellow spot appears near the first joint, 

 as it will from that time ripen very rapidly, and be worth- 

 less. General Harding, before the Farmers' Club, called 

 attention to the fact, that, the greatest enemy of tim- 

 othy is blue-grass. If stock is allowed to pass from a 

 blue-grass pasture, at will, to a meadow of timothy, they 

 will quickly sow the meadow in blue-grass, and the latter 

 will, in a short time, supersede the former. In the meet- 

 ing above alluded to, timothy being the subject of discus- 

 sion, Gen. Harding being called on for his views, said 

 "he had had considerable experience with timothy. He 

 regarded timothy the most valuable of all the grasses for 

 hay, and more especially for hay that must be handled or 

 shipped or baled. He had tried several varieties. Many 

 years ago timothy was a grass of which it was a very easy 

 thing to secure a stand, and also a considerable amount of 

 grass, and the meadow lasted for many years. He used to 

 have meadows twenty, and even thirty years of age, but 

 were, even at that age, good, productive meadows. Timo- 

 thy was introduced into this country before blue-grass." The 

 General remarked, he considered blue-grase a great enemy 

 of timothy meadows. Before the introduction of blue- 

 grass, our timothy meadows lasted almost without limit, 

 and produced year after year, for twenty or thirty years. 

 "But since we have been growing blue-grass more extensively, 

 it gets into our timothy meadows in a few years and will 

 root out the timothy ; so now, in buying my timothy seed, 

 I look more carefully for blue-gra&s seed than for the seed 

 of any noxious weeds. I would rather sow dock I 

 would rather sow anything in my timothy than blue- 

 grass. Still I value blue-grass in its place, as the 

 first of grasses, yet it causes more trouble in our mea- 



