Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-26
Grass Farming.

The selection and cultivation of grass
es is a feature in farming entitled to
more attention than it receives in this
country. In the dairying districts. OF
Switzerland, where the production OF
choice milk, butter and cheese has beer
carefully cultivated for ages, COWS are
fed on nothing but grass the year round
green grass in the summer and hayi in
the winter. This would be considered
very insufficient diet, the hay part of it,
particularly, in this country. But the
Swiss say our grass and hay both are
inferior to theirs, and we can never
hope to equal their dairy products,
either in quantity or quality, till we i'm
prove their nutritive property. As long
as we remain content with coarse grass
es, deficient in the nutriment that ami
mails require, we shall have to resort to
what is called high feeding, with grain.
bran and cake-meal, to secure the same
quantity Of meat, milk, butter and cheese
that the Swiss animals yield on a simple
diet of hay. The English speak dis
paragingly of our pasturage, and par
ticularly of our hay, the best of which,
they assert, would not command more
than half price in an English market.
Our best grasses are clover, blue grass
and red-top; and, by common agree
ment, in the West the very best hay is
timothy, which commands nearly
double the price of any other in the
markets. What is the explanation
of the low esteem in which these
favorite grasses and this favorite
hay is held in Europe? Is our timothy
really the Indifferent hay that
the English declare it to be, or are the
English ignorant of its virtues? Luz
cerne, rye-grass and san foin are said
to be the favorite pasture grasses and
hay in England. American farmers
know little about them, and that little
is not favorable; and it may be, after
| all, that what are esteemed the best Eu-
ropean grasses are not suited to our
climate and soil, and our best grasses
do not reveal their virtues when cult
waited there.
The subject ought to receive careful
attention and experiment. Our grass
crop, green and in the form of hay, is
the most valuable crop Of the country,
and, as it furnishes more than one-half
of the subsistence to the one hundred
and thirty million OF domestic animals
in the land, no pains ought to be spared
to make it valuable by improving
the quality of it. It is generally held
that land that is too wet for anything
else is at least good enough for grass.
But the truth is the grass grown on low,
wet land is coarse, fbrous and nearly
tasteless. Drainage is quite as impor-
tant in grass culture as in grain raising,
and there is little doubt that all our
grasses, those for summer pasturage as
well as those for hay, may be made
sweeter and more nutritive by growing
them in favorable positions and giving
them careful cultivation. If the Euro
pean grasses are really better than ours
and can be raised in perfection on our
soil, let us adopt them; if not, let us
take the best varieties of our own native
grasses in hand, and, by experimenting
to find what they need, bring them to
the greatest sweetness and richness they
are capable of.-St. Louis Republican.