No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 271 



years conditions have gradually begun to change. The western 

 farmer could pasture his cattle upon public lands at comparatively 

 little expense, and during all that time you farmers of the east 

 have suttered from lack of sufficient number of animals, because of 

 economic conditions. Now, if I had the time, I could easily show you 

 that this condition of affairs is passing away. The point I wish to 

 make is that the western country has not been a cattle country 

 because it is naurally adapted to the raising of live stock, but it 

 has been a cattle country because it has been a pioneer country. 

 The country west of the Mississippi, taking it in a large way, is not 

 adapted to the raising of grass as is Pennsylvania, New York and 

 some of the other Eastern states. These states are adapted to the 

 raising of trees and grass, and the reason that the western country 

 is a live stock country is simply because it is a new country. They 

 can raise grain, but when it comes to the raising of grass and fruit 

 trees, they can't do it. Take the State of New York. It raises 

 one-seventh of the hay raised in the United States today. New York 

 raises eleven and three-quarter tons of hay for each animal; Illinois 

 raises three-quarters of a ton. You can take the State of New 

 York, and divide it into three parts — one-third in pasture, one-third 

 in hay and the other third in all other crops. Now, what does this 

 mean? It means that when this country settles down to its normal 

 condition, the eastern country will raise the cattle. It does not 

 mean that the country will always be a dairy country. There are to- 

 day thirty thousand hand separators in the State of Nebraska; the 

 man in Nebraska has no grass, but he has corn, and he can feed his 

 corn, and ship his butter to Philadelphia and New York, as they 

 are doing in Minnesota and Nebraska today, while here you can raise 

 sheep and cattle which do not require so much concentrate. 



Now, this cattle raising in the East is very important on two 

 sides. It is important, first, because this is a grass country, and, 

 second, it is important because manure fertilizing means something 

 to the eastern farmer, and perhaps in a different way than you think. 

 I have taken land in New York that will raise a ton or a ton and a 

 half of hay, and I have given it stable manure and commercial fer- 

 tilizer and raised from three to four tons on it. I have tried it- I 

 have also experimented in Illinois, where I know the land, as I said 

 once before, as well as I know my own children, and I will defy any 

 average land in Illinois, in any average season, to raise four tons of 

 hay to the acre. What is the reason? It is due to climatic condi 

 tions. Where we can raise, with proper fertilizing, five or six tons 

 here, we can raise two or three tons there, and to make our land 

 fertile we must raise live stock. Put the fertility on the land, and 

 raise cattle, and you will raise greater crops than can the Illinois 

 farmer. Illinois is my native state, gentlemen, and I would not say 

 a word against it for the world. 



There is something about dairying that I want to call your atten- 

 tion to. Possibly Professor Van Norman has already called your at- 

 tention to it. The only market for the Minnesota farmer is Phila- 

 delphia or New York,' and in order to find a market he must sell 

 through commission merchants, and must furnish a high-grade 

 article. The people in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin understand 

 this so well that they have a man go round and teach the people 

 how to make butter, so that they may be able to sell to New York 



