The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1931-01-23
ACRES OF GOLD
BY J. B. Abbott
Overlooked Source OF Wealth

Russell H. Conwell used to begin
his famous lecture Acres of Dia-
monds" by relating a story with a
moral which was told to him
by an old Arab whom he had hired
in Bagdad. The story, much abbre-
waited, is that there once lived, not
far from the river Indus, an ancient
Persian by the name of Ali Hated.
Ali Hated it seems owned a large
farm with orchards, vineyards, grain
fields and gardens, had money at
interest and was, in short, a wealthy
and contented man until one day a
travelling Buddhist priest put the
notion into his head that if he had
just one diamond the size of his thumb
he could purchase the county, or if
he had a mine of diamonds he could
place his children upon thrones.
Ali Hated became discontinued,
sold his farm, and travelled over the
worIdin search of diamonds. Finally
when all was spent, he cast himself
in rags, wretchedness, and poverty
into the sea and was drowned.
Later, the man who purchased Ali
Hafed's farm noticed a curious flash
of light from sands on the bottom of
the stream and upon examination
discovered diam ond, in fact, many
diamonds.
Doctor Conwell terminated his
story with the statemet: Thus, said
the guide to me, and friends it is
historically true, twas discovered
the diamond mine of Golconda, the
most magnificent diamoud mine in
the history of mankind, excelling the
Kimberly" The moral, of course,
is obvious; but the diamond mines,
that is, opportunities for wealth, right
at home in ones own back yard, so
to speak, are not always so obvious.
The grass crop of the northeastern
States unquestionably constitutes an
opportunity of that sort, literally
Acres of Gold, and propose to poiut
out in a few brief essays just how
that gold may be mined, refined
and transmitted into coin of the
realm.
The enormous potential value of
the grass crops lies in the facts that
it is by far the cheapest source of
the animal nutrients which are re-
quired in such tremendous quanti-
ties to feed our dairy herds and that
it supplies nutrients in a form which
is quite as suitable for dairy cows as
are nutrients from far more expen-
sive sources. Many a productive
dairy herd which now is maintained
through the summer months only at
a total feed cost of twenty-five cents
per cow-day might be equally well
maintained at a feed cost below fiji
teen, perhaps below ten, cents per
cow-day by taking full advantage OF
the possibilities of the grass crop,
with corresponding increase in net
profit.
Acute shortage of pasture is a COM
paratively recent development. Lit
tie research work has been done.
Few men have been in possession OF
the requisite facts from which to
think the problem though to logical
conclusion. Hence the thus-far over
looked opportunity.
Professor j. w. White of the Pen
nsylvania Station has taken the trou-
BILE to determine the total amount OF
animal nutrients produced on four
acres of land in standard corn-o oats
wheat-hay rotation, as compared
with the amount of nutrients produc-
ed on four acres of we'll fortified
bluegrass pasture, and the labor cost
of production of each. Perhaps
cannot do better than to quote a
couple of his paragraphs from Pen.
nsyluania Bulletin No. 1876 in m
next essay.