Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1915-04-27
Grass Is King.

Grass Is King.
cannot but feel that the lack Of at
tention paid to the growing of grass and
the raising of live stock is regrettable
and serious error in the practice of the
farmers of the United States, particular
ly those of the West. / have recently
spent three months in Great Britain
studying-its grass. England is essen
TALLY grass region. The grass is the
one thing that has set up the great Eng
lish nation during the past thousand
years.
Grass and live stock!
doubt very much II Great Britain
could have survived all these centuries
without having followed this scientific
course of agriculture to the exclusion Of
other things that could not have paid so
well. visited several ancient castles
with large estates all laid down in grass
which was nurtured as carefully as a
babe in cradle and it does require
some nursing to grow grass.
PASTURE VS.. CROPS
Coming home to our own wider prop
osition here in America, We might as
we'll admit that despite the common
conclusion, our much lauded corn is not
king, nor is cotton, nor is wheat. Grass
is king and in this category We will also
have to include alfalfa and the clovers,
although correctly speaking, they are
not grass.
Lands are usually far more profitable
when supporting livestock than when
cropped. The most necessary as well
as the cheapest food for stock is grass.
The cheapest, deepest and best tillers,
drainers and warmers OF the soil are
roots and the cheapest fertilizer is turf
composed largely OF deep-rooting plants,
The advantages to be obtained by filling
the soil with deeply-rooted turf are
chiefly these: The crops mature earlier;
the soil is kept in better physical condi-
ton; it does not become soggy; heavy
rains do not wash the soil or leach away
it's mineral constituents; the land can be
more easily and deeply plowed and
worked; weeds are absolutely extin-
guished; the deep-rooters will penetrate
and break up the hardpan; the soil Is
supplied with humus to a consider
able depth; il is more deeply serated
and moistened and it retains moisture
longer. Tough and almost unavoidable
soils are completely altered in charac-
ter.
Besides all this, the clovers, the cous-
ins of the grasses, keep the land sup
piled with nitrogen, which of all the fer
tilizers is the most important and the
most difficult to secure in any other
way. II is the pivot around which
farming turns. These are assuredly
benefits worth securing. That they can
be procured in the way We point out is
not Just matter of theory. These facts
have been established beyond question
and are especially true In our mountain
country where most grasses root deeply
and grow well.
THE GRASSES PAY RENT
The grasses when properly seeded and
properly cared for are almost the only
crops that can pay rent on the land, pay
a sufficient interest on The capital invest
ed and then can add constantly to the
value of the farm. The failure of cereals,
fruits and most vegetables to accomplish
this last result is the cause of most oil
the troubles of the farmer, whether he
lives in the East or the West.
II his wheat or potatoes pay fat
profit on his investment and II the
growth of population aud the better
ment in roads and railway service cause
his lands to advance in price, the farmer
believes that he is getting richer. Mean
while very likely he forgets or does not
know that chemical analysis OF his SOIL
would show dangerous reduction IN
the quantities of phospbates, nitrogen
and other elements necessary to contin.
ued cropping, and that the digging oil
test holes on his land would show con-
solidation of the soil PARTICLES or even
the creation of real hsrdpan just be-
meath the level of blowing. This forces
a thin layer of top soil to support the
crop and by the same token to waste It's
riches more quickly. Any one OF these
ills will cut down the income producing
power of the land.
These ills can be prevented by such
rotation of crops as will put the land 10
grass for at least as many years In the
series as are allotted for all the other
crops combined, or by seeding down Tor
permanent pasture.
only because they contain large quanti-
ties OF mineral elements, but because OF
their excellent ply sical condition-their
looseness, warmth and friability, which
has everything to do with the growing
of good crops. This condition must be
maintained. Grasses only can do 1t,
other crops cannot.
No matter how much money farmer
induces his land to yield him, he Is not
a success unless be is also causing his
land to grow better year by year.
G Grasses, dairy and beef cattle and hogs
these form the keystone of good farm
ing.
In speaking of grasses, l do not mean
any one grass, but mixture of them.
Some valuable mixtures contain as many
as fifteen or twenty varieties, all put in
to the list for valid reasons. The clo-
vers, vetches, timothy, Italian rye grass,
bronze grass, alfalfa, alsike aud blue
grass are prominent in most of the mix
tures-particularly those mixtures SUIT.
cd to our western country, which OF
course know best.-Eugene FL. Grubb,