HURON TIMOTHY 
By Morean W. Evans, associate agronomist, Division of Forage Crops and 
Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry 
History of the Variety 
2 ea TIMOTHY is a variety developed in breeding experi- 
ments conducted cooperatively at North Ridgeville, Ohio, by 
the Division of Forage Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry, 
United States Department of Agriculture, and the Department of 
Agronomy of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station. 
The plant from which Huron timothy originated was selected along 
a roadside about 4% miles west of Wakeman, in Huron County, Ohio, 
July 6, 1911. It was assigned F.C.J.! no. 3937. During the next 
few years it was tested at North Ridgeville in comparison with a 
large number of other timothy selections, in row plots and in broad- 
cast plots. The earliest distribution of seed of this selection was 
made in February 1919. In 1920 the varietal name Huron was 
applied to the selection. Many other distributions of seed of this 
variety have been made since, both to agricultural experiment 
stations and to farmers who have grown it for hay or for seed. 
A Late Variety 
Huron timothy is a late variety. The records obtained from 
plants grown in row test plots show that it blooms about 6 days 
later than ordinary timothy and that the seeds mature approxi- 
mately 6 days later than those of ordinary timothy. The difference 
in the time of blooming of these two varieties is illustrated in figure 1. 
Records showing how much earlier or later the flowers bloom and 
seeds mature on plants of one variety of timothy than on the plants 
of another variety do not usually tell the complete story of the 
relative earliness or lateness of the two varieties. It may be observed, 
on any day during the early summer, in meadows of different vari- 
eties of timothy, that a larger proportion of the leaves are green on 
the plants of some varieties than on those of others. As the season 
advances and the seeds of the earlier varieties approach maturity 
the difference between the proportion of green leaves in the plots of 
early timothy and the proportion in the plots of late timothy becomes 
greater. 
In the summer of 1922 records were made daily, from June 25 to 
August 5, of the number of leaves with blades that were either entirely 
or partially green, from a small typical area in each of 2 broadcast 
plots of ordinary timothy, and also from a small typical area in each 
of 2 plots of Huron timothy. The number of green leaves per square 
yard was greater on all dates in the plots of Huron timothy. When 
1 Forage Crop Investigations. 
181737°—33 1 
