TIMOTHY. 81 



dows than anything else. Again, our seasons have be- 

 come dryer, and there is much greater difficulty in getting a 

 stand of timothy than formerly. When I commenced sow- 

 ing meadows, I had no trouble in getting a stand of tim- 

 othy, whether I sowed the seed in the fall or in the spring, 

 whether I sowed in the fall with wheat or barley, or in the 

 spring with my oats. For many years I never failed. Now 

 I sow in the fall, and the timothy is frequently winter- 

 killed ; I sow in the spring, and it is killed by the long 

 droughts of summer, but these difficulties should not deter 

 us. We should continue to sow, and persevere until we get 

 a stand. Hence, if I sow in the fall and my timothy is 

 killed, I sow in the spring, if it is then killed, I sow again 

 and again, until I succeed. I have never given up, and 

 have never entirely failed, after repeated efforts. My sow- 

 ing last spring was very fortunate; I have a very fine and 

 promising young meadow now, of one hundred acres, that I 

 sowed last spring a year ago. I am satisfied, however, that 

 under the changed state of our climate, we must sow more 

 seed than we have been in the habit of sowing. I got a 

 good stand of timothy many years ago with a gallon of seed 

 to the acre, now I would recommend not less than one and 

 a half gallons, or even a peck of seecl to the acre. Again, 

 the better the stand you get, the thicker your grass comes 

 up the more will it keep out the weeds. The white blossom, 

 like the blue-grass, has also increased largely, and seems to 

 be yet increasing. That is a troublesome weed for our mea- 

 dows. Still that is not as pernicious as it seems to the inex- 

 perienced. True, you cannot sell white blossom in the mar- 

 ket, but if you expect to consume the hay at home, and 

 make your timothy with a large amount of white blossom 

 in it, you will find you will have good hay. Stock will eat 

 it, and readily ; mules and cattle seeming to do almost as 

 well upon it as upon the timothy alone." 



"I know that some differ from me in considering the white 

 blossom as troublesome as any other plant, and throw it 

 6 



