242 FARM GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 
out of blossom. It is believed by many that if a grass 
is cut for hay when it is shedding its pollen that the hay 
is inferior in quality, because of the presence of the 
pollen dust. How much truth there is in this notion 
is not known. Recent investigations indicate that the 
pollen of some of the grasses, when breathed into the 
nostrils, causes hay-fever, a disease in which the mucus 
membrane of the nasal passages is much inflamed. It 
is possible that pollen dust in hay may cause some 
trouble in the nasal passages of horses and cattle. 
After the pollen falls on the stigma, and sends its 
thread-like tube down through the substance of the 
style and the ovary to the ovule, the seed at once be- 
gins to develop. The time required for the develop- 
ment of the seed varies with different grasses from a 
few days to several weeks. Inthe common hay grasses 
it is about ten days or two weeks. At first the sub- 
stance of the seed is watery in appearance. Just be- 
fore it reaches its full size it becomes milky. At this 
time the seed is said to be ‘‘in the milk.’’ Ifthe hay 
is cut when the seed isin the milk, some of the seed 
usually matures sufficiently to grow. This is impor- 
tant in the case of weedy grasses, like Johnson grass 
and quack-grass. ‘These should never be left till the 
milk stage is reached. When the milk-like substance 
of the seed begins to harden, the seed is popularly said 
to be ‘‘in the dough.’’ Most seeds will grow readily 
if the whole plant is cut at this stage, though they will 
hardly mature properly if the seed is removed from the 
plant in thedough stage. Very few grasses make good 
hay if cut after the seed is fully mature. 
