INTRODUCTION 13 



meadow is not going backward in civilization or develop- 

 ment. The growth of our cities makes call for more 

 milk, cream, lambs, pigs, calves and colts. We can lay 

 down a fourth of our corn acres and with feeding and 

 good culture grow more on the remaining three acres 

 than we have been accustomed to grow on the four. By 

 the aid of the land laid down to pasture we can become 

 in a measure independent of distant sources of supply 

 for animals to feed. The pasture land will make our 

 lads better linked to the soil. A boy is -not easily 

 fastened to a plowed field ; his affections are not deeply 

 set on a corncrib or a grain bin. The pasture, with its 

 inhabitants, the frolicking lambs, the bright-eyed calves, 

 the sturdy colts and great, gentle mares these touch 

 his heart and make him glad to succeed his father on 

 the old home farm. 



Withal there is such deep ignorance of the art of 

 making, holding and feeding meadows and pastures in 

 America that I have thought it well worth while under- 

 taking these investigations and seeking to help what I 

 could. Before I began this task I addressed a letter 

 to each experiment station director in the United States 

 asking for help. It was amazing to see how many re- 

 plied in effect, "We regret that we have made no in- 

 vestigations along the line of work about which you in- 

 quire, and have no record of ever having fertilized any 

 pasture or permanent grassland." Beside these letters, 

 I did receive many most helpful ones not only from 

 home, but some even more inspiring from abroad. In 

 the Old World one finds pastures most prized, best fed, 

 best cared for; there already men have begun to learn 



