BREEDING OF TIMOTHY 

 Peofessor C. II. Myers, Ithaca, iSJ". Y. 



Department of Plant Breeding, Cornell University 



Tiniothv is the most important hay 

 grass in America, and, according to 

 Piper,^ its culture is older than any other 

 grass. As early as 1807 it was the most 

 im}X)rtant hay crop in the United States, 

 and it still maintains its supremacy, in 

 spite of many rivals that have been intro- 

 duced from time to time. 



IMPORTAKCE OX" BREEDING FOR VARIETIES OF TIMOTHY 



Yet, in spite of its importance and extensive culture, the varie- 

 ties have never been separated from the composite crop known 

 generally as timothy. Most of our more common and important 

 farm crops have been classified into varieties. Thus, we can buy 

 commercially many different true varieties of corn, wheat, oats, 

 potatoes, and the like. But when we come to purchase timothy 

 seed, our choice is limited to a number of different brands, which 

 are -not varieties at all but merely trade names given by various 

 seedsmen. 



From the facts learned in extensive breeding work with timothy, 

 we now know that there are many varieties, each differing from 

 the other with respect to certain definite characteristics, which 

 breed true. In other words, any field of timothy consists of a 

 composite mixture of possibly a dozen or more varieties or types, 

 although to a casual observer it would seem to be quite unifomi. 

 It is self-evident that the yield and quality of any field of timothy, 

 to a certain extent, is an average result produced by the gi'owth 

 and development of these different varieties or types, each having 

 its own individual characteristics that are peculiar to itself and 

 differing from those of its neighbors. If all these varieties in a 

 field had' desirable characteristics, in the end results might not be 



1 Piper, C. v., Forage Plants (1914), p 123. 



rr,4?.] 



