MOISTURE CONTENT AND SHEINKAGE OF FORAGE. 19 



The bulk of the timothy samples taken at New London, Ohio, in 

 1914 were overmature for hay, being past bloom and with many of 

 the lower leaves dead. In this condition the green timothy con- 

 tained only 58 per cent of moisture, but when cut at the proper time 

 (in bloom) it contained 71.4 per cent. The timothy which contained 

 58 per cent of moisture when green contained 20.3 per cent when 

 field cured. Jenkins and Winton ^ report an average of 61.6 per cent 

 of moisture for green timothy and 13.2 per cent for field cured. 



Meadow hay at Arlington Farm, Va., containing a mixture of tall 

 oat-grass and orchard grass had when green 72 per cent and when 

 field cured 29 per cent of moisture. Although the field-cured samples 

 were taken after the hay had dried sufficiently so that moisture could 

 not be wrung from the stems by twisting a bunch of hay in the hands, 

 still it was adjudged not quite dry enough to stack. 



Red Amber sorghum in fairly thrifty condition at Amarillo, Tex., 

 had 71.2 per cent of moisture when green and 43.2 per cent when 

 field cured. The percentage of moisture, though about the same as 

 that of other crops f©r the green material, was much higher in the 

 field-cured state. Undoubtedly this was due to the moisture carried 

 in the stems. Jenkins and Winton ^ report 79.4 per cent of moisture 

 in green sorghum, but give no figures for the field-cured material. In 

 corn, however, which should be much the same as sorghum, the 

 average of 126 analyses of green material showed 79.3 per cent of 

 moisture, while 35 analyses of field-cured material gave an average 

 of 42.2 per cent of moisture. 



These results go to show that forage crops when ready. to harvest 

 average about 70 to 80 per cent of moisture in the fresh material. 

 Field-cured material of different crops varies so widely in moisture 

 content that the percentage to be expected in any one case can 

 hardly be foretold. 



MOISTURE LOST IN AIR DRYING SAMPLES. 



Consideration of the means in Table III shows that irrigated alfalfa 

 at Chico, Cal., lost in air drying 74.5 per cent of moisture out of a 

 total of 76.9 per cent. Unirrigated alfalfa at Arlington Farm, Va., 

 lost 72.2 per cent out of a total of 75.2 per cent. Timothy at New 

 London, Ohio, lost 50.5 per cent out of a total moisture content of 

 58 per cent, but, as shown in Table VI, the loss was 68.8 per cent 

 when the total moisture content was 71.4 per cent; the mixture of 

 tall oat-grass and orchard grass at Arhngton Farm, Va., lost 66.3 

 per cent out of a total of 72 per cent ; and the Red Amber sorghum 

 at AmariUo lost 54.2 per cent out of a total of 71.2 per cent. At 

 Hays, Kans., sorghum lost 65.8 per cent in air drying. This differ- 

 ence is no doubt due to the fact that the stems of the sorghum 



1 Jenkins, E. H., and Winton, A. L. Op. cit. 



