INTRODUCTION 



Many residents o£ the state have expressed surprise when told 

 that hay and forage are the most important of New York State's 

 crops, having a total value according to the census of 1910 of 

 $77,360,645 ; worth nearly twice as much as the cereals — which 

 really belong to the grass family — and three times as much as all 

 fruits. 



Not only is hay most important from the standpoint of money 

 values, but because it is fundamental to real agricultural pros- 

 perity. The prophet's words were true in a broader sense than 

 he applied them when he said, "All flesh is grass." Furthermore, 

 it is a crop that has a state-wide adaptation, hay land constituting 

 about one-third of the improved acreage of the state. In spite of 

 all this, it is doubtful whether any crop receives so little atten- 

 tion. The farmer who is giving the care to his grass lands that 

 he does to his cultivated crops is the exception. The pastures, 

 most times, arc in a state of nature, not of grace, having never 

 been regenerated. They remind the passer-by of Bryant's lines: 



" The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, 

 Of wailinu' winds and naked woods, and meadows brown and 



sear 





The saddest note of this is that much of the unfavorable condi- 

 tion of the meadows might have been prevented. 



The necessity, in most places, of creating favorable conditions 

 for alfalfa is doing much to make plain the fact that like efforts 

 will produce correspondingly good results with all kinds of hay. 

 The marked returns resulting from such attention, as set forth in 

 this bulletin, is one reason for its publication. 



Attention is called to the title, "Grasses and Legumes." Fre- 

 quently these are classed under the general head of grass or hay, 

 yet they belong to two separate families. Legumes are plants 



[537] 



