1286 



FORAGE CROPS, MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



fall bloom, 67.2 per cent.; leaves fading, 58.6 per cent.; seed mature, 51.2 

 per cent. 



5) The excessive percentage of moisture in young sorghum explains 

 the verj' chaffy character of sorghum hay when the crop is cut too soon, and 

 the 90 per cent loss in weight is an additional reason wh}^ sorghum should 

 be fairly mature before it is harvested. 



6) The moisture content of an}'- crop at a given stage of maturity 

 is not constant, but ma}' vary with the conditions under which the crop is 

 grown. 



A study of the rate of loss of moisture in forage during the early sta- 

 ges of curing shows the following results : 



Crop and location 



Alfalfa at Chico 



Alfalfa at Arlington Farm . . . 



Tall Oat grass and orchard grass 

 at Arlington Farm 



Timothy at New lyondon. . . . 



Sorghum at Hays 



The approximate losses in the different crops were. 



i) The rate of loss of moisture after ctitting differs in different vari- 

 eties of the same crop, as well as in different crops. 



2) Although the Arabian alfalfa loses moisttire faster than the Peru- 

 vian or ordinary alfalfa in the first one or two hours after cutting, still 

 the total percentage of moisture is about the same for the three varieties. 



3) A high percentage of leaf surface in alfalfa varieties is correlated 

 with a rapid loss of moisture immediately after cutting, but it does not in- 

 dicate a high moisture content. 



Studies of the variation in the moisture content of growing alfalfa 

 during a single day at Chico, Cal., show an average of i per cent, more 

 moisture in the alfalfa at 8 o'clock a. m. than at 3 o'clock p. m. 



Studies of the shrinkage in hay after storing and variation in moisture 

 content due to changes in atmospheric humidity made with baled oat hay at 

 Chico, Cal., and loose timoth}' hay at New London, Ohio, indicate results as 

 follows : 



i) At Chico, Cal., where the atmospheric hitmidity changes radically 

 from the dry stmimers to the wet winters, baled oat hay showed a shrink- 

 age in 1914 of 9.1 per cent, between June i and August 31, and a gain 

 in weight from August 31, 1914, to February 25, 1915, of 5. 9 per cent, of the 

 original weight. 



