The Grass Crop. 617 



It must be borne in mind that men upon " run-down farms " 

 have usually no means to purchase fertilizers of any kind, 

 and little faith in their value. Neither can they see their 

 way clear to augment the manure heap by the use of pur- 

 chased food. The restoration of the soil must be from its 

 own resources. And they afford us the most substantial and 

 reliable basis upon which to build. Nature never cheats us. 

 The cheapest, most certain and satisfactory way for far- 

 mers in the situation of those described to bring up their 

 farms, is to make a specialty of the grass crop, or, at least, 

 to give special attention to its culture. In some cases it 

 may be best to discontinue for a time the raising of grain. 

 In others the area in grain may be reduced. It is as certain 

 as anything can be, that a system of grain raising which 

 requires twelve or fifteen years to go the rounds ot the mow- 

 ings, keeping half of them waiting half a dozen years after 

 they are " run out " for manuring and re-seeding, will 

 never increase the crops of a farm, but will reduce them 

 year by year. 



Now we will suppose that a farmer has sixty acres of 

 mowing. His average hay crop only yields manure enough 

 to fit four acres a year for planting, these four acres to be 

 sown with, small grain and seeded to grass the next season. 

 It requires fifteen years for this rotation to take in all of his 

 sixty acres, and thirty acres of it cut light grass every year. 

 In unfavorable seasons the area of light grass is larger still. 

 This farmer is sure to complain of the " hard times." There 

 is one grand principle of which he and all farmers may take 

 advantage. It is this : Grass is a spontaneous product of 

 the soil ; it requires little manure, and, if cut before the 



