Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1897-08-26


der Of development, but by no
means least in Importance, our dairy
products have established name Tor
themselves among the very best Oh
this continent. All OF these achleVe-
ments have been won almost entrely
without the aid Of cultivated grains
and grasses. Our native prairie grasses
have, in nearly all cases, been the prln-
cipal, and in many instances. the only
food Of our stock.
In some parts of our state the system
which has produced such satisfactory
results in the past can be continued ioi
a considerable time TO come, Win ou'
slight notifications, while In other pol-
tions, particularly in the older anu
more thickly settled districts, conoi-
tons have so changed, and are SUN
changing, that very different system
must eventually be instituted. In these
localities our native grasses, whlch
have been the basis OF nearly all Vi
our success in the past, are tast uisap-
pearing and being replaced by inferior
introduced grasses and worthless
weeds. The causes which have brought
about this undesirable, but inevltaDle
result are not hard to discover. over
stocking and tramping, which seem d.
most unavoidable during some PORTIONS
of the season, if enough stock be kept
to utilize the feed during fush times
is one OF the most potent, and also the
most d!thcult. to avoid. For II only
Of iS
flush feed as can subsist upon the pas
ture, without oyerstocklng during the
dry parts OF the season, the grass VIII
make such 4 rank growth during the
spring and carly summer that STOCK
will not eat IL during the dry per DDS.
Another, only slightly less potent, but
more universal factor, and one still less
ameuable to any known methods of
prevention, is the gradual migration OF
hardy, woI Lh ess, weedy grasses ana
plauts from tie older TO the newer set
lied portions o. the country. Ii is true
that some OF our farmers claim that
our native grasses are SO much sup 4
rior to the cultivated grasses OF the
east that we can successfully compete
with eastern dairymen without the aid
of forage, roots or silage. And these
claims are not without foundation. 1t
is a well known fact that our native
grasses cure upon the ground as soon
as the dry weather Of August and Sep
TENDER sets in, and before they have
been injured by frosts; and that fine
quality of well cured hay, superior TO
the average meadow hay of eastern
states, can be cut upon our pralrles
at any time after August before the
ground is covered with snow. AS 1t
frequently happens that we do not
have enough snow at any one time
during the winter to prevent stock
from grazing, it ought not to be diff
cult to understand why We can truth
fully say that our stock can range the
year round and we can cut hay upon
our prairies from August until March.
There are, however, some years, AMI
especially this year, when this state
ment cannot be substantiated. While
II ia Internationally true that we have
the advantage of our eastern competi
tors in the quality of our native grasse
IL is also true that they have the ad
vantage of us in the length or tim
during which stock can obtain succu
lent food Such being the case, 1t seems
that 1t is even more important that
we should supply forage, roots and 81
lage for the late summer, fall and win
ter feeding, than 1t is for the eastern
dairyman or stockman to make sim
liar provision.-E. G. Chilcott.