GBASSES. 101 



370 lb., calves 50 lb., sheep 281b., lambs 18 lb. That 

 the improvement in grass culture has in a large mea- 

 sure made possible the wonderful improvement in 

 stock since that time cannot be doubted. 



Production. — Grass is not only the greatest of 

 all our crops, but the greatest source of wealth of 

 any single crop. There were 35 million acres of hay 

 harvested annually during the past decade against 37 

 million acres of wheat. The average value of an acre of 

 wheat was 19.97, while the value of an acre of hay 

 was $11.09, so that the total value of the hay crop 

 was 389 million dollars, against 372 million dollars 

 for wheat. 



Eleven per cent of the total farm area, or about 60 

 million acres, was in permanent pastures an4 meadows. 

 This is exclusive of pastures and meadows in rotation, 

 of woodland pastures or ranches beyond the western 

 border of the pioneer homesteader. 



In 1890 there were 53 million cattle and 44 million 

 sheep. If we do not consider the horses, mules and 

 swine and allow one acre of pasture for each animal 

 of the ox-kind of whatever age, and one acre for five 

 sheep of any age, we would have 62 million acres of 

 pasturage. 



It is probably entirely within bounds to say that 

 there are as many acres of grass land for pasturage 

 and hay, exclusive of ranches, as there are of corn and 

 oats raised annually. 



A large j)roportion of the land devoted to pasturage 

 is, for one reason or another, not well adapted to till- 

 age crops. The land is either too uneven or too 

 stony to be easily tilled, or is broken by streams, or 

 more or less covered with trees. 



