THE GRASS CROP 3 
manent prosperity, the grasses and livestock have 
always occupied an important place. Inthe New Eng- 
land States, which have felt keenly the competition of 
the fertile lands of the Central West, agriculture has 
been able to maintain itself only by devoting the major 
portion of the improved land to grasses. Other crops 
may form the basis of temporary prosperity, as has 
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FIG. I—PERCENTAGE OF IMPROVED LAND DEVOTED 
TO HAY AND FORAGE 
been the case with wheat on the prairies of the North- 
west and the Pacific Northwest, and cotton.in the 
South; but it was a prosperity that rested on too slen- 
der a basis, and, in both cases, led to disaster. 
The distribution of the grass crop in the United 
States is shown in Fig. 1. This shows the percentage 
of improved land in each State devoted to hay and 
forage. The States may be divided into four fairly 
distinct groups, based on these percentages. The first 
