312 



FIELD CROPS 



for hay. The leaves are from 3 to 10 inches long and from 

 % to ]/2 inch wide. The flowers are borne in a long, close 

 spike, usually cylindrical in form, from 1^ to 6 inches in 

 length and J^ to J/ inch in diameter. This spike is made 

 up of many one-flowered spikelets. The seed is about one- 

 twelfth of an inch long, silvery gray in color, and usually 



loosely enclosed in the palea 

 and flowering glume. It is 

 easily removed from them in 

 thrashing and cleaning, how- 

 ever, and many of the seeds 

 are commonly without a 

 covering. 



386. Importance. In the 

 Northeastern and North Cen- 

 tral states, timothy is the 

 most important meadow grass, 

 and it is also largely used as 

 pasture. It is of more or less 

 importance all over the 

 country except in the extreme 

 South. No other grass com- 

 pares with it in importance as 

 a hay grass; other kinds of hay 

 are sold to some extent, but 

 timothy is the standard. Out 

 of a total area of 72,000,000 

 acres devoted to the production of hay and other forage in 

 the United States in 1909, according to the Census reports, 

 timothy alone was grown on 14,675,000 acres, and timothy 

 and clover mixed on 19,536,000 acres. The only other class 

 of hay and forage which compared at all with timothy in 

 acreage was the combination of all wild, salt, and prairie 



Fig. 95. A head of timothy, 

 the most common tame grass of 

 the United States. 



