LIFE HISTORY OF TIMOTHY 51 
nodes and leaves continues to increase until checked by drought, cold 
weather, or in some other way. At the tip of the sterile shoot during 
late fall the leaves grow from nodes which are close together in much 
the same way as on the proaxis. In the axils of these apical leaves 
which are not separated by elongated internodes there are often buds 
which expand to form innovations. If one of these shoots is bent 
over and the tip partially covered with soil, the innovations readily 
take root and will develop into normal plants. 
A timothy shoot which bears a head may develop from a bud on a 
sterile shoot, or a shoot of the latter type may originate from a 
fertile shoot. 
In new meadows on fertile soil, and especially if each plant has 
ample space for development, most of the shoots may produce 
heads. As the meadow becomes older, or in meadows located where 
the soil is not very productive or where the stand of plants is 
relatively dense, the proportion of fertile shoots is less and of sterile 
shoots greater than in meadows where conditions are favorable for 
a large and vigorous growth. The number and proportion of both 
types of shoots may also be affected by hereditary tendencies ; plants 
of some varieties produce a larger proportion of short, leafy shoots 
than others. 
Timothy roots are slender and fibrous, many of them having 
numerous fine branches. Most of them grow within a few inches 
of the surface of the soil. On an innovation the roots develop soon 
after it expands from a bud, and it soon becomes independent of the 
primary shoot. The roots are not perennial. The life of all of the 
roots on a shoot, like that of the shoot itself, does not extend beyond 
the season following the one in which their growth began, and it 
may even be limited to a single season. 
The term " haplocorm " has been applied to the enlargement at the 
base of a timothy shoot. A haplocorm is usually composed of one 
or two elongated internodes. A haplocorm develops on practically 
all timothy shoots which become elongated at the normal time during 
the late spring, whether the plant is growing on a moist, fertile soil 
or whether conditions are less favorable for a large and vigorous 
growth. On those late shoots which become elongated during the 
fall months the haplocorm is frequently either not well developed 
or absent altogether. 
Buds at nodes immediately below or above the haplocorm very 
commonly develop into innovations. Though the evidence is not 
conclusive, it seems not unlikely that nutrients stored in the haplo- 
corm may have some effect on the growth of new shoots which de- 
velop at adjoining nodes. On the other hand, vegetative 
reproduction also very frequently occurs through buds in the axils 
of leaves of shoots before the haplocorms have developed on them. 
Therefore, although the haplocorm under some conditions may have 
some relation to the growth of young shoots, it is not essential to 
the vegetative reproduction of timothy. 
A timothy leaf may develop at any time during the growing sea- 
son, remain green for several weeks, and then dry up as new leaves 
appear. During the spring, summer, and early fall a new leaf 
appears on each shoot at intervals of about 8 to 1-t days, and a period 
of about 50 to 60 days elapses from the time when the blade first 
