288 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



The shrinkago of timothy \vhon cut at difTercnt dates was found by Prof. W. II. 

 Jordan at the Pennsylvania Station to be as follows: When cut just as the heads 

 are beginning to appear timothy lost, on an average, in curing into hay, 75 per 

 cent of water. When beginning to bloom, the loss was GO per cent, and when some- 

 what past blossom, about the usual time of cutting, the loss was 57 per cent. 



At the New York, Geneva, Station, a mixture of meadow fescue with a little red 

 clover lost in one lot ()2.t)8 per cent, and in anotlier lot 58.25 per cent during the 

 process of curing. 



The amount of moisture retained in cured fodder varies with different kinds. Prof. 

 Atwater concludes that for New England timothy hay retained on an average 12 per 

 cent of moisture; clover hay, 14 per cent, and corn fodder 25 per cent. 



HUNGARIAN GRASS SEED. 



Four thousand poiinds of Hungarian grass seed was weighed into a tight bin Novem- 

 ber 14, 1896. On the 10th of July, 1898, it weighed but 3,904 pounds, a loss of 

 2.8 per cent. 



CORD WOOD. 



Seasoned wood, besides being ligliter to haul and liandle than green wood, brings 

 a better price, since it is ready for immediate use. Some 'of the questions to con- 

 sider in the storage and sale of wood are first the loss in weight in seasoning, and 

 second the shrinkage in bulk. The following experiments bearing on the above point 

 were conducted at this Station in 1896 and 1897. 



On February 7, 1896, 5 cords of freshly cut green beech 18-inch slab body wood 

 weighed 14,336 pounds, or 2,867 pounds per cord. It was then piled one cord high 

 in a single rack, with free exposure to the sun and air. On the 7th of July following 

 it weighed 7,372 pounds, a shrinkage of nearly one-half. The pile, meantime, had 

 settled about two and a half inches. After weighing, the wood was replied, when it 

 was found that the five cords had shrunk one-third of a cord in bulk. It was then 

 allowed to stand undisturbed until October 19, when it weighed 7,148 pounds, or a little 

 less than one-half its Aveight when green. The season had been an unusually wet one, 

 although there was no rain for several days preceding these weighings. This experi- 

 ment seems to teach that body beech wood split into slabs loses about one-half its 

 weight in seasoning, and nearly one-tenth its bulk. 



Ten cords of 18-inch beech and maple slab wood, cut the preceding winter, was 

 split and piled in Juh'. It then measured exactly 11 cords. 



C. D. SMITH. 



Agricultural Colloge, Mich., May 7, 1901. 



