The Production of New and Improved Varieties of Timothy 381 



Clearly, however, so far as the total nutrient materials are concerned, 

 the plants had reached their maximum yield per acre at the time of the 

 second cutting. 



President Waters also tested the palatability of the hay as affected by 

 time of cutting, using cattle and to some extent sheep. Cattle having 

 no other food than timothy hay clearly selected the hay in the order in 

 v;-hich it was cut, preferring the first cutting. When fed Hberally on 

 grain and silage during the test, they did not show such decided prefer- 

 ence for the early cuttings. Fat wethers given all the corn they would 

 eat showed no apparent preference between the different cuttings. The 

 experiments demonstrated that in general the early cuttings were the most 

 palatable. 



President Waters has given us defmite data showing that the largest 

 yield per acre of digestible nutrient materials is obtained by cutting 

 timothy when in full bloom (Fig. 96) and that the largest yield per acre 

 of field-cured hay, as Vv^ell as of actual dry matter, is obtained from cut- 

 tings made when the seeds were just formed, an early " milk " stage 

 immediately after the bloom had all fallen. In each of these stages a 

 larger yield per acre was obtained, from both the standpoint of gross 

 weight of material and that of actual nutrients, than was obtained from 

 earlier or later cuttings; and, while apparently not quite so palatable 

 as when cut at a still earlier period, it v/ould seem in general that we may 

 conclude that the proper time to cut timothy is between the time of full 

 bloom and the period when the blooming has just passed and the seeds 

 are in an early stage of development, the second and third cuttings in 

 President Waters' experiments. 



