The Production of New and Improved Varieties of Timothy 351 



cally and by nutrition experiments before any reliable judgment can be 

 reached. In the absence of such information the writer believes it to 

 be the best policy to direct the selections toward the production of types 

 giving only a medium seed production and a large yield of hay of good 

 quality. This would mean, in general, that we should select types with 

 medium-sized heads. 



It will be interesting to note further in this connection that there is 

 a considerable range of variation in the size of seeds, many plants giving 

 seeds fully twice as large as those of other plants. It is also well known 

 that in threshing some of the seeds come out naked, the glumes 

 having been removed. A wide variation in this character is also notice- 

 able in different plants. In some individuals the glumes invest the seed 

 very firmly and practically all the seeds remain covered with the hulls; 

 in other plants the glumes seem to be easily removable and a large pro- 

 portion of the seed threshes out hull-less, or naked. 



It would seem that of varieties giving the same yield of seed a large- 

 seeded type would be preferable, as a larger quantity of stored nutrition 

 to start the young plant would probably give a stronger plant. But 

 here, again, further experiments are necessary before a definite con- 

 clusion can be stated. 



As to the importance of securing hulled or hull-less seeded types, no 

 positive statement can be made. The general opinion prevails among 

 timothy dealers that hulled seed is to be preferred, for the reason that 

 seed covered with hulls is supposed to retain moistiire better and thus 

 protect the germ from drying out immediately after seeding and during 

 germination. In oiir own experiments several one-fortieth-acre plats 

 sown in the fall of igii with hulled and hull-less seed gave, to all appear- 

 ances, equally good germination and apparently equally good plants. 

 No crop has yet been harvested from these plats, so that the final 

 comparison cannot yet be given. 



Season of blooming and maturity. — In the season of blooming and ma- 

 turity, wide variation is found in different plants. A difference in time 

 of blooming of fifteen to eighteen days was found to be exhibited by differ- 

 ent plants, and varieties of about this degree of difference can doubtless 

 be produced. Indeed, some of the varieties already produced in the 

 Cornell experiments differ almost as much as this in their season of bloom- 

 ing. The time of blooming is of the greatest importance in a practical 

 way and, in general, indicates the period of maturing. The time of cutting 

 is largely gauged by the period of blooming, as it should begin immedi- 

 ately following the close of bloom if the best yield and quality of hay are 

 to be obtained (see appendix to this bulletin). It is important to have 

 varieties of timothy differing in season of blooming and maturing, in 



