TIMOTHY. 83 



are assured it will not mould. If there is too much 

 moisture in it, it will mould, and thereby injure the hay. 

 If the weather is settled, it will cure better in cocks, but v 

 all these things must be governed by circumstances." 

 , "The best time to cut hay is just after the bloom stops. I 

 think timothy pays best sowed alone. It can be cured bet-, 

 ter in cocks, but sometimes in bad weather it will not do to 

 risk it in cocks. I pasture my timothy meadows, but it 

 assists in introducing blue-grass. I would prefer to sow in 

 the fall, as early in September as possible. I have tried 

 plaster on timothy, but do not know" that I have derived 

 any benefit from it. The best blue-grass land is the best 

 for timothy, and I would prefer it to be rich limestone 

 loam." 



It is highly probable one cause of the General's meadows 

 failing in six or seven years, is the fact, he admits, of pas- 

 turing them. It is a well ascertained fact, that timothy 

 will not bear pasturing, and attention to this and leaving 

 the first joint uncut will most probably make our meadows 

 again live twenty or thirty years. 



At the meeting of the Stock Breeders' Association, in 

 February, 1878, Gen. W. H. Jackson, who is farming with 

 Gen. Harding, said that they found the best forerunner of 

 timothy to be Hungarian grass. If this is sown in the 

 summer and harvested in August or September, and timothy 

 sown upon the stubble and harrowed in, the very best stand 

 could be obtained. The Hungarian grass destroys all 

 noxious weeds, and gives a certain degree of compactness to 

 the soil necessary to secure a good stand of timothy. 



The porosity of the soils of the Central Basin makes 

 this, or rolling of the land, essential conditions of success. 

 On the clayey lands of the valley of East Tennessee or the 

 Rimlands, there is no more difficulty in securing a stand of 

 timothy than of herds grass or clover. I have seen as much 

 as three tons of timothy hay cut from a bottom field on Eed 

 river in Montgomery county, nine months after seeding. 



