SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 773 



I believe that the grass crop affords today the surest and most prac- 

 tical means of accomplishing cheaper production. That is, I think if 

 we would give to the improvement of our forage crops and our pasture 

 lands the same attention we have given to the improvement of our 

 cultivated crops and our grain crops, that we would receive a larger 

 increase, larger returns for less expenditure than any other improvement 

 that we may have. 



It is sometimes said that when land becomes worth a hundred dollars 

 an acre or more, that it is worth too much to maintain in grass. I 

 believe that statement and that theory are entirely fallacious. 



You will find today in the rich agricultural land of Great Britain a 

 larger area of grass, relatively, than you will find in Ilinois or Iowa. 

 You will find lands worth three or four hundred dollars per acre more 

 largely devoted to the growing of grass crops than they are in this 

 country. And I believe, if we are to maintain our farms in the high« 

 est state of productive capacity, and conduct them with the highest pro- 

 fits, we shall be obliged to devote a large part of our farming lands to 

 grass production, and relatively less to corn production. 



I believe that if we were today to reduce the cultivated lands devoted 

 to the grain crops twenty-five per cent and apply better methods, and 

 devote that reduction of grain crops to grass production, that we might 

 maintain our present output of grain, and at the same time have this 

 increased grass land, that could be applied to the production of live 

 stock, with greater profit than any other part of the farm. And I think 

 it goes without saying we all recognize that we could reduce the acreage 

 of our cultivated grain crops one-fourth per cent without decreasing the 

 yield, if, at the same time we could apply the best methods of more 

 thorough cultivation and of rotation, and the improved methods of agri- 

 culture which are being introduced today. 



Now, in view of the fact that the grain crops save all advanced In 

 value, in view of the fact that everything a farmer buys to balance hia 

 corn crop is high priced, and will undoubtedly continue high in price, I 

 believe that we have, right on our farms and in the products of our farms, 

 the means of balancing the ration, with greater economy and with great- 

 er profit, and with greater advantage to the maintenance of the fertility 

 of the farm, than through the purchase of any of the by-products from 

 the factories or the mills. These products must continue to be high, and 

 while of course we do not expect to quit producing them, because there is 

 a certain output from our factories and our mills that must always be 

 consumed on the farm, and they ought to be consumed here rather than 

 go abroad, yet there is a limit to the price we can pay for them and 

 utilize them with profit. 



Instead of paying out a large amount of money for these products at 

 high prices, we might better produce on the farm the feeding stuffs con- 

 taining the nutrients and the elements of growth and muscle and bone 

 making that we need in our animals. The safest, the surest and the 

 best means of producing that will be through the grass crops rather 

 than in the grain crops. 



