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that the great leading, dominating error in the farming of Tennes- 

 ee has been, and is, the putting too much land in corn and oats, 

 and too little in grass. Under this system a very large breadth of 

 the land has been well-nigh ruined. Indeed, the damage is so 

 serious that some change has come to be absolutely necessary. 

 Judging from the experience of other countries, the one and only 

 thing capable of redeeming this almost ruined land and saving the 

 farmers from absolute bankruptcy, is grass. 



Fortunately, the climate, soil and geographical locality of Ten- 

 nessee all combine to render it by nature a grass region. In all the 

 essentials to success in this great branch of agriculture, but few sec- 

 tions of the United States surpass East and Middle Tennessee, 

 while the northern part of West Tennessee is well suited to many 

 grasses. It is not unreasonable to anticipate at no distant day, 

 under an improved system of farming, these natural capabilities 

 will be thoroughly and judiciously developed, and where now are 

 only vast wastes and forest wilds, trackless and uncultivated, rich 

 pastures will bloom and countless cattle roam. But no such result 

 can come without a radical change in the system of farming. 



From the circumstance of the peculiar position of Tennessee as 

 a border State to the cotton belt, she has lost much time in agricul- 

 tural progress. The large returns of the cotton planters South, 

 and the wonderful ease with which they achieved great wealth, in- 

 duced those living near to attempt the same role that succeeded so 

 well further south. 



Tennessee posesses in her bosom all the elements of a grazing 

 country. Scarcely a foot of land exists in all her borders that will 

 not in an eminent degree meet the wants of some one or other of 

 the grasses. Living streams of water, fed by perennial springs, as 

 Bweet as those of Castalia, hasten down the mountain slopes and 

 lazily meander through the beautiful valleys. Being midway be- 

 tween the lakes and the gulf, we live just where the warm, moist 

 southern winds encounter the condensing blasts of the north, so 

 that we are rarely the sufferers from droughts. In fact, nature in- 

 tended this State as a grazing region, while man in his thirst for 

 riches has made it what it is. 



Grass is wealth. As lowly and humble as it appears, it comprises 

 about one-sixth of all the vegetation of the world. It nourishes 



