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chases timothy. What is in those timothy seeds? The in- 

 herent power, the vigor, productivity, the power of germina- 

 tion and all the various things which go to make up a plant, 

 are unknown. The percentage germination may be readily 

 determined; the capacity of the individual seed to make a 

 productive plant cannot be measured; there is no Babcoek 

 test for this particular feature, in fact, there has been very 

 little attention paid to the necessity for such, and no doubt 

 when there is a sufficient demand, there will be a means sup- 

 plied for measuring these different values. Thus far, how- 

 ever, there has been little evidence that these differences oc- 

 curred, and no commercial recognition thereof. 



In 1903 the Cornell Station began" a series of experi- 

 ments with Timothy^ to determine the differences which exist- 

 ed. In the first patch some 12,000 plants were put out in rows 

 •3 feet apart, from 22 different sources of seed ; these were 

 properly checked by having a relatively uniform- sample of 

 seed sown at intervals. The variations which occurred in this 

 block of plants were extremely interesting. A large number of 

 the indivduals did not show sufficient ability to live more 

 than one season. They may have been annuals or they may 

 have been plants which could not endure the adverse cir- 

 cumstances which came in their way on the heavy loam soils 

 upon which they were planted, although as a grass soil no 

 one type is perhaps better than the Dunkirk clay loam upon 

 which the experiment was conducted. To make a long story 

 short, there were all kinds of differences ; some plants would 

 yield 1 pound, others would not produce one-hundredth of 

 1 pound of hay; they were all given uniform conditions so 

 far as the amount of room was concerned; they were all 

 supplied adequately with moisture and plant food. Marked 

 differences were found between individual plants ; one hav- 

 ing small narrow leaves, another large broad leaves; one 

 might be tall and its neighbor short ; these were not due to 

 soil conditions ; they were not due to climatic conditions ;they 

 were simply due to inherent power and vigor in the plants 

 themselves, and yet, with this fact demonstrated to a man 



