ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 13 
1 1 acres of pasture to one of meadow; others give two acres of pasture to one of 
eadow. 
“ We find the cured hay crop, as represented to be, for the year 1880, 31,925,233 
ns; cash value, $371,811,084; average price per ton, $11.25. Number acres of 
:3adow, 25,863,955; average yield per acre, 1 23 tons; average cash value of product 
; r acre, $14.38.” 
We shall perceive that in making two blades of grass grow where but one grew 
ifore, is equivalent to increasing the cured hay crop of the United States to the value 
i $743,622,168 at the same price per ton. 
The vast increase of manures (if fed on the farms), which will result from the 
msumption of this augmentation of the herbage grasses must wonderfully increase 
ie productions of the cereals. Millions of dollars will be thus added to our income. 
! ie influence of grass culture on the growth of the cereals is very strikingly exempli- 
d by a comparison of the agricultural statistics of France and England. France 
■s 53 per cent, of its cultivated area under cereal cultivation, while England has but 
: per cent. Those who read this statement for the first time will be surprised to 
Urn that, notwithstanding this disparity between the areas of the grain lands in the 
l r o countries, England produced five and one-ninth bushels of grain for every indi- 
"iual of her population, while France only produced five and a half bushels for every 
iiividual of hers. Thus with less than one-half of the proportional area under 
dtivation, England produces within seven-eighteenth of a bushel per head of what 
/ance does. 
She is enabled to accomplish this result solely in consequence of the manure fur- 
ished by her grass lands. Every acre of English grain land receives the manure 
Dm three acres of grass land, while in France the manure from each acre of grass 
]:id is spread over two and a half acres of grain land. In other words, one acre of 
jain land in England gets fifteen times more manure than one acre of grain land in 
-ance. This statement tells the whole story, and assures us that a like increase of 
nnure would produce a like increase of crops with us. There are many other inci- 
(ntal profits which will arise from the increase of our crops. 
Is the doubling of our crop of grass possible ? It may be said—and doubtless by 
tv many farmers—that to talk of the doubling of the crops of grass may be very 
nil to “ adorn a tale,” but that it is quite impossible to accomplish it practically. 
'iey assert that the idea is a 1,1 castle in Spain”; a product of Utopia; an ignus fatuus 
"rich only bewilders and blinds. I believe, on the contrary, that it is perfectly prac- 
1;able, not only to double, but to treble and even quadruple our present production 
( grass, and I hope to bring our farming friends to the same conclusion. What has 
len done once can be done again when the circumstances under which it is done are 
milar. Like causes produce like effects, and what one man has accomplished an¬ 
ther man can also, if he brings to the task the same tact and energy and skill. We 
low that many farmers have cut two to three tons of hay from each acre of their 
]?adows; other farmers have cut six or seven from an acre. From the irrigated 
Dadows near Edinburgh twenty tons have been taken per acre at six several cuttings 
i the same season. If other men bring the same set of causes into operation, why 
fould they not obtain the same results ? That the enormous disparity existing be- 
teen the grass crops raised by different farmers in the same county and in different 
(unties in the same state is not due to irremediable differences of soil and climate, 
It to the skill or want of skill brought to bear upon the management of the grass 
lad, is made very clear by an experimentation of the facts as as they exist. This 
]int we will review in the discussion of the various systems for grass land culture 
i be considered in these papers. 
YVhat are the causes of the inferiority of our meadows? The main reason for 
eir inferior condition is, that very few farmers ever try to improve them. It will 
rt be denied that farmers in general bestow much less care, or thought, or study, or 
Ibor, upon their meadows than they do upon their grain lands. Grass is grass, and 
lat is all they trouble themselves to know. Very many farmers are not aware that 
ley have any other varieties than timothy, clover (which is not a grass) and red top 
jawing on their farms, all hough they may have a dozen or twenty other species. 
Juch less do they understand the peculiar properties and the relative value of the 
(derent species. The careless farmer goes on to his meadow when the proper season 
ones, and cuts his grass and converts it into hay ; this being accomplished, he thinks 
i more about it until the corresponding season of the ensuing year, when he goes 
trough the same routine again. In consequence of this apathetic spirit he gives 
inseif no trouble to re-seed his meadow or to manure it, or to irrigate it, or to drain 
i or to prevent it from being poached by the cattle in autumn or in winter. Even 
nen first forming their meadows after tillage, there are very many farmers who 
iver sow any grass seed upon their lands at all, leaving it wholly to the birds and 
te winds and the waters to supply the necessary seed. In some of the slates west of 
i this plan is the rule, not the exception. Among those who really sow grasses on 
te land intended for meadow, very few sow any other seed than timothy and clover, 
