62 BULLETIN 1260, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
little, if any. basis for a decision as to the best date of seeding. Late 
rains in September benefited the three latest seedings of Sumac. 
Feterita and Freed headed and made some seed on all dates: but birds 
took most of it, especially that of Freed, in the milk stage. Sumac 
made no heads. 
The comparatively low yields obtained throughout the five years of 
the experiments were due partly to the fact that, except in 1913, 
when the plats were on fallow, they followed Sudan grass or sorghum 
and therefore had no reserve supply of moisture to supplement a rather 
irregular seasonal precipitation. 
In 1914 the tests were quadruplicated in S-rod rows. The April 
15 and May 1 seedings did not come up till May 21, but the other 
seedings emerged in one to two weeks from the date of sowing. Stands 
were rather thin and quite irregular except with Sumac, which aver- 
aged from 4 to 8 inches row space per plant on the different dates and 
was possibly a little too thick for the season. 
In 1915, 1916, and 1917 the experiments were conducted on 
duplicate 4-row plats of a twenty-fifth of an acre each. In 1915 the 
experiments were extended to eight dates, April 1 to July 15. This 
in general was a year of abundant moisture, the season opening in 
April with 5.05 inches of precipitation distributed over 15 days. The 
early seedings, as usual, germinated very poorly and slowly. The 
April 2 seedings were up on May 1. and the later seedings in one to 
two weeks, except those of July 1, which came up July 21 along with 
the July 15 seeding. There was no frost until November 12, so that 
the late dates of seedings were able to make good use of the well- 
distributed rainfall of nearly 15 inches during July. August, and 
September. The July 15 seeding of feterita reached the hard-dough 
stage and yielded 13.6 bushels per acre. Freed and Red Amber in 
the July 1 seeding matured well, but Sumac seedings made later than 
June 1 did not mature. The extremely high tonnage of Sumac from 
the later seedings is in part due to yields being reported on a field-cured 
basis, so that the later the harvesting the less fully the fodder was 
cured. 
The season of 1916 was especially adverse in the matter of getting 
stands. The rainfall was not only low but was distributed in many 
small ineffective showers. The only really effective rains up to 
August 20 consisted of 0.97 inch on April 14, 0.88 inch on May 17, 
and 1.38 inches on June 4. Several seedings were much delayed in 
coming up, and except in the Sumac plats stands were quite irregular. 
One replication was injured considerably by volunteer sorghum, 
especially in the earlier seedings. Feterita headed fairly well through- 
out the test, but birds took most of the seed from the earlier plats. 
Hail damage was a factor of some importance on seedings made on 
June 1 or later. Considering quality and maturity as well as yield. 
Red Amber and Clubhead probably did best on the June 15 seeding. 
Sumac made the largest yields of forage on the May 15 and June 1 
seedings. but. produced no heads from the sowing on any date except 
at the ends of the rows. 
In 1917 less trouble was experienced in getting stands than in the 
preceding years. The stands were fairly uniform on all dates, though 
a snow on May 6 killed some of the April 15 seedings as they were 
emerging. A protracted midsummer drought held all growth 
stationary for several weeks until broken by 6 inches of rain in 
