Permanent Pastures

It woubl appcrtr ih.-u there is Kart ono class of i;innTs ivho cultívate i lie stoep dticHvities of our limostone hills wiih profil and witljoul rtestroying their fertility. These are Ihe patiënt, painst.'ikiiifr. icrsc i'r::i;,r Rhinelnud Germana, uim. next i" tbc fran and the cbildren, love the soil on vVhich they plant tliemseltes. Nme bnt these arts equal to the tedlons toiJ of terracing the hiilsides as they have seen or done amone the yine-clad hills of their fatheriand. Was it necessity or improvidonee wliic-h indnced the cnriy settlers to strip otir beairt.fifrtl hulsof their miignificen1 forcsi robe?, and lay theirn bare to the devftstation ol loiTentivö minsP He the éavwo whal t may, tlie faoi remains that there is .'in aggregtte of raany tliousands of aeres tlie primal fertility of wliirli 'm rapidly :nul literalïy being a-hi'cl awáv. Ti'avol in any direction w-r muy, ;ind a;apiB'LiiMies and blirren ridges moei the oye. To remedy this deplorable con ilitioniif'tliïngs there ia fortunately a r&moílv easy and certain, bitt more uiid moro dilKeult of ftpplicati"M hi! it. is deferréd, ftnd tlial is to Iny down in g-asa all declivities so steep as to siiffer trum heavy rain falla :uid tiienccforll) hold liicm sacred from tlie plow. Trae, t&sre are other niL'thods boside permanent grasa for miiintaining the integrity of the surface soil; ii may be done by terracing, bj underdraining and aubsoil plowing, snd even by horizontal piowing". but, excepi under peculiar conuitíons, these are all ton expeOSive or dlfficnlt in a country where the fee simple in lands of uu ■- hausttble ferliliiy is vet to bc had ai $l.2-r) au acre. As compclition n grain production wit i i!,,! riohor and oUeaper lands in the trans-Mississippi States becomes more dillicnll our fanners shouM give moré attention to 'graas, which, in the fofm of boef and nmlion and wool, niilk, butler and eheese will yield an income. which it. is vajn to expect from any erop produced through the medhim of tlio piow. the bancow atid the Ime, all pensive in the liauiin-. and all more or lcss cj i: lo the surface of our limoit'ona hilts. The tVct ihat land in gnus yielda a higher profit tban frfien cultivated in grain lias been long" known and gracticed Opon in many paris of :ir mui country, snoh as (iic dairy disiriots of New York, and in Orent Britajn and in Europc. The mystery is Dof (luit the fact is go, bftt that so many shcrald remain ignorattt of it and fail to reiJp ite impoi'tant benefit, ('oionel John Taylor, th(' author of Artnr, in an essay on tin; grasses, published more than fifty j-ear.-i ago, t.hus ejfpresses himself: "In Holland, wheri' t he cuJtivation of grasa is generally pvei'erred to bread, laniis scllliiiilier as land, without having its pricë enuanced by adventitious cir,cnmitariceS, than in ányother conntry. TIn! induítrions and profití-loving Dutch chose rather to import than to ratee f heir owo breadstnfl's at the expense of dimjüishing the culture of the artificial grassès. They are aslittle Sikelyasany people in the world to make an election by which they rould lose njoney. In England, the eultivation of grasa is so múch more profitáble than that of breadstuff as to luive obtained a jircference at. the expense of considerable importa! ions of tiie latter. Th! bearinga of tiiis fact are wcighty. Hay and butchers' meat in England are neai-lyoi the same price as in this country - whereaa, wheat títere is often tliree times deares than wheat here, and seldom lesa than doublé the price. Yet the ErrgMsh farmers prefer raising artificial grasses to raisinrr wheat. AgaiH, the rent as well as price of land isconstantly high est in tliose oountries jyhere the eultivation of the artificial grasses is pnshed fnWhest. In EnglanáT the rent of fine artificial nieadows sometimos cx_ tends to twenty dollars an acre. rarely diminishes to ten dollars, and is never so ow as the adjoining arabic land. however gooi. i inist be our I [arïds which wonld rent, at one dollar an acre for a term of twenty-oneyears; am even at. this low rent bo'th the land am the tenant are. generally ruined. Now siicn we see 6ne bet grazing lands there renting higher than tlic best -arable lands, and their farms renting higher tlian ours, does it not f ollow that both a great proflt and a vast improvement of the soil must irise (rom the culture of artificia) grasses, and that the difference in the rent between their farms and ours is in a great measure produced by the latter cfrcúmstanceP This conclusión is warrant ed by the fact that the longér the term of i lie lease is the higher ís the rent there, and lowerhere, 'because the tenant in one case, calculates on a mode of tillage which will improve the land, and in the other on its beeomiiiir poorèr." e see the same condition of things in the United States. Wherever the most attent ion to the preparation and eultivation of grass crops, rents, profits and prieea of lamls are the highest. Indeed it must be so since the prolits of farming consist of the joint product, of land and labor, and the greater the proportion of the labor to the total product, the higher the rate of profit must be to mako the business pay.