State Convention—Grass is King. 
377 
fits, irregularities, fever, constipation, torpidity, nervousness, dyspep¬ 
sia, or paralysis in the body politic, when the best means of relief 
are within our reach; or when the evils complained of could have 
been prevented by the exercise of even a moderate amount of what 
is sometimes termed “good horse-sense.” 
Two of these dire evils have combined to deprive western farm¬ 
ers of remuneration for time, toil, and substance, expended in a 
bad or false system of agriculture, viz: freight and wheat. The 
chief remedy for both difficulties is “ grass.” If the lamented ex¬ 
cellent Horace Greeley, instead of directing young men to “ go- 
west and grow up with the country,” had simply compressed good 
advice into three words, he should have said— u go to grass,”—not 
as Nebuchadnezzar went, to degrade humanity to the condition of 
the brute; but with an intelligent purpose to diversify and multiply 
the resources on which individuals and nations rely for happiness 
and prosperity. 
COUNT THE COST OF WHEAT-CULTURE. 
But, before curtailing the business of wheat-culture, and turning 
our attention to grass, let us be sure about the unprofitableness of 
the former, and the profits of the latter; and to this end let us de¬ 
scend to particulars verified by experience. On the smooth and 
rich prairies of Illinois, the estimated minimum cost of seed, labor,, 
harvesting, and marketing wdieat per acre, is over eleven, and about 
twelve dollars; which, at the rate of twenty bushels per acre, is 
sixty cents per bushel; at the rate of fifteen bushels per acre, is 
eighty cents per bushel; and at the rate of twelve bushels per acre r 
is one dollar per bushel. Those are the most favorable conditions 
imaginable, in respect to fertility or productiveness, competing 
railroads, labor-saving machinery, choice of markets, climate, and 
labor. In Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska, the cost of 
production will scarcely fall short of fifteen dollars per acre for 
wheat, and costing a dollar per bushel; which is above an average 
yield, and an average price, during any ten consecutive years. Ex¬ 
amine the figures carefully. 
Actual cost of plowing one acre properly.$2 00 
Market value of two bushels best seed-wheat.... 2 50 
Sowing, and harrowing twice, by approved machinery... 75 
Cost of harvesting and stacking per acre. 3 0.0 
