242 FARM GRASSES OP THE UNITED STATES 



out of blossom. It is believed by many that if a grass 

 is cut for hay when it is shedding its pollen that the hay 

 is inferior in quality, because of the presence of the 

 pollen dust. How much truth there is in this notion 

 is not known. Recent investigations indicate that the 

 pollen of some of the grasses, when breathed into the 

 nostrils, causes hay-fever, a disease in which the mucus 

 membrane of the nasal passages is much inflamed. It 

 is possible that pollen dust in hay may cause some 

 trouble in the nasal passages of horses and cattle. 



After the pollen falls on the stigma, and sends its 

 thread-like tube down through the substance of the 

 style and the ovary to the ovule, the seed at once be- 

 gins to develop. The time required for the develop- 

 ment of the seed varies with different grasses from a 

 few days to several weeks. In the common hay grasses 

 it is about ten days or two weeks. At first the sub- 

 stance of the seed is watery in appearance. Just be- 

 fore it reaches its full size it becomes milky. At this 

 time the seed is said to be " in the milk." If the hay 

 is cut when the seed is in the milk, some of the seed 

 usually matures sufficiently to grow. This is impor- 

 tant in the case of weedy grasses, like Johnson grass 

 and quack-grass. These should never be left till the 

 milk stage is reached. When the milk-like substance 

 of the seed begins to harden, the seed is popularly said 

 to be ' ' in the dough. ' ' Most seeds will grow readily 

 if the whole plant is cut at this stage, though they will 

 hardly mature properly if the seed is removed from the 

 plant in the dough stage. Very few grasses make good 

 hay if cut after the seed is fully mature. 



