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Show JCOMBINATION FOR HAY Timothy and Alfalfa Mixture Given Giv-en Praise in Bulletin. Found Highly Satisfactory for Irrigated Irri-gated Msadowa Whsrevsr Climate and Soil Are Suitable for Growth of Thsae Crops. Tbo department of agriculture baa recently laaued a bulletin on "Timothy Production on Irrigated land In the Northwestern Statea." Tbla bulletin apoaka very blRhly of tbe timothy and alfalfa mixture for hay. It atatea that a combination of timothy with alfalfa tnakxa a very aatiafactory mixture for Irrigated meadows wherever the climate clim-ate and aoll are suitable for the growth of both of these crops. ' Although Al-though the mixture has not been extensively ex-tensively tried, wherever It haa been tried on the experiment farm an elsewhere, ao far aa the writer hat been able to learn, It haa been successful, suc-cessful, and all signs would Indicate that this mixture could be profitably used on a large proportion of the Irrigated Irri-gated land where timothy la now produced, pro-duced, and also on tbe native meadows. mead-ows. In localities where timothy and alfalfa have never been grown together, to-gether, the opinion generally prevails that such a combination would not be practicable, for the reason that tbe first crop of alfalfa la ordinarily ready to cut for hay two weeka or more before be-fore the timothy crop la harvested It la generally believed by farmers who have not had experience In growing, grow-ing, timothy and alfalfa together tbaf cither the mixture would have to be cut before the timothy la ready, or else the alfalfa sterna would become woody and the alfalfa leaves turn yellow yel-low and fall badly by tbe time the timothy haa arrived at the proper stage for cutting. These fears are groundlesa. Ily the time the timothy begins to bloom the i alfalfa plants are already In full bloom. Aa It growa In a field In mixture mix-ture with timothy, alfalfa does not lodge aa It sometimes does when It growa alone, nor does It produce such a dense mass of leaves at the base of the plant as In fields of clear alfalfa. For this reason the lower leaves oo the plant do not turn yellow and drop as readily as they do In a field where a dense stand of alfalfa la growing alone. Neither will tbe stems become aa course when the alfalfa la grown with timothy as when grown alone' So leaving the alfalfa a couple of weeka longer or until the timothy la ready does it no harm. Furthermore, In localities where alfalfa bay la fed lo horses. It Is the custom to let the hay stand longer before cutting than If It wen fed to sheep or cattle. Another advantage In using the alfalfa al-falfa and timothy mixture la that It curea into a brighter hay than does red clover and Its stems are finer. A mixture of 10 or 20 per cent of alfalfa la much leas conspicuous In timothy hay than Is an equal proportion of red clover. Alfalfa will also afford a considerable second crop for a number num-ber of years, whereas in timothy fields clover tends to disappear after Ihe first year. On all lands that are suitably drain-d drain-d and where the water table la not too near the surface the alfalfa and tlmotb'y mixture Is recommended for permanent meadows. Where the aoll la too wet for alfalfa or tends to slight acidity the red top may be sub-Kltuted sub-Kltuted for the alfalfa. The reseedlng of old meadows tends to keep down the weed and keeps the soil generally In better condition. Py proper treatment meadows that ordinarily produce only fhree fourths to one and one-half tons of hay per acre annually can be made to produce three to four tona per acre from two cuttings. |