Milch Cows and Dairy Farming / Comprising the Breeds, Breeding, and Management, in Health and Disease, of Dairy and Other Stock, the Selection of Milch Cows, with a Full Explanation of Guenon's Method; The Culture of Forage Plants, and the Production of Milk, Butter, and Cheese: Embodying the Most Recent Improvements, and Adapted to Farming in the United States and British Provinces. With a Treatise upon the Dairy Husbandry of Holland; To Which Is Added Horsfall's System of Dairy Management

by Charles Louis Flint

Timothy grass

Of these, the most valuable, all things considered, is the first, or Timothy ([Fig. 56b]). It forms a large proportion of what is commonly called English, or in some sections meadow hay, though it originated and was first cultivated in this country. It contains a large percentage of nutritive matter, in comparison with other agricultural grasses. It thrives best on moist, peaty, or loamy soils, of medium tenacity, and is not well suited to very light, sandy lands. On very moist soils its root is almost always fibrous; while on dry and loamy ones it is bulbous. On soils of the former description, which it especially affects, its growth is rapid, and its yield of hay large, sometimes amounting to three and four tons to the acre, depending much, of course, on cultivation. But, though very valuable for hay, it is not adapted to pastures, as it will neither endure severe grazing, nor is its aftermath to be compared with meadow foxtail, and some of the other grasses.

Fig. 56b. Timothy grass.

Fig. 57b. June grass.