THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — -PART XI. 657 



After the corn is up, do not depend too largely on the weeder, though 

 it is a good machine. In my experience two plows and once over with the 

 weeder does well. The principal object of the corn raisers of today is to 

 get as many bushels of corn to the acre as possible. The sixty and eighty 

 dollar land must do more work. After the grain is in the ground use the 

 weeder once, also level cultivation later in the season. In the cultivation 

 of corn the disc is used by many. 



GRASSES FOR CALHOUN COUNTY. 



Thos. Parsons, before the Calhoun County Farmers' Institute. 



It has been said that, "He that produces two blades of grass where 

 only one has been grown is a public benefactor." The object of these dis- 

 cussions is to try to bring about the greater result. Your program com- 

 mittee has placed me upon this subject. I accept with reluctance, as I 

 believe I have been more successful in some other lines of production, than 

 in the formation of pastures and meadow lands. It is not altogether what 

 we know or what we may tell you that will bring about the desired result, 

 as every tiller of the soil must by observation and study, coupled with the 

 practical application of his knowledge, bring about the improvement de- 

 sired. We do not expect to instruct you as perhaps every one present has 

 given this subject more thought and observation than myself. My remarks 

 may not be practical and be directly in opposition to your experience in 

 the matter, yet if I can drop one word which will cause you to do more 

 thinking and investigating on this subject what I may say will not be In 

 vain. 



I have heard it said that Calhoun county is not adapted to grass and 

 pasture. It was also said a few years ago that "this county never had and 

 never would produce a paying crop of corn," and yet it is now recognized 

 as one of the first not only of Iowa but of the world in the production of 

 this cereal. It seems that a soil and climate that produces every other 

 product of its latitude in such abundance must be adapted to the growth 

 of grass and pasture, and perhaps when the same attention is bestowed 

 upon them their production will be beyond expectations. The reason of 

 the comparative neglect of the tame grasses until recently is because na- 

 ture has furnished a substitute in the wild grasses without labor or care 

 on the part of man. These wild grasses are now a thing of the past, and 

 farmers must hereafter depend upon their own resources for its supply. 

 With us now, it is one of the questions of the day, How to make our pas- 

 tures and meadows profitable upon high priced land? This has been done 

 in less favored localities than this county and we believe it will be done 

 here also. 



All grasses should be sown with two objects in view, excepting on land 

 which is unfit for general farming, and they are: the building up of the 

 soil, and to make the crop a paying one, while it occupies the land. 



