76 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



give SO much attention to the perfecting of the products, we may find that it 

 is just as important to increase the value of the raw material which makes 

 excellent dairy products possible. 



ABUNDANCE OF YIELD. 



We first want our land to produce the greatest possible quantity consist- 

 ent with good quality. Our most valued grasses require a deep, rich, moist 

 soil, in order to give a maximum yield. They require a deep soil so that the 

 roots may have a range of soil to secure them from the effects of drouth and 

 sudden climatic changes. A thick and strong growth of good grass cannot 

 be obtained without such soil. The heaving of grasses in winter and spring, 

 which often reduces the yield, is owing to the fact that there is too much 

 water in the soil and about the roots of the plants, which expands by sudden 

 freezing throwing the plant upward. This breaks the roots and as 

 the thawing of the soil takes place gradually, the plant never re- 

 sumes its former position, and is often entirely destroyed. Many have 

 doubtless noticed the bogs or ' ' hummocks " in our wet pasture lands. Their 

 peculiar appearance is largely due to the heaving of wet ground, and their 

 dissapearance marks the line between drained and undrained soil. In the 

 spring and early summer, the spaces between the bogs usually contain water 

 or bare soil, while the mound bears the grass. Our mowing lands often show 

 a mixture of cultivated grasses with wild water grasses, the growth of a 

 sour, wet soil. We count two stalks of half -grown timothy and seven spears 

 of healthy water grass. Can we pull out the grass as we do weeds from our 

 corn and thus secure a good growth of grass? We find that by so doing noth- 

 ing is gained. Drain the soil, and we take away the nourishment from the 

 sour grasses and add to that of the useful plants. 



Our grasses require a moist soil— not wet— in order that they may main- 

 tain a constant growth. The growth made one week should be but a sample 

 of the growth made every week of the season. The artificial drainage of 

 grass-lands brings about this result. It makes the difference between one 

 ton and three tons of hay per acre. It makes the difference between three 

 acres of pasture for the support of one cow, and two acres for the same pur- 

 pose. At the high price at which dairy lands are held, it is poor economy to 

 allow land to remain in such a condition that it produces only half of what 

 it is capable of producing. While it is true that grass will withstand the 

 effects of a wet soil better, for a time, than cultivated crops, it has been 

 found by many experiments, that the difference in yield alone between 

 drained and undrained grass-land gives an increasing and handsome profit to 

 the land drainer. It may be put down as a fact that much of the wet grass- 

 land of our dairy sections can be made to produce one third more than they 

 do, by proper drainage. 



EXCELLENCE OF QUALITY. 



Not only can the yield be greatly increased, but much can be added to 

 the quality of the product. The nutritive value of good hay has been found 

 by experiment to be one in six, while that of poor hay is only one in ten. 

 Every dairyman knows that the quality of the dairy product depends largely 

 upon the quality of the grass upon which the animals feed. Much discussion 



