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ADDRESS OF
W, G. SIMONSON
At the Meeting of the Stock
grower's Association,
Tuesday.
TALKS INTERESTINGLY ON FORAGE
The Range and Meadow Must be Pre
served and Improved How This
May be Accomplished A I fa I fa ,
Oromc and Other Grasses.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen:
Heretofore such has been the. abund
ance of our pasture plants that little
thought has been taken for their pres
ervation and Improvement. Pastures
have been so managed us though the
grasses could take care of themselves
and the ranges have been so over
stocked with tho Idea that the forage
supply was Inexhaustible. Disaster lias
followed In many sections and one of
the greatest problems now beforo tho
department of agriculture Is to dis
cover methods of restoring tho ranges.
To wholly roplacc the forage plants of
this region which by time and adapta
tion have become indiglnous to these
alkali Is yet in tho experimental state,
yet the importance of the move Is so
great as to call, 1 bcllove, for state ap
propriations to carry on the experi
mental work alongsclentlilc lines, and
tho problem is so vast that It Is of
national importance and the only sol
ution lies In a thorough knowledge of
the habits and species of forage plants
of our native pastures.
Tho future prosperity of this sec
tion turns more upon tho preservation
and Increased cultivation of grasses
than any one other subject. Rather
than emulate and carry out the
growth of tho two blades of grass, as
suggested, most of us have so over
stocked our ranges that it is true that
where formerly five blades of grass
grew there Is but one now.
From personal experience I am un
able to adviso you of the methods and
mechanism of doubling tho forage of
tills region and can only olFer some
suggestions, but that It can bo done I
am firmly convinced as I am of tho fact
that tho grade of our stock can bo Im
proved by tho application of Intelli
gence. You can talk about your short
horns, your white faces, your red poles,
and your black poles, until you are as
black in the face as tho latter, yet
what do they amount to If thoy have
insutllclent forage and no amount of
fine breeding will supply the defici
ency. That throughout the whole west
there has been In tho past decade a
great deterioration and diminution In
the forage crop of grass is so generally
concceded that it will bo passed at
this time as an admitted fact. Here
tofore the open range was everybody's
territory, but subsequently, as set
tlers by a mutual consent have alloted
territory to each other, If this over
pasturage continues tho devastation
can be traced to the door of the devast
ator. And when I say to you that a
very large percent of the variety of
our grasses are annual and must come
up and go to seed each year to keep
the native plant renewed, you can
readily see that constant pasturage
will soon destroy such varieties and
thus reduce the quantity of the forage.
Tho open range and free grass have
been Intoxicants to us all and we have
possessed no proprietory rights in the
future of the free range and its grasses,
and therefore no Incentive to their
preservation. We have eaten the an
nual grasses before they havo gone to
seed and said to ourselves, "let the fu
ture take care of Itself." These past
ures must have better treatment and
rest, or in time they will be worthless.
Tho only difference between good graz
ing lands and a desert is grass. In
this region grass, and not corn, is
king. Therefore 1 trust, that you see
the Importance of the situation and
feel the great economic facts involved
in taking steps to remedy the Impend
ing evil.
What is the remedyV
I cannot say to you exactly what I
wish to at this time, but when the
millennium comes and we each own or
have a proprietory right to all our
range lands there will be a greater in
ducement to preserve these grasses,
but in the meantime T believe it the
duty of those who use tho free range
to try and preserve it and add to the
primitive grasses such as experiment
and Investigation may prove can and
will grow We have asked to lease
these lands so that we might exercise
proprietory rights over them, but our
necessities and tho good of the country
have not boon understood even by our
own legislature, and our wants have
been barred by the misguided opinion
of a political majority.
We must cut down our herds. Many
in this immediate section havo become
satisfied of this necessity and acted
accordingly, and I feel safe in saying
that this section is not carrying over
hO per cent of the cattle it did one
year ago, and I think more prolitable
results will follow with another 20 per
cent cut.
To Improve the range I would sug
gest changing tho summer rango into
tho winter range, and thus give tho
annual grasses on the summer range a
chanco to seed and reproduce them
solves. All ranches should be supplied
with appliances to fight pralrlo tires,
as theso ilres destroy the under or bot
tom grasses which, when In a scml
decomposed state, serve as a blanket
to retard tho surface evaporation; be
sides these grasses arc great fertilizers,
and their destruction by tiro is to my
personal knowledge known to damage
tho range for three years thereafter.
So much for the range. How about
tho meadow? In going from the range
to tho meadow, while literally to lower
and damper lands, yet metaphorically
speaking, our feet are on less boggy
ground, as experiment has already
shown, our hay crops can bo more than
doubled by ploughing up the meadow
and planting tamo grasses.
In Improving the meadow the fu
ture as well as the present must enter
the discussion. All grasscsare divided,
botanlclly, into two distinct classes.
