240 



FARM CROPS 



Timothy is an exhaustive crop. It adds no nitro- 

 gen to the soil as do the legumes, and not much 

 humus is ever returned to the land. Its shallow 

 feeding fibrous roots are not helpful in subsoiling 

 the earth as do most of our other farm crops. 

 Being a shallow feeder, the roots suffer if dry 

 weather continues for any length of time. Timothy 

 is responsive to top dressings of stable manure, to 

 nitrate of soda and other chemical fertilizers. While 

 most timothy fields may be pastured heavily, 

 pasturing during wet weather is very disastrous. 

 The common practice that prevails throughout the 

 country of seeding timothy on wheat lands, to be 

 followed the following spring by clover in the 

 standing wheat is an excellent one. After the 

 wheat is harvested the clover shows splendid 

 growth that summer, and is at its best the follow- 

 ing year. Timothy, being a slow-growing crop, 

 does not show much activity the first or second 

 summer. During the following spring and sum- 

 mer, when the clover has pretty largely disappeared, 

 the timothy becomes strong, healthy looking and 

 vigorous. You see, the clover helped not only the 

 land, but the timothy crop also. The deep-grow- 

 ing roots penetrated into the subsoil, bringing phos- 

 phorus and potassium from the storehouse beneath 

 and left much humus in the soil; and their graves 

 were rich in nitrogen, a gift to the timothy that is 

 very satisfying and manifested in the subsequent 

 crops. Wheat is a good nurse crop for timothy, but 

 timothy may be grown without a nurse crop. Good 

 results are secured from both methods. If seeded in 

 the fall, seed right with wheat. The compact condition 

 of the soil secured in preparing the land for wheat 

 is just what timothy likes, and whether seeded alone 



