74 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM^ 



yield the second year of cutting is frequently much di- 

 minished. Under ordinary farm conditions where tim- 

 othy is grown as a staple crop it is usually cut for but 

 two successive seasons, but in some favored situations 

 several successive crops are grown. When timothy only 

 occupies the land the first cutting commonly gives the 

 best yield, but when properly dressed with fertilizers 

 the yield ought not to diminish for several years. 



The mower is almost the only implement used for 

 cutting timothy, but on new land where stumps abound 

 it may be necessary to cut it with the scythe. The fact 

 should not be lost sight of that under some conditions 

 as those of great drought the stand of the timothy may 

 be injured by too close cutting with the mower. When 

 the weather is settled and bright, the crop may usually 

 be cut one day and stored away some time during the 

 following day. When stored thus quickly the tedder 

 usually follows the mower, but with an interval of sev- 

 eral hours between. The crop is then drawn into win- 

 rows with the horse-rake and is loaded from these with 

 the hay loader or otherwise. In the advanced stages of 

 maturity, it may be possible under the most favorable 

 conditions to cut timothy in the morning and store it 

 away the same evening. But in such instances a free 

 use of the tedder must be made. In showery or damp 

 weather and especially when the crop is cut early, it 

 should be raked as soon as the work can be done success- 

 fully, and then put up into cocks until cured. When 

 thus put up, rain will not penetrate these or injure the 

 hay nearly so readily as thoiigh it were clover. When 

 clover and timothy are much mixed and especially when 



