8 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



out reference to their carrying capacity, and without endeav- 

 oring to build them up in any way to sustain the increased 

 number of cattle. 



It is noticeable that in the country at large nearly all of 

 the dairy pastures have become much poorer than formerly, 

 while pastures on which beef cattle are run are fully as good 

 as they ever were, if they have not actually improved. There 

 are pastures in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, fully as 

 old as any in ]Srew England, that are carrying as much stock 

 as they ever did, and are worth a hundred or more dollars 

 per acre. In the northwestern part of ]\Iiddlesex County, 

 Ontario, there are some three hundred thousand acres that 

 farmers, owing to the scarcity of labor, have abandoned for 

 farming purposes, and have seeded down to pastures, renting 

 the land to cattle graziers. After twenty years' use these pas- 

 tures are producing more feed than ever, and the land is in 

 better shape to grow croj)s than it was at the time cultiva- 

 tion ceased. This land is also valued at a hundred or more 

 dollars per acre. 



In the corn l)clt men buy land that has been worn out as 

 a result of a one-crop system, and, by putting it into grass 

 and feeding on it, are able in about ten years' time to build 

 that land up to • a point where it can produce large crops. 

 Much of the land that has been built up in this manner is 

 now selling at $:200 per acre. This comparison is made in 

 order to show that it is not only unnecessary for pastures to 

 decline, but, on the other hand, that land, through proper 

 methods of management, can be built np to a high degree of 

 productivity by the pasture method. 



At first glance it would seem that the difference between 

 the worn-out eastern dairy j^asturcs and the beef pastures of 

 the other States mentioned was one of soil conditions. How- 

 ever, we find just as poor pastures adjoining these beef pas- 

 tures as are found in New Eugland, while a couple of 

 ]iastures have been found in the heart of the dairy section 

 that, through careful management, have been maintained at 

 as high a point as any beef pasture that has been seen, and 

 that are remarkably productive. TIk; investigations that 

 have been carried on by the Department of Agriculture show 



