THE GRASS CROP. 201 



all crops. This is true, taking the world at large, and is par- 

 ticularly true in New England, as, by the character of our 

 climate, we are compelled to stall-feed our cattle nearly half the 

 year. By the official returns of the products of Massachusetts 

 for 1865, we learn that the value of the hay crop for that year 

 was $13,195,274 ; while corn, including broom-corn, was less 

 than three millions, potatoes about two and a half millions, oats 

 a little over half a million, and rye about a third of a million. 

 If we add to the hay the value of the grass consumed in the 

 pastures, it will be found that the grass grown in Massachusetts 

 exceeds in value all the other agricultural products combined. 

 We thus see that grass is one of the most important subjects 

 that can occupy the attention of farmers. The annual value of 

 the grass crop in our whole country, including pasturage and 

 hay, cannot be less than $500,000,000. According to our last 

 State census, we have in Massachusetts 90,282 horses, about 

 60,000 oxen and steers and 174,386 cows and heifers ; and all 

 these animals, which minister to our necessities and comforts, are 

 mainly sustained by the grasses. So thoroughly convinced are 

 our most sagacious farmers of the importance of this crop, that 

 with most it occupies the chief position in the rotation ; and in- 

 deed all other crops are cultivated with reference to an increase 

 of this leading staple. 



Grass is an indigenous product of our soil. Other useful 

 crops must be sown, but grass springs up spontaneously. As 

 soon as the forests are cleared and the sunlight is let in upon 

 the ground, grass makes its appearance, clothing nature with a 

 verdure most pleasing to the eye, and at the same time furnish- 

 ing the most nutritious forage for the cattle that roam over our 

 thousand hills. A struggle does indeed immediately commence 

 between the useful grasses and the worthless thorns and bram- 

 bles, much like the struggle between good and evil in the moral 

 world ; but it is encouraging to know that the good, useful and 

 beautiful are sure to triumph when cultivation lends its helping 

 hand. As a father, by proper vigilance and culture, can train 

 up his family in the ways of righteousness, so the farmer, by 

 constant cultivation, can be sure that the grasses will root out 

 all noxious weeds. Every careful observer must have noticed 

 that where cattle leave their droppings in the fields thorns do 

 not spring up, but in lieu thereof a rich mat of grass. As it is 

 26 



