The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-01
FORAGE CROPS.
Prof. Thomas Shaw Reads Paper
on the Subject.

Prof. Thomas Shaw read an exhaust
i've paper upon Forage Crops" The
paper is here given:
This is a burning question to the farmers
question of questions. The dairymen, the
growers of meat, and the men who till the
soil, are all concerned in it.. without
abundant forage we cannot produce butter
in quantity or cheapness as with 1t. With
out abundant forage the growing of meat
must languish. When forage is wanting the
live stock industry cannot flourish, and when
that industry does not flourish the SOIL VIII
not continue to yield maximum crops since
in the absence of live stock it's fertility must
wane, and its mechanical condition will soon
get out of joint. To the farmers of this
country the questions of q god standard and
4 silver standard dwindle into insignifcance
beside this question. In practical impor-
lance to them, this question is the sun.
and those are stars shining In far-of dim
ness. 1t is the great agricultural klondlke
of today to which the eyes of all the low
ers of agriculture should turn. 1t is a
fountain CT never-failing flow, from which
healing of the great sores of our wounded
agriculture. An agriculture that, has oean
wounded and bruised and left half dead, ty
the men who till the lands, through methods
that are oftentimes unworthy OF the most
progressive nation in the world today:
No country has been more highly favored
than ours in the variety of forage crops
that can be glown and in the variety ~ the
these crops is legion. 1t would be almost
tiresome to enumerate them even under
classified heads Only some Of them can
be touched upon. To treat of them all would
mean a book, and book that is soreiy
needed.
You may take UP rape and cabbage; al
though rape only can be considered here,
although cabbage furnishes most wonderful
late autumn pasture for sheep In 1884, When
not more than 500 pounds of rape seed were
sold in one year in the United States, had
the hardihood to say that the day would yet
come when 10 coo, coo sheep and lambs Would
be fattened on it every year in this republic
Some of US here tonight will yet I'VE 10 see
that glorious consummation. Why there are
good reasons for believing that loO 0OO acres
of rape are growing in the United states
tonight. and that 100000 sheep ana lainDs
are now feeding upon it. or Will 90 SO before
the season is over. | stay not 10 SPEAK VI now
rape may be grown for the question: couii9
be more easily covered by telllng no" II couIu
not be grown the ways of growing II are SO
many Think of it. men from the East and
the West and the North and the South, with
Sucb miami in our midst for fattening sheep
and that will grow magnihcently In every
state i'm the Union it be true that ESQ.,
6G0 sheen and lambs are imported from Can
ada into Buffalo every year in the face of
high duty Can it be true that Canada
mutton is still read in great, large letters
ON the butchers wagons in New York city?
lest the lawgivers laugh at the impotence
of our tariff. Why. the very thought of these
things should trouble the giants In these days,
who are leaders in growing sheep. With Can
adan sheep jumping over our tariff wall at
Buffalo by day and by night. and with
York butchers wagons how can these men
rest at night? Come. old Uncle Willie Wat
son and George McGerow. and Prof. Craig,
Joseph E. Wing, and all the rest OF the lead