183 RURAL MWIIIGAN 



HAY 



The marshes and prairies provided native grasses 

 that have served as forage both for the pioneer and 

 for farmers of tlie present day. Even now one fre- 

 quently observes in regions peopled by Finns cocks 

 of marsh hay gathered with much persistency even 

 miles from home. With the removal of the forests, 

 the cut-over country also provided great stretches of 

 grass-land for pasture, if not for a native hay crop. 

 In the Lake Superior country, clover is now growing 

 in places in great profusion in a wild condition. In 

 the cultivated sections, clover and timothy hay have 

 for years been the standard, but more i^ecently alfalfa 

 has steadily progressed as a favorite source of hay 

 and is grown as far north as the Lake Superior 

 region. It cannot as yet be regarded as the dominant 

 hay crop of the State. Statistics regarding alfalfa 

 in Michigan are not available. In 1920, hay main- 

 tained its position as the State's most valuable crop, 

 its value being placed by the Bureau of Crop Esti- 

 mates at $38,004,000. This represents a yield of 

 3,149,000 tons, which was 150,000 tons less than the 

 sixteen-year average. The average yield was 1.3 

 tons to the acre.^ 



While definite information regarding the quantity 

 of hay of different types grown in the State is not 

 available, the United States Monthly Crop Report 

 for January, 1919, gives the percentages of the vari- 



>"Mich. Crop Rept.," Lansing, Jan., 1921, 7. 



