MARKET FOR STONE-WALL. 225 



anything on this subject, and make a fool of myself again, and 

 he said I had ! You know I have become a sort of laughing- 

 stock to the people of Barre already. But now, in sober 

 earnest, gentlemen, — for there is no joking about this question 

 of grass, — our friend here (Prof. Stockbridge), who is a per- 

 fect Nebuchadnezzar on grass, has told you exactly what you 

 onght to do and what you must do. I came here to tell you 

 how good grass was. I came here to tell you, and I tried to 

 on Tuesday, that the Lord made the cow to eat grass, or else 

 he made the grass for the cow to eat, — which I cannot tell, but 

 the Professor can, — and that you could not substitute anything 

 in its place for the cow. You cannot afford to, gentlemen. 

 When you grow this fodder-corn to take the place of grass, 

 you are doing an up-hill business, unless you grow it for 

 winter-feed. I have learned one thing since I came to Barre 

 in regard to curing this sowed-corn that I shall never forget ; 

 and that is, that you want to cut it up in season for winter- 

 food, and lay it up on a stone-wall ! This is the Barre system 

 of curing corn ! And you possess advantages in that respect 

 that everybody does not have. I should not wonder if, in the 

 far-distant future, it made a ready market for your surplus 

 stone- wall. 



Now, gentlemen, "all flesh is grass," you know, and we 

 trace grass right through the machine that manufactures it into 

 milk, into butter and into cheese ; and it is to the people of 

 Barre, in my opinion, the most important question that has 

 come before this meeting. It is that upon which the dairy- 

 interest is founded ; it is that upon which the very prosperity 

 of the United States rests. 



A Voice. A little louder. 



Mr. Lewis. I was telling them that grass was king, and 

 they are laughing at it so much that I shall not say much 

 more. (Cries of, " Go on ! ") I think I will leave you, by 

 simply expressing the hope that you may grow grass enough 

 to feast all your stock, and have a surplus that the Professor 

 may feast his eyes on. 



Mr. Root. Please give us your experience in re-seeding 

 land, — what grasses you sow, and in what quantities. 



Mr. Lewis. I could hardly give you the kinds nor the 

 quantities, for I cannot think of either. I sow every kind for 



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