MOISTURE CONTENT AND SHEINKAGE OF FORAGE. 3 



used to have each sample representative of the entire crop. Material 

 from the outside as well as from the middle and bottom of the wind- 

 rows or shocks was included. 



Samples of green material were taken by cutting the plants either 

 by hand or with machinery, each sample including only that part of 

 the plant that is used in making hay or fodder. The samples of 

 different sizes in both the field-cured and green material were replicated 

 five or six times, and each sample was marked with a tag bearing a 

 number and other data necessary for identification. In taking 

 samples, the work was done as quickly as possible, to avoid loss in 

 weight by evaporation. Each sample as soon as prepared was 

 weighed immediately. 



After the samples ^ were placed m the containers and weighed, they 

 were stored in a favorable place to facilitate further drying and at the 

 same time were given protection from rain. 



In ascertaining the total water and dry-matter content of the 

 various samples, determinations were made by the usual method of 

 oven drying. For this purpose a special oven having a capacity of 

 164 cubic feet was built. Steam heat under pressure was used and a 

 temperature of 100° C, or a little above, was maintained. 



In the following account, the outline for each experiment is given as 

 it was carried out at the various stations, and this outhne is followed 

 by a tabulated statement of the original data from which the sum- 

 maries are prepared and conclusions drawn. 



USE OF SAMPLES IN CORRECTING FORAGE YIELDS. 



McKee, in the Journal of the American Society of Agronomy,^ 

 gives a general discussion of moisture as a factor of error in determin- 

 ing forage yields, wherein it is suggested that forage-yield data can 

 be made much more nearly comparable if small samples taken at the 

 time of weighing field-cured or green material are used in determining 

 the moisture content of the material and these data used in reducing 

 the yield either to an air-dry or to a dry-matter basis. 



In the experiments described in the present bulletin, the efficiency 

 of correcting ordinary green and field-cured forage weights with 2, 4, 

 6, 8, 12, or 16 pound samples was determined with the following 

 crops: At Arlington Farm, Va., alfalfa and a mixture of tall oat-grass 

 and orchard grass; at Chico, Cal., alfalfa; at New London, Ohio, 

 timothy; at Amarillo, Tex., sorghum; and at Hays, Kans., sorghum. 

 To provide a basis for checking up the moisture loss in small samples, 

 100 pounds of ordinary field-cured forage were taken from the shock 



1 The samples of tall oat-grass and orchard grass at Arlington Farm, Va., were prepared by H. N. Vinall 

 and H. L. Westover ; the alfalfa at Arlington Farm, Va. , by W . J . Morse ; the alfalfa at Chico, Cal . , by Roland 

 McKeejthetimothy at New London, Ohio, by M. W. Evans; the sorghums at Amarillo, Tex., byA. B. 

 Cron,and at Hays, Kans. , by R. E. Getty. 



2 McKee, Roland. Moisture asa factor of error in determining forage yields. In Jour. Amer. Soc. Agron., 

 V. 6, no. 3, p. 113-117, 1914. 



