sive methods ae Er ie the farmers of Groat Britain a 
Ireland haye found it profitable to devote 55.8 per cent of: thei 
tillable land to permanent pasture, and there is little doubt but — 
that in our own State and country many acres now under the plow _ 
meadow and pasture, with the increase in flocks and herds which 
such change will involve, and the retention of and increase in 
fertility of our lands which must naturally follow such a a 
of agriculture. +1 
For the purpose of calling general attention to this chaleen an 
extended collection of the various grasses, under more or less ‘ 
general cultivation, was prepared and exhibited at the State fair 
and several other fairs in the State, and at each place of exhibi- 
tion attracted great attention. For the purpose of information — 
concerning this exhibit, the following circular was prepared, and — 
widely distributed at these fairs: 
Grass Work AND EXHIBIT. 
is, overlooked by most piney The value of our hay crop in New| 
York State was, in 1888, more than three-fourths of a million dollars 
greater than that of all the corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat 
and tobacco crops combined. Counting all these [ including hay | ate) 
100 per cent, the hay crop comprised 53.2 per cent and all the oth ’ 
only 46.8 per cent. it 
But more striking even than this is the rate at which the hay crop P 
has been falling off while the most important of the other crops have — 
nearly or quite held their own. Ae 
Dividing the time from 1862 to 1888 into three nine-year periods, 
and using the first as a base, or calling each crop for that period of 
nine years 100 per cent, gives the following, according to statistics a 
from the United States oo of Agriculture : i, 
Corn. |Wheat.| Rye. | Barley! Oats. Bock: oe Hay. ye aD 
First nine years...| 100.0} 100.0 | 100.0] 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0] 100.0 | 100.0 
Second nine years.| 109.0 99.8 91.6 99.2 108.8 99.2 79.2 95.6 
Third nine years..| 99.0 99.3 78.6 | 101 0 95.1 67.8 15.3 80.5 
\ 
