20 ADDRESSES 



Without going into too much detail, the following facts may be credited 

 to Ohio. Our climate is of the moderate sort, such as might be expected of 

 territory lying approximately from 41 to 38 North. We have but very little 

 severe heat or cold, and over the southern half of the state, in winter snow is 

 the exception and not the rule. In central Ohio, winter is hardly expected be- 

 fore January, and in March the grass begins to take on new life. In southern 

 Ohio, live stock may be 'grazed on the fields for twelve months in the year. In 

 the northern section, snow is more abundant, closed stables in winter are com- 

 mon, and the conditions are more vigorous than farther south. However, over 

 much of the State, farm animals require much less winter shelter than is custom- 

 ary in the east and north. In the southern half of the State, the winter con- 

 ditions usually allow for much freedom of the stock in the open, to its advantage. 



The soil of Ohio is variable, but there is hardly a section in which standard 

 forage crops and cereals will not grow to perfection under proper management. 

 There are two crops, universally recognized as playing a most important part in 

 farm ecoruomy as applied to stock, namely blue grass and Indian corn. These 

 two plants may be found in every section of the State. Better blue grass 

 cannot be. found in the famous region of Kentucky, than one finds here and 

 there in the pastures of Ohio. Blue grass is universal to Ohio, and where this 

 grass thrives, horses, cattle, sheep and, hogs are most economically kept for the 

 growing season of the year. Ohio is famous for its corn crop, and in yield per 

 acre this State stands up among the leaders, in 1909 producing over 150,000,000 

 bushels, ranking seventh among the states in the quantity produced. In average 

 yield per acre, Ohio ranked second among all the so-called corn growing states. 



In the production of the other standard cereals, grasses and clovers, Ohio 

 is one of the leaders. Red clover is a universal crop, while alfalfa is rapidly 

 securing a strong clientage- in the State, some 20,000 acres reported as grown 

 in 1911. Any soil that will grow blue grass, corn, red clover, alfalfa and 

 timothy hay abundantly, can compete with the world in the breeding and feed- 

 ing of farm animals. This can generally be done on the farms in Ohio. 



So far as markets and shipping facilities are concerned, no State is more 

 advantageously situated. We have a population of over 5,000-,000 people. We 

 have five cities widely separated in the State, with populations ranging from 

 over 100,000 to 500,000 with many good sized towns and smaller cities. In 

 these is a market for the producer of meat. No State is better supplied with 

 railways and shipping facilities. In less than 24 hours we may deliver meat 

 stock by freight to the largest stock yards in America, while by express we can 

 deliver into New York, Philadelphia or Boston within a similar period of time. 

 Steam railways penetrate all but one of Ohio's eighty-eight counties, whereby 

 the farmer at a minimum of expense can easily reach a shipping point. 



Ohio assumed a most important place in American live stock affairs at a 

 very early date. Very early in the last century, before the day of the rail- 

 roads, cattle were driven overland from southern Ohio to Baltimore- and New 

 York. Ohio cattle were recognized as the best produced on the continent. In 

 1833 at Chillicothe, there was organized the Ohio Company for Importing and 

 Breeding Shorthorn Cattle. This company sent men to England to purchase 

 Shorthorns, and their 1834 importations is one of the notable events in Am- 

 erican Shorthorn history. As a result of the success of this company, others 

 were organized in other counties in Ohio, and in other states. From that day 

 to this, Ohio has been regarded as one of the most important Shorthorn breed- 

 ing grounds in America. Today we have in the State, three herds of Short- 

 horns second to none on the continent, viz., that of Thomas Johnson of Colum- 

 bus, Carpenter and Ross of Mansfield, and D. R. Hanna of Ravenna. The herds 

 of these men have won the highest honors in tl:c most severe competitions in 



