No. ?. t>EtAllTMENT 01^ AGRICULTURE. 517 



livestock business. He had to produce the proper conditions. The 

 first settlers found nearly all the surface of Michigan covered with 

 heavy timber. As in all forest regions, the forage of the State was 

 scant in quantity and lacking in nutrition for livestock. 



The land had to be cleared before forage and fodder crops could be 

 produced. As in all timbered sections, the settler had no desire to 

 own more cattle than were required to supply the immediate needs 

 of his family; he was loath to feed livestock the cereals which were 

 produced on lands requiring so much labor in the clearing and cul- 

 tivation. During the early history of the state the energies of 

 the farmer were diverted to other lines of work than livestock produc- 

 tion. In general, we find in the history of any new country, that far 

 more attention is given to crop production, for a long interval, than 

 to animal production. This has been particularly true of the Eastern 

 and Central states, while the reverse has been true of the Far West. 

 The rich virgin soil responds freely at first, yielding prolific crops of 

 a variety of cereals possessed of high commercial value. Finally, how- 

 ever, as the land becomes less and less productive, the farmer begins 

 to turn his attention to livestock production. Michigan reached its 

 zenith in the production of wheat which was the cash ciop (in 1884- 

 1885 j in the southern four tiers of counties and the yields of that 

 cereal began to lessen the state over. A small minority of the settlers 

 had brought with them cattle, and from the first had kept and bred 

 improved livestock. With wheat, the money crop, lessening in yield, 

 the opening of the newer Western lands decreased crop values. On 

 the other hand, smuts, ruts, blights, and insect pests of various kinds 

 began to appear, materially aftecting both the quantity and quality 

 of the crops produced. These conditions demanded the keeping of 

 more livestock on the farms in order to enrich and utilize to better 

 advantages those crops low in value in the raw state, they had to be 

 manufactured into meat, milk and wool and thus many were led into 

 some line of animal production. 



I believe, at this period, (1884-1885) a majority of the farmers of 

 Michigan began growing more livestock. There were a few places in 

 the state where dairying had been carried on from the earliest settle- 

 ment, (notably in Lenawee County). The southern portion of the 

 state had in many instances good flocks of the merino and grade me- 

 rino sheep and small herds of good cattle. In the first attempts to 

 improve the cattle nearly all were of the beef type. This continued 

 until the low price of beef compelled other than beef sires to be 

 used. The farmers then turned their attention to dairying and be- 

 gan to improve their cattle by the use of pure-bred sires on the 

 grade beef cows, (principally grade shorthorns). This system con- 

 tinued until the Spanish-American War, when beef rose in price until 

 there was a good profit in growing it. Many that had been using 

 dairy sires, changed to beef sires and bred the progeny of the dairy 

 sire to the beef sire. The indiscriminate admixture of the blood of 

 the various breeds has been one of the most direct causes of the pro- 

 duction of inferior stocks. This has not been restricted to the 

 breeds within the beef and dairy classes, but includes admixture of 

 the blood of the two classes. 



Another potent force tending toward the production of inferior 

 cattle in Michigan is found in the too prevalent use of the grade and 



