Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-04-02
AGRICULTURAL GRASSES.
The Value of the Grasses of the Difreren
Sections.

AGRICULTURAL GRASSES.
The Value of the Grasses of the Different
Sections.
There are probably very few of our
readers who have any definite idea of
the value or importance of what are
called the agricultural grasses. When
we read the statistics of the production
of our gold and silver mines, the total
yield seems prodigious, and so it is; but
the value of our hay crop alone is far
Greater than the value of the products
OF our mines. The annual Weld of all
the gold mines in the world is less than
ninety millions of dollars, and those of
the United States furnish only one
fourth OF that sum, or about twenty-five
millions; but the hay crop of the United
States is worth more than ten times
this sum, or two hundred and fifty mill
hons OF dollars. The estimated annual
yield OF all the gold and silver mines of
the world at the present time is Little
less than two hundred millions of dol
lars, or some fifty or sixty millions of
dollars less than the hay crop of the
United States alone.
We have frequently had occasion to
inform correspondents residing in the
South that the rank-growing succulent
grasses OF hot climates were of no great
advantage in stock raising over the
shorter and more nutritious ones of
cooler ATTITUDES. DIR. Vasey appears to
entertain similar views. for he saws
that it is well known that in moist
countries, at lower attitudes. the grass
es have much succulence; they grow
rapidly and their tissues are soft; Sc
we're frost checks or kills their growth,
and chem cal changes Immediately oc-
eur, which result in rapid decay; where
as in the arid climate of the plains the
grasses have much less succulence, the
foliage being more rigid and dry, and
therefore when their growth is arrested
by frost the tissues are not engOrged
with water, the desiccating influence of
the climate prevents decay, and the
grass is kept on the ground in good
cond ton for winter forage.
The self-cured grasses of the plains
are no doubt excellent and nutrit Gus
fodder for stock, and the principal
cause for worry among the ranchmen
of these regions is the fear of short
supply, and the inability of their stock
to reach the grass when covered w. tn
snow. General b. Alvord, of the
United States Army. states that grasses
only acquire this self-curing property
on land which is three thousand feet
above the level of the sea- If this be
true-and we have no good reason to
doubt tive can readily understand
why so many stockmen seek the higher
and drier regions of the West in pref
erence to the lower and really more
fertile. The grasses on the high arid
plains are of smaller and sparser
growth than in the fertile valleys and
bottom lands further East and South,
but their self-drying properties are an
advantage that has not been over
looked.
Every farmer of experience is well
aware of the unhealthiness of musty
hay, cornstalks, and other kinds of
fodder. and very often serious losses of
animals can be readily traced to the
use of such kinds of food. Now. in all
low. moist regions, or where heavy
rains occur in the autumn months, the
grasses become very succulent, the first
frost checks their growth, decay COM
mences, and the fungod growths
known as smut, mildew and rust,
spread over them. In this condition
they are not healthy food for either
sheep, horses or cattle. Winter pasture
may sound very well when speaking of
cattle raising in mild climates, but
good hay stacks made of early-cut and
well-cured grasses. are far more trust
worthy and healthful sources of food.
A widespread ignorance prevails in
regard to the nutritive properties of
both our native and introduced grasses;
in fact not one farmer in thousand
in the older States knows the correct
names of the species growing on his
and plains half adozen local names are
applied to more than a hundred differ
emit species growing in those regions.
All the species that grow in clumps
are called bunch grasses" some of
which are nutrit Gus. and are greedily
eaten by cattle, while others are so
hard and tough that they are scarcely
ever molested. Then there are
what are called CANA. grama,
and buffalo grasses. names even
more widely and indiscriminately en-
ployed than bunch" and IN scarcely
any two localities are they applied %
the same species.
The cereal grasses have always been
the most carefully studied, and have
received the greatest attention. for to
secure crop of seed the farmer must
pillow and sow. To raise crop of
wheat, rye, oats or corn the farmer
must carefully prepare his ground for
the reception of the seed, but many of
the native and introduced species of
what are called the agricultural grasses
spring up of their own accord in neg
lected fields and waste places. Hence
little thought is given to their specific
characteristics or value, and the result
is that some of the rank-growing and
comparatively worthless kinds crowd
out the more valuable. As the country
grows older and the farmers become
more familiar and better acquainted
with the agricultural grasses. the
growth of the Inferior species win be
discouraged aud that of the superior
encouraged, and the result will be an
enhanced value of pasture and meadow