MEADOWS AND PASTURES 31 
grasses have a smaller percentage of it than immature 
ones is a matter of small importance. We can get 
portein more cheaply than by cutting immature grasses 
for it, when by doing so we lose considerably in yield 
and, perhaps, also in palatability. Especially in the 
South and the Far West, where the ordinary feeds are 
too rich in protein, is this conclusion not well founded. 
Even in the Timothy Region proper we can get protein 
in a more satisfactory way. 
The second and third fa¢ts (2 and C above) are 
closely related, and may be considered together. Care- 
ful digestion experiments are not sufficiently numerous 
to show definitely that timothy cut, say, when the seed 
are in the dough stage, is decidedly less digestible than 
when cut, say, just before bloom. But grant that 
there is a difference; is it sufficient to compensate for 
the smaller yield and lower palatability of the early 
cut hay? 
The fact is that old, experienced feeders and hay 
dealers almost invariably prefer timothy hay that has 
been cut after the seed is pretty well formed. They 
insist that stock like it better, and that it is a stronger 
feed than hay cut earlier. There is a possibility that 
investigators have paid too little attention to one of 
the most, if not the most, important factors in deter- 
mining the value of a given feed—namely, its palata- 
bility. Considering the comparatively small variation 
in the chemical composition of the same grass cut at 
different stages, the most important question is not 
how nutritious is a pound of it, but how much of it 
will an animal eat. We are all well aware that a feed 
has little value in most cases if stock will eat it only 
