184 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



GRASSES AND OTHER EORAGE CROPS. 



BY C. S. PHELPS, STORRS (CONN.) AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



The growth of the dairy industry throughout the central 

 west, and the consequent competition which the east must en- 

 counter, make it essential that the greatest economy be used 

 by our dairy farmers if any profits are to accrue from the 

 business. Our hope of success in dairying lies along the 

 lines of better stock, a better system of feeding and su- 

 perior products. It is important that we should grow as 

 much of the food eaten by our stock as possible, and that 

 we should direct our energies to growing crops of the high- 

 est quality for the production of dairy products. The 

 question of the kinds of forage crops that are best suited 

 to New England has been fairly well answered by the tests 

 of the past one hundred years. The degree of improve- 

 ment to which these crops are susceptible has not been so 

 clearly shown. We have reason to believe that there is still 

 opportunity for improving the condition of dairying by 

 making the question of the quality of the forage of prime 

 importance in determining what we shall grow and use. 



The value of the hay crop cannot be better shown than 

 by quoting a few statistics from the last United States cen- 

 sus reports. The census of 1890 shows the hay crop of 

 Massachusetts to have amounted to 793,196 tons. Giving 

 this a value of $10 per ton, we have a total value for the 

 crop of nearly $8,000,000. This represents far greater 

 value than any other of our farm crops. The opportunities 

 for improvement in the hay crop are likewise shown in the 

 census returns. The average yield per acre of hay in 

 Massachusetts, according to the census of 1890, is a trifle 

 over 1^ tons per acre. When we consider that 3 tons per 

 acre is not an uncommon yield under improved methods of 



