No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 387 



rocky to be farmed with profit. What shall be done with it? At 

 the Experiment Station, we realize the necessity of doing something 

 with just this kind of land, but we lack the means and the men to 

 undertake the investigations necessary to enable us to advise what 

 should be done. We need a special appropriation for such investi- 

 gation. A large part of this land, if we just know how to do it, 

 economically could be turned into pasture. Much of it is too steep 

 and rocky to grow potatoes or anything of that kind, but if it could 

 be turned into pasture on which to graze cattle it would become pro- 

 ductive and profitable. 



The amount of grass and hay produced in the United States ex- 

 ceeds any other crop. I do not except even corn. And the money 

 value exceeds that of any other crop. I believe we make more profit 

 per man on livestock than on anything else in agriculture, and live- 

 stock is dependent upon grass. You all know the old Flemish pro- 

 verb: "No grass, no cattle; no cattle, no manure; no manure, no pro- 

 fit." 



Wherever agriculture is most highly developed, livestock is most 

 firmly established. Look at England, for instance, and how we go 

 over there to find blooded stock, dairy and beef cattle, horses and 

 sheep of the highest type, and even swine. Even Germany has much 

 livestock, and so we find in all the countries where agriculture is 

 most highly developed, there livestock is firmly established. So I 

 believe there is opportunity for us in the northeastern part of 

 United States, especially on those lands that are not bringing in any 

 returns. In this country, labor is high priced and land is cheap, and 

 it seems to me that where these conditions exist, we ought to be 

 able to grow pasture to advantage. As I said a moment ago, it is 

 not only a question of returns per acre, but a question of returns for 

 the man working on that acre. Land in pasture requires little labor. 

 All that is required for pasture is a soil that will grow grasses 

 and clovers. In return, these will enrich the soil. In the South, 

 where they grow corn and cotton year after year; in many places 

 you will find the red clay subsoil sticking out on the top of the soil, 

 because they grow corn and cotton from year to year without grow- 

 ing grass. In many x)laces in Pennsylvania, you will find the same 

 thing. No soil can be cultivated year after year without growing 

 grass, except by wearing out the soil. It is necessary to grow grass 

 in order to keep your soil in condition to cultivate it profitably. 



We have very little data on the return per acre of pasture or the 

 relative food value of pasture as compared with the same when cut 

 for hay. There are a few experiments along this line which would 

 seem to indicate that there is a larger yield when grass is allowed 

 to mature, but in other cases we find equally good ro^nlts when used 

 as pasture. In allowing the animals to graze, they get. first, more 

 protein; second, grass is more digestible than hay, third, it is more 

 palatable; and fourth, the animal gets it through its own labor, 

 rather than through the labor of man. We find, therefore, in many 

 cases, that it is more profitable to have grazing lands, than it is to 

 have hay fields. Another thing we might mention right here is that 

 when the animal keeps the grass cut for grazing, it also puts the 

 manure right back on the soil, thus reducing the labor to a minimum. 

 Many farmers could easily put forty or fifty acres in pasture, and 

 cultivate the balance of their farm with the some profit and less 



