.,'^ 



196 FIELD CROP PRODUCTION 



inflorescence carried at the top of each culm is a spike. 

 The spike or head varies from 2 to 12 inches in length, 

 the most common forms being from 3 to 7 inches. 



The spike is made up of a large number of one-flowered 

 spikelets. The compactness of their arrangement on 

 the rachis varies considerably. When compactly arranged, 

 the spike appears full and rigid. When the spikelets are 

 farther apart, it has a slender appearance. 



The appearance of timothy seed is unlike that of any 

 other cultivated grass, and it is easily identified. This fact 

 renders adulteration difficult. The seed after thrashing is 

 usually inclosed in the flowering glume and palea, al- 

 though much of it, sometimes as much as 50 per cent, is 

 freed from the glume during the operation and appears 

 naked. The legal weight per bushel in the United States 

 is 45 pounds. 



184. Distribution and adaptation. — Timothy may be 

 found growing throughout the temperate regions of the 

 world. As a cultivated grass, it is of considerable impor- 

 tance in England and in Europe. In the United States 

 it is extensively grown in that section of the country north 

 of a line drawn from the southern boundary of Maryland, 

 and east of the Missouri River. Within this section, 

 known as the timothy l)elt, no other grass rivals it as a 

 hay plant, and nowhere else in the world is it so well 

 and so favorably known. Its importance in this section 

 makes it the most important hay grass in the United States. 

 New York produces the greatest amount of timothy hay, 

 while Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, and Indiana follow closely 

 in its production. So important is timothy hay that, 

 until recently, it has been the only hay on which there has 

 been a market quotation. Much of the hay produced in 

 this section is shipped to the large cities, to those within 



