8o 
ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
of oreat fertility—but better adapted for the production of 
crrain than for dairying. The reasons for the general abun¬ 
dant supply of rainfall during the summer and fall months 
on the great water-shed of the Chemung sandstone forma¬ 
tion may be explained by the fact that lands elevated 
ooo to 18,000 feet above tide-water, attract the moisture 
of'the atmosphere, and produce a greater amount of rain¬ 
fall and a more equal distribution than those regions situ¬ 
ated much lower or much higher than this elevation, lhe 
sources of supply of moisture are the Atlantic on the 
south, and the great lakes on the north and west; their 
atmospheric currents meet on this water-shed and cause, as 
a general rule, an abundant rainfall. The same influences 
operate in part in causing rainfall in Illinois, Wisconsin, 
Minnesota and Iowa. The moisture of the upper atmos¬ 
pheric currents is supplied by the great lakes, and flows 
southwesterly, and returns in the lower atmospheric currents 
attended with rainfall—flowing from the south-west to the 
north-east, as established by a long series of observations 
made by the signal department at Washington. 
On the subject of the best means to increase the 
adaptation of soils for dairying, I will mention one of the 
most practical manners of doing it. On all dairy farms it 
should be a standing rule with the owner of the farm to 
make all the manure possible from the produce of the farm, 
and judiciously apply it where most needed. It is a well- 
established fact that the liquid manure of an animal is worth 
quite as much yearly, if properly applied, as the solid 
manure is. Every stable should be so constructed as to 
save the liquid as well as the solid manures of all animals. 
All portions of a dairy farm that are too wet to produce the 
best qualities of cultivated grasses should be thoroughly 
drained and cultivated, till fit to raise cultivated grasses in 
the highest degree of perfection. Low, wet, sour lands 
produce an inferior quality of grass, but illy adapted to the 
production of milk for butter and cheese ; but when thor¬ 
ough reclaimed, by perfect drainage, are often the most 
valuable portions of farms for grazing purposes. As a rule 
there is no class of investments that pays better than thorough 
drainage of wet lands. For dairy purposes grass for hay 
should be cut while green, and never allowed to fully ripen. 
When grass is cut before it is fully ripe the quality of the 
hay is much more valuable than when left to ripen, and a 
