184 TwENTY-FmsT Biennial Ebpoet 



hundredweigM for each, grade, would mean that the dif- 

 ference in the value of a thousand-pound feeder sired by 

 a pure bred bull and one sired by a scrub would be $7.00. 

 On this basis, a pure bred bull siring fifty cows in a sea- 

 son would pay for his original cost in one year. If the 

 cows of the mountain districts could be mated to pure 

 bred bulls and the offspring grown until feeders and then 

 driven to the districts of Kentucky having plenty of com 

 with which to finish them, this process of breeding in one 

 district and finishing in another would mean a material 

 increase in prosperity to all parties concerned. There 

 are already signs, as one can see by visiting the county 

 fairs in some of the mountain sections, that this very 

 thing has been begun. 



By paying careful attention to the pastures of the 

 State, the amount of beef which they now produce could 

 easily be doubled. This could be accomplished by the 

 frequent cutting of weeds, for the reason that blue grass 

 and other good pasture plants thrive if somewhat closely 

 grazed, while weeds die if their tops are kept cut off. The 

 best pastures of the blue grass region are those in which 

 the weeds are kept down by frequent mowing. On such 

 pasture the writer has seen thrifty two-year-old steers 

 made fat during the summer months with no allowance 

 of grain. If, in addition to the weeds being frequently 

 cut, there could be an occasional application of manure 

 to the pasture, the increase in the production of grass 

 would be surprising. 



During the past few years, many silos have been 

 built in this State. Much credit for the erection of these 

 silos is due to the Commissioner of Agriculture. On 

 land that is not too rolling to grow com and sorghum 

 without soil washing, ensiling is the most economical 

 way to handle the com and sorghum crops. Some people 

 think, however, that com is too expensiveto use for en- 

 silage so are growing sorghum for that purpose. Both 

 are excellent crops for the sUo and yield a large ton- 

 nage per acre on fertile land. Land at this Station which 

 had received two heavy applications of manure from the 

 cattle sheds, yielded sixteen tons of com and twenty- 

 seven tons of sorghum per acre during the growing sea- 

 son of 1915, which was a very favorable on©. The ad- 



