92 THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



up like little men and took the medicine. I want to see the farmers 

 of this country stand together. The trouble with us is we get indif- 

 ferent, we get sleepy; it is not our business to make the laws and we 

 won't bother with it; but these are things we must bother with in order 

 to protect our own interests. I say to-day, as I said two years ago, I 

 never saw any Dairymen's Association in any State as good as the 

 association in Wisconsin, except the Dairymen's Association of the 

 State of Vermont, and I want to congratulate you upon this meeting; 

 I think you have reason to feel proud of it. 



President Aitken. — If there are no questions to be asked we will 

 proceed to the next topic for consideration, "How to Raise Forage 

 Crops When Pastures Are Dry," by Mr. C. F. Smith of Morrisville. 



How to Raise Forage Crops When Pastures Are Dry. 



Mr. Smith: Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen. — I did not realize 

 until a few minutes ago, looking over this program, what the situation 

 was, until I saw I was put in the middle here between the gentleman who 

 has preceded me from Wisconsin and the one who is to follow me, 

 whom we listened to this morning, Governor Hoard of Wisconsin. 

 About all I can ascribe it to is that I am as large as they are in 

 stature, my head is as large on the outside, but, unfortunately, it is not 

 much like theirs on the inside. 



The subject that is given me, the raising of forage crops when our 

 pastures are dry, would naturally infer the raising of forage crops to 

 feed the latter part of the season, but we of Vermont realize that some- 

 times we have a drouth in the early part of the season, such as we did 

 last spring. Two years ago we had a very wet season early in the spring. 



Quite a portion of my farm is a heavy clay marl; for about eight 

 weeks in the spring after we got most of our corn in it was so soft and 

 miry that the horses would go in several inches, and the smartweed 

 and such like weeds grew faster than the corn did. This last spring 

 we had an experience like that of two young clergymen, one of whom 

 while visiting the other had promised to preach for his friend. On the 

 way to the church they were caught in a heavy shower and got wring- 

 ing wet. The visiting clergyman said: "I am so wet; I wish I was 

 dry," to which his friend answered: "Never mind; you will soon be in 

 the pulpit, and then you will be dry enough." That was the condition 

 we got here last spring. It was too early to have raised any forage crop 

 to feed our dairy cows; what was it we ought to have had? Every 

 dairyman in Vermont ought to have a summer silo, where we could 

 ensilage corn and other crops and have them for an emergency. We 



