WHERE PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION MEET 297 



an adequate demand for the products of the farm, 

 one should not underestimate the influence upon 

 our agriculture of those to whose breadth of vision, 

 to whose master minds, to whose powerful person- 

 alities, to whose untiring industry and daring enter- 

 prise, we are so largely indebted for the broad 

 outlets that have made the central west the seat 

 of the most opulent agriculture the world has ever 

 known. 



At the very base of the pyramid of our prosper- 

 ity is blue grass. No sooner had the plowshares 

 of the pioneers pierced the bosom of our western 

 prairies, turning under the wild grasses and the 

 flowers of a virgin world, than this sturdy invader 

 and its kindred crept slowly but surely from beyond 

 the Ohio into every nook and corner of the newly- 

 settled west, supplying the first green herbage of 

 the spring, resting throughout the torrid summer 

 months, only to rise into luxuriant profusion again 

 with the autumn rains, supplying needed provender 

 up to the very latest locking of the land in the 

 grip of the northern winter. Permanent, persistent, 

 perennial, the enduring basis of our pastoral wealth 

 still lies securely hidden in its roots. 



And with the blue grass we have that marvel 

 of all marvels, the Indian corn! Outside the limits 



