SUNFLOWER INVESTIGATIONS* 
By Ray E. Neidig, Chemist, and Robert S. Snyder, Associate Chemist, Idaho Agri¬ 
cultural Experiment Station, University of Idaho 
INTRODUCTION 
The value of sunflowers for a silage crop in the Pacific Northwest has 
become quite well established. Their resistance to drought and early 
frosts, and the fact that they yield a large tonnage of green material per 
acre, justify a more complete knowledge of the proper spacing of plants 
in the row and the best stage of cutting the plant for silage purposes. 
With these facts in mind, an investigation was planned which would 
yield data on the proper method of planting and the proper time of 
harvesting. 
The composition of the sunflower plants was first studied when har¬ 
vested at various stages during growth, and when grown under two differ¬ 
ent spacings, namely, 4 to 8 inches, and 36 inches, apart in the row. The 
sunflower plants grown under the two systems of planting were com¬ 
pared for the percentages of leaves, stalks, stems, and flowers, and analyses 
were made of composite samples of each of these plant parts. Not only 
was the composition of the sunflowers determined in these two systems of 
planting and at various stages of maturity, but also the composition of 
the silage made from the sunflowers cut at each of these stages of maturity 
and from each of the two different spacings of plants in the row. 
PREVIOUS WORK 
Shaw and Wright,^ of the United States Department of Agriculture, 
published data on the composition of sunflowers grown at the Dairy 
Division Experiment Farm at Beltsville, Md. Their investigation in¬ 
cluded the composition of sunflowers cut at seven different stages of 
maturity. 
Blish,^ of the Montana Experiment Station, has recently published 
data on the effect on the composition and quality of silage of cutting sun¬ 
flowers at different stages of growth. All results showed that silage of 
good quality resulted from sunflowers cut at the different stages of 
maturity selected by him. The problems, then, that present themselves 
in Idaho are: First, what is the most favorable stage of maturity for 
harvesting the sunflowers for silage purposes, and, second, what is the 
proper distance apart of planting in order tfiat the maximum feeding value 
may be secured ? 
EXPERIMENTAL WORK 
The sunflowers used in this investigation were grown at the Idaho State 
Experiment Station at Moscow, Idaho, in the summer of 1920, by officials 
of the agronomy department, who kindly allowed us to sample the 
1 Accepted for publication Oct. i6, 1922. 
2 Shaw, R. H., and Wright, P. A. a comparative study of the composition of the sunflower 
AND corn plants AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF GROWTH. In Jour. Agf. Research, V. 20 , p. 787 - 793 - 1921- 
literature cited, p. 792 - 793 - . . 
* Blish, M. J. factors influencing quality and composition of sunflower silage. Mont. Agr. 
Exp. Sta. Bui. 141 , 22 p. 1921 . literature cited, p. 22 . 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
aem 
Vol. XXIV. No. ® 
June 2, 1923 
Key No. Idaho-6 
(769) 
