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to the buffalo grass and the grama. There are ninety native lujjins, 

 thirty prairie clovers, forty-five vetches, forty relatives of the beggar 

 weed of Florida, and brome grasses, meadow grasses, pasture grasses, 

 and hay grasses almost numberless, suitable to every kind of soil and 

 climate and rock formation which we possess. Of all this wealth 

 of species not a dozen have been brought into cultivation. 



The grasses and clovers and native forage plants of all descri{)tions 

 should be thoroughly tried on the different soils and in the dillercnt 

 sections of the United States. We want to know what plant will pro- 

 vide the greatest amount of the most nutritious forage in the shortest 

 season at the least expense to the farmer. We want to know what 

 forage plants remove the greatest amounts of mineral fertilizers frf)m the 

 soil and what improve the fields that they are i)lanted upon. In 

 short, we want the best, and we believe the best can be grown on 

 American soil from native species. 



There are no finer natural meadows and pastures anywhere in the 

 world than in the Appalachian Mountains, and on the Western prai- 

 ries from the Saskatchewan to the Gulf, and in the mountain valleys of 

 the Western and Pacific States. Take, for an example, the State of Col- 

 orado as an illustration of the value of forage crops. The value of her 

 herds and the products of the pastures and meadows which sustain 

 them is equal to the output of her silver mines. Ten years ago, in 

 1885, there Avere nine thousand tons of alfalfa seed alone sown in Colo- 

 rado, and the acreage and the value of the product has increased every 

 year since. It is the same in the Western States and in the Southern 

 States and throughout the length and breadth of our land. Every year 

 more and more attention is being given to the raising of improved hay 

 and forage plants. The raising of cattle is one of the most profitable in- 

 dustries in which the farmer and the man of small as well as large means 

 can engage. There are larger returns for a farmer's labor if he feeds his 

 crops on the farm and sells beef, pork, and mutton, than if he sells his 

 hay and grain to the larger cattle feeders. Then, too, if all of the hay 

 and all of the grain is fed on the farm, the soil is being constantly en- 

 riched by the return of the manurial portions of his crops to it. The 

 cattle industry of the United States, instead of being on the wane, is be- 

 coming greater every year. The question of cultivating hay and 

 pasture grasses to feed our growing herds and flocks is one of vital im- 

 portance. 



There are natural meadows and pastures in many of the newer por- 

 tions of the country as good as the best grown in the older-settled 

 Eastern States. The native grass and clover species which go to make 

 up these meadows should be tested under the conditions of richer and 

 better prepared soils. 



Congress at its last session established a Division of Agrostology for 

 the investigation of the native and foreign fodder plants. Two grass 

 gardens have been started in connection with the work of the new divi- 

 sion. The one on the grounds of the Department in Washington 

 already contains four hundred sjjccies, native and foreign. This 

 occui)ies the strip of ground between the Seed Building and the 

 Agricultural Museum. It is about oOO by 60 feet. On account of the 

 limited space in this garden, each variety can be represented by only a 

 small number of plants. Special attention will be given to the culti- 

 vation of wild species which are known to bo of some value, and which 

 might be improved if planted on better tilled and richer soil. There 



