To His Excellency, Governor James D. Porter : 



Herewith is submitted a treatise on the Grasses and Forage plants of 

 Tennessee. The geographical position of Tennessee eminently fits it to be- 

 come a great grain and stock-growing State. In 1840, Tennessee was the 

 largest corn-producing State in the Union. Difficult and tedious trans- 

 portation made it necessary to feed this corn at home, and so in 1850, it 

 took the foremost rank in the production of hogs. The Northwest, with 

 its virgin soil, was able to supply meat and bread cheaper than Tennessee, 

 and it became necessary for her people to turn their attention in another 

 direction. The demand for mules by the cotton-growing States opened a 

 new avenue to agricultural industry, so that in 1860, she became the largest 

 mule-producing State in the Union. 



The shock given to all her industries by the war, and especially to her 

 agricu tural interests, by the destruction of her labor system, so disabled 

 her that she bore off no prize in the census returns of 1870. The destruc- 

 tion of her labor system, however, has tended to direct the minds of her 

 farmers to a system of agriculture in which less labor will be required. 

 The sowing of more grass, and the raising of beef-cattle and improved 

 hogs and shee|^ will probably show the direction of her growth in the 

 future. The estimates by the Agricultural Department at Washington 

 show a gradual increase in the acreage of land devoted to hay, as indi- 

 cated by the following table : 



The amount, acreage and value of hay produced in Tennessee each year, 

 since 1870, are as follows: 



The United States census shows the production of hay in Tennessee : 



1850 74091 tons 



1860 143,499 " 



1870 116,582 " 



The total production of hay in the United States for 1870, was 27,316,- 

 048 ? or about 1,400 pounds per head for each inhabitant, while in Tennes- 



