424 



Bulletin 279. 



The number of plants represented in the statistical studies is 3,505. 

 Only those plants are included for which the records for all the characters 

 under investigation were complete for the 3 years, so that the same 

 individuals appear in all the tables. 



VARIATIONS 



It has long been recognized that timothy is subject to a wide range 

 of variations; in fact, differences may be found as widely diverse as those 

 existing between different varieties of corn, wheat or oats. As early 

 as the middle of the 17th century, Bauhin (165 1) had described four 

 or five types of timothy which, according to Fraser (1905), are now 



regarded as varieties of 

 PJileum pratense L. Varia 

 tions were also noted by 

 English and Scottish writers 

 in the early part of the 19th 

 century. Withering (1801) 

 described two types which 

 he considered distinct varie- 

 ties. These were probably 

 variations due to soil con- 

 ditions, since a contempo- 

 rary writer states that the 

 smaller variety, when grown 

 on good soil, becomes the 

 larger variety the first year. 

 Lawson (1836) states that 

 "there is a considerable number of varieties differing from one another 

 in color of anthers and spike, also in the shape and length of the latter 

 and in other particulars." Plues (1867) observed many types and 

 attributed them to the nature of the soil on which they grew. Vari- 

 ations in yield and character of awn were described by Sinclair 

 (1869). 



In this country, the first study of variation in timothy was under- 

 taken by Hays (1892) at the Minnesota Experiment Station in 1889. 

 Variations in head and leaf characters, color of anthers, height, vigor, 

 and stooling power were noted. Studies of a similar nature were begun 

 by Hopkins (1895) in 1894 at the West Virginia Experiment Station. 

 Differences were observed in earliness, habit, leaf characters, yield of 

 hay and of seed. 



Fig. 113. Variation in timothy heads. 



