224 FARM GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 
ing; (2) the relation of the hight-of the stack to the 
rate of settling; (3) the influence of the kind of hay 
and its condition as to dryness when stacked on the 
number of cubic feet in a ton. Whether the results will 
be of much value will depend on whether the influence 
of these various factors can be reduced to rule. For 
the present the figures for the number of cubic feet in 
a ton given in the New Mexico law may be used pro- 
visionally, unless more accurate ones are known. 
They are: 512 cubic feet for the first twenty days, 
422 from the twentieth to the sixtieth day, and 380 
thereafter. 
SEED HABITS 
The amount of seed which can be harvested de- 
pends largely on the seed habits of the plant. Many 
otherwise excellent grasses are rendered useless by 
yielding very little seed, or seed which lacks vitality, or 
falls out too soon when ripe to be easily harvested. No 
grass excels timothy in good seed habits. In the 
amount of seed produced and the ease with which it is 
saved and cleaned, timothy has no rival among the 
true grasses. his fact probably accounts, in large 
measure, for the popularity of this grass with American 
farmers. Not that it yields so many more pounds of 
seed per acre than other grasses, but, its seed being 
small, an acre of timothy will produce seed enough to 
sow a larger area than is the case with any other grass 
grown in this country. An example of poor seed 
habits, and the resulting uselessness of a grass, is seen 
in reed canary-grass (Phalaris arundinacea). It grows 
wild over nearly all the northern half of this country, 
