138 
The month of October, in the year of their arrival in the country, often 
found the early settlers of Wisconsin possessed of from forty to one hun¬ 
dred and sixty acres of land, a log cabin, a field from ten to fifty acres 
in extent, cropped with wheat. Think of this ye men who have toiled 
year after year to clear the heavy timbered lands of the Eastern States. 
First settlers even here had few idle hours, as may well be imagined, and 
it will not excite wonder that they did not find time to do their haying 
till October, a practice which many farmers still persist in following. 
The wild grass that grows upon the marshes and prairies of Wisconsin 
has subserved an excellent purpose in the settlement of the country; a 
farmer could and can now drive here one hundred as well as five head of 
cattle, and have but little difficulty in obtaining hay to keep them ; it 
should be cut, however, much earlier in the season than it is by many; 
July is the best time to make hay of wild grass as well as of timothy 
and clover. No one that is thoroughly acquainted with its nature pre¬ 
tends that it is equal to the cultivated grasses for fattening purposes, or 
to make cows give milk in large and rich quantities, but it answers a 
good purpose for grazing and fodder till other feed can be obtained by 
seeding. We cannot estimate the value to a new country of having natu¬ 
ral meadows where large quantities of hay can be obtained for the mere 
labor of cutting, and which will afford sustenance for as much stock as a 
farmer may choose to bring with him to the country. What could a 
farmer, emigrating from New England to Central New York fifty years 
ago, have done with thirty or fifty head of cattle, driven into the wilder¬ 
ness ? It would have been impossible to winter them. The quality of 
the wild grass is much superior on the dry prairie to that which grows 
on the marshes, but the quantity is considerably less to the acre, the soil 
being so much drier on the prairies the turf becomes tougher and yields 
only a thiu growth of grass. Many who who have never seen a prairie 
entertain the idea that it is covered with a very luxuriant growth, and are 
surprised to ascertain that this is not generally the case ; the roots of the 
native grass are so interwoven and bound together by the growth of ages, 
extending into the earth often to the depth of three feet, that it will not 
grow up thickly. The earth is, in fact, hide-bound. The quantity and 
quality of the wild grass is much increased by burning the land over in 
the fall or spring. The first frosts of autumn kill the native grass, and 
^t then soon withers and becomes dry. Old settlers well know what 