To use the scientific term, they are
cither lcgumlnus or non-lcgumlnus.
Loguminus grasses arc those with a
tap root and a broad, spreading leaf,
and the roots run deep In the ground,
while the non-legumlnus grasses have
s spreading root, are shallow fceedcrs,
and have a parallel vein leaf. Alfalfa,
clovers and bromo grasses belong to
tho Urst class, and timothy, red top
and blue stem belong to the second
class. To resist tho drouth, which Is
tho largest problem we have, we must
grow grasses that are deep feeders,
that Is, those whoso roots will go to
moisture, or to a depth not affected
by surface influences. Alfalfa and
bromo grass will do this, and therefore
from a standpoint of drouth resistance
they arc the grasses to sow. There Is
another reason for their selection
which is all important, and it is this:
Their roots feed deep and are con
stantly bringing up from below to the
surface of the ground valuable nitro
genous plant food that Is enriching
tho soil, while timothy or red top and
grasses of that variety which feed only
upon the surface of tho ground are
constantly draining the soil of Its vi
tality and in a few years would im
poverish It, and further In dry seasons
theso shallow feeding grasses arc more
liable to be killed out. The sowing of
timothy on wet meadow land that
has been foul with tickle grass and
weeds has proven very successfully to
drive out. these pests and has furn
ished very good hay, but for an ave
rago meadow where the water is 8 or
10 feet below the surface 3 would most
emphatically recommend sowing cither
alfalfa or bromis intcrmls, commonly
known as broine grass. Alfalfa will
produce moro tons to the acre than
brome grass but the latter furnishes
an exceedingly early and good pasture,
It being even earlier than black root
grass, and affords a good March and
April feed The bromo grass state
ments are made on the strength of an
interview with W. N. Anderson of
Ulngham, Nebraska, who lias been
raising both alfalfa and brome grass
about six years, and of the two his
preference is the latter.
Were you to ask me to name in this
paper what single product of the soil
would In the near future ,assumc the
greatest Importance in our state, from
what 1 have read during the past year
I would say alfalfa. Its nutritious
qualities, its abundant growth, its
hardiness, its ability to resist drouth,
Its enrichment of the soli, its staying
qualities when rooted, all speak for It
a prominent place with us In the near
future, and no ranchman whoso mea
dow cuts under a ton to the acre, with
water 8 or 10 feet from the surface,
can airord to not plough it up and sow
it to alfalfa.
Just one word on when to cut tho
hay. About eighteen years ago Prof.
It. 0. Kedzlc, of Michigan, made sevo
ral analysis of grasses to determine at
what period in their growtli they car
ry the most sacarlne substance, and
the result of his experiments was that
lie made tho statement that when
grasses were commencing to blossom
they carry more soluablc sacarlne
matter than at any other time in their
growth and that after the blossom be
gan to wither the grass sterns began
to get libelous and then woody, If
tills statement is true the time to cut
the hay is when it is in blossom. 1
believe we arc cutting our hay too late.
We allow it to become woody and al
most worthless and it is my judgment
that one ton of hay cut in season is
worth two ton cut a month later.
Wo must experiment of the time to
cut, also on whether It will-pay to
disk the meadow, and 1 have been told
that disking lias leen can led on quite
extensively in the territory west of
liolyoke, with very good results. And
hi making these experiments we must
be more than passive observers. Wo
must take part and seo the results of
our own efforts. The railroad com
pany lias employed men for no other
purpose than to devise economical
methods to conduct thclratfairs. With
them system and economy is the soul
of their business; then why shouldn't
we make a study of the stock carrying
capacity of our ranches with a view of
producingand marketing beef cheaply,
and ir done intelligently profit will fol
low as sine as darkness follows day
light. The grass question Is an econ
omic one. Our policy should be re
clamation and not deterioration and
if we would receive the largest econ
omic value that these lands will con
tribute we must Increase the grass
capacity of our ranches.
"All flesh is grass," and you cannot
produce flesh without grass any more
than you can lift yourself out or your
own boots.
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Phone 269'
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C. HUMPHRY,
Alliance Cash Meat Market.
C. M. LOTSPEICH, Proprietor.
ONE DOOR SOUTH OF OPERA HOUSE.
Fresh and Salt Meats,
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Phone 28
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3NKLSON F'L.ICTCiriSR,
FIRE INSURANCE AG-ENT
REPRESENTS THE FOLLOWING
INSURANCE COMPANIES.
Hartford Fire Insurance Co.
North American of Philadelphia.
Phoenix of Brooklyn, New York.
Continental of New York City,
Niagara Fire Insurance Co.
New York Underwriters, New York.
Commercial Union Assurance Co.,
of London.
Liverpool, London and Glohe In
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Gorman American Insurance Co..
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Columbia Fire Insurance Co,
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Phoenix Insurance Co., of Hart
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Alliance, Nebraska.
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