BLUE GRASS. 169 



its importance and visited the neighborhood in which its 

 culture began, for the express purpose of investigation, and 

 here is the result of his visit : 



"Some seventy years ago, says Dr. Gordon, writing in 

 1871, two young men, named Cunningham, came from the 

 south branch of the Potomac, in Virginia, to Strode's creek, 

 in Bourbon county, Kentucky. They had studied and prac- 

 ticed the Blue Grass system on the Potomac. They jointly 

 purchased two hundred acres of land on Strode's creek, and 

 sowed the whole tract in timothy and Blue Grass. In a few 

 years their whole tract was covered with a luxuriant coat of 

 grass. They had brought -with them the seed, on a pack 

 horse, all the way from Virginia. Their farm soon attracted 

 the attention of their neighbors, who began to visit and 

 learn how to manage grass. In 1835, I too, went to see the 

 Cunninghams and many other farmers in the Blue Grass re- 

 gion, in order to learn the system. I devoted many weeks 

 to the study of the system going with the best farmers over 

 their farms and seeing their management; asking many 

 questions and writing down their answers. Then the Cun- 

 ninghams, like many others, had grown to be wealthy on 

 the profits of the Blue Grass. One of them, Robert, then had 

 two thousand acres in Blue Grass and Isaac had three thou- 

 sand. Nearly all the farmers I visited, owed the luxury of 

 their Blue Grass to the direct instruction of the Cunning- 

 hams. To me it was a feast to travel over and view the 

 fine sod of grass on the first two hundred acres which had 

 caused the whole Blue Grass region to become so beautiful, 

 prosperous and wealthy. 



While learning the Blue Grass system, I saw in every 

 neighborhood that those who had studied the system closest, 

 had the best pastures invariably. You can see in all that 

 region of Blue Grass, some farms where all the lots look like 

 some of ours in Tennessee, which are gnawed all the 

 year round by calves, sheep and geese. This is because 

 the owner does not think enough about its management. 



