Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1886 [PAGE 208]

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chemical and physical properties to the contents of gluten cells (3). The cells of the root and plumule are smaller than those just described, and are thin-walled and filled with fine granules of nitrogenous matter. In these cells is found the vital, and vegetative portion of the seed. Here is the substance that under proper conditions of heat, moisture, oxygen and light, moves, appropriates food and increases in size, or, in other words, grows. This substance is protoplasm. It is common to every living thing, high or low, plant or animal, and is alike in all, to every chemical and physical test within the knowledge of man. Such in general, then, is a grain of Indian corn, or maize, which of all our grains is the most variable in character, is cultivated under the most different conditions, is applied to the most varied uses, is cultivated over the widest geographical range (unless, possibly, barley), and is applicable to the most dissimilar conditions of agriculture.

GRASSES—VARIETIES AND CULTURE. » Every year's experience and observation increases my appreciation of the admirable adaptation of the soil of much of Illinois to the growth of the best class of grasses as well as clovers. The quality of the product is every way satisfactory and the quantity is certainly remarkably large—good treatment being taken for granted. This adaptation is a matter of vast importance, for the grasses hold a place in the first rank in the crops of the stock and dairy farm. Meat or milk is most cheaply produced when the chief— often where the main food of the animal is grass. There are thousands of varieties of grasses, widely varying in size and value, but all with some like characteristics. In popular language we exclude the grains, which are true grasses, but include the clovers, which are not really grasses. American farmers use but few varieties. This is not, on its face, certain evidence of mistaken policy, for adaptation to soil, climate and systems of farming must be considered. A less number of varieties is needed when the grass crop is part of a rotation, than when the land is devoted to permanent pasturage. Even on stock and dairy farms the permanent pasturage system is not wise as a general rule in our western agriculture, although there is much land which can most profitably be devoted to this use. By the use of grass in a rotation, the farmer is able most cheaply and conveniently to maintain in good degree the fertility of the soil and its best condition for grain crops. In old grass fields the grasses are often finer and of better quality, but often the yield is less. On the University farms we have fields which have been in grass a dozen years or more, and in one or two cases this will probably continue to be their use, but the larger part of the land is purposely cultivated in a rotation, usually of six years, with grass and clover occupying half the land and time. The value of any variety of grass will depend largely on its composition, digestibility, palatability and, other things equal, the quantity produced. Eeasonable adaptation to the soil and climate is presupposed. Some varieties are best suited for pasturage and