UC-NRLF 
 
 3D 31D 
 
 HS 
 
A MANUAL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 
 
 AND . 
 
 1 
 
 FORAGE PLANT'S 
 
 AT THE SOUTH. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, RE VISED AND ENLARGED. 
 
 BY 
 
 C. W. HOWARD 
 
 
 .For .^rt/e by the Author, Kingston, 
 
 CHARLESTON 
 WALKER, EVANS & CO( 
 
 NOP. 3 BROAD AND 109 E 
 1875. 
 
 of 
 
!F> IR, E3 E 1 .A. El . 
 
 The rapid exhaustion of the first edition of two thousand copies of this 
 little manual has emboldened me to offer another edition, revised and 
 enlarged. It has been bought by farmers and others in all the Southern 
 States, from Virginia to Texas inclusive. One business firm in North Caroli- 
 na has already distributed one hundred copies of the former edition gratui- 
 tously among its customers, and has ordered in advance five hundred copies 
 of this edition for the same purpose. 
 
 Such results are gratifying to me in a double sense. First, as indicating a 
 kindly appreciation of my humble efforts. Second, as offering evidence of an 
 increased attention in the South to a diversified agriculture. 
 
 The conviction is daily strengthening in my mind that we shall not attain 
 agricultural prosperity until exclusive cotton culture is abandoned, and we 
 learn to make a large proportion of our soil productive without labor. This 
 result can be accomplished only by the culture of the grasses, whether native 
 or artificial. In hope of aiding in this "consummation devoutly to be wished 
 for," this second edition is issued. 
 
 C. VV. HOWARD. 
 
 SPRING BANK, NEAR KINGSTON, GA. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Introduction 1 
 
 The Importance of the Subject 1 
 
 The Greatest. Crop in the World 4 
 
 Will the Cultivated Grasses and Forage 
 
 Plants Grow at the South? 4 
 
 Drawbacks 5 
 
 Forage Plants 7 
 
 Lucerne 7 
 
 Indian Corn 9 
 
 The Field Pea 9 
 
 The Vetch 9 
 
 Ribwort, or Narrow-leaved Plantain 10 
 
 The Oat as a Forage Plant 10 
 
 Red Clover 10 
 
 Uses of Red Clover 11 
 
 Hay 11 
 
 Seed 11 
 
 Pasture 11 
 
 An Improver of Land 11 
 
 Crimson Clover 12 
 
 Alsike Clover 12 
 
 White Clover 12 
 
 Millet 1'2 
 
 Guinea Grass 12 
 
 Native Grasses 13 
 
 Gamma Grass 14 
 
 Crab and Crow-foot Glasses 14 
 
 Bromus Brome Grass Rescue Grass 
 
 Cheat, or Chess 14 
 
 Bermuda Grass Cynodon Dactolon 15 
 
 Winter Grasses 18 
 
 Meadow-Oat Grass 18 
 
 Orchard Grass 19 
 
 Italian Rye Grass 19 
 
 Page. 
 
 Blue-Grass 19 
 
 Hay Grasses 20 
 
 Timothy 20 
 
 Herd's Grass 21 
 
 Time of Sowing Grass Seeds "21 
 
 Sowing with or without Grain 2* 
 
 Whether it is best to sow a variety of Grass i 
 
 Seeds 22 
 
 Proper Mixture of Grass Seeds for differ- 
 ent purposes *_>2 
 
 Grass Seeds for Meadow Land 22 
 
 For Summer Pastures 22 
 
 For Winter Pasture 22" 
 
 For Early Spring Soiling 23 
 
 Selection of Seeds Buying by weight or 
 
 measure, with a table of weights 23 
 
 After-treatment of Grass Land 23 
 
 Manures for Grass Land 24 
 
 Whether to sell Hay or to feed it 24 
 
 Improved Implements for Saving Hay 25 
 
 Raising Grass Seed for sale 25 
 
 Woods Pastures 26 
 
 Nutritive value of the Grasses 26 
 
 Analysis of Natural Grasses (100 parts 
 
 as taken green from the field) 27 
 
 Analysis of Natural Grasses (100 parts of 
 
 the grasses dried at 212 Fahr 27 
 
 Analysis of Artificial Grasses (100 parts 
 
 as taken from the field) . 28 
 
 Analysis of Artificial Grasses (in 100 
 
 parts of the grass dried at 212 Fahr.). ..28 
 Suggestions as to the selection of a Grass 
 
 or Stock Farm 29 
 
 Conclusion ....29 
 
OF THE 
 
 GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS 
 
 AT THE SOUTH.* 
 
 This manual has been written at the re- 
 quest of a number of persona to whom the 
 subject of which it treats is practically new, 
 and who are without experience in regard to 
 it. This class of persons say that the usual 
 articles written in books, or in agricultural 
 papers, by those who understand the subject, 
 are too general, taking too much for granted 
 as to the knowledge of those whom the ar- 
 ticles are designed to benefit. They desire 
 instruction as to the minutest details. This 
 minute instruction the writer will attempt to 
 afford. He begs that the purpose of this 
 manual will be borne in mind by those who 
 are familiar with grass culture, and who might 
 otherwise think the attention to details un- 
 necessary and wearisome. It is written not 
 for the informed, but the uninformed reader. 
 
 The ignorance referred to should really not 
 occasion surprise, although occurring among 
 intelligent men The present race of planters 
 has grown up in a condition of things which 
 looked to cotton as the sole market crop. The 
 deadliest enemy of cotton is grass. They have 
 therefore been accustomed to regard it as a 
 pest, to be extirpated with slave labor. It was 
 so easy and pleasant to make money that the 
 cotton planter did not care to inquire how the 
 rest of the world were managing their lands. 
 As he commanded his own labor, which was 
 movable at his pleasure, and as lands were 
 cheap, it was not material if he exhausted the 
 soil. It was a very easy matter to buy and 
 clear more lands, for which sometimes the 
 first cotton crop paid. 
 
 But things are very different now He has 
 no money with which to buy new land. If 
 
 *Entered according to Act of Congress, by C. W. 
 Howard, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, 
 at Washington, D. C. 
 
 he had the money to buy it, he could not pay 
 hands to clear it. And if he could pay them, 
 the work of clearing is too heavy for the in- 
 dolent free negro. It is almost impossible to 
 induce him to split a rail 
 
 The planter's land, which is now his only 
 capital, is worn. Only in exceptional cases has 
 it been found profitable to make cotton with 
 hired negro labor. This compels him to in- 
 quire into some other method than exclusive 
 cotton planting, by which to turn his land to 
 valuable account As a result of this inquiry, 
 he finds in agricultural books and papers 
 much said about the cultivation of the grasses 
 that great attention is paid to them in coun- 
 tries in which agriculture most flourishes, and 
 to his amazement he learns that the hay crop 
 even of this country alone, exceeds the value 
 of the cotton crop by some fifty or sixty mil- 
 lions of dollars. He therefore desires natu- 
 rally to be informed as to this crop, and all 
 the details of its management. It is proper 
 that we should fully discuss in the first place, 
 as a preliminary, 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 In the plantation States, land to a great ex- 
 tent is almost unsaleable, or saleable^at a very 
 low price. In some cases this low price is due 
 to the effects of the war. For instance the 
 rice lands which before the war commanded 
 from $150 to $300 per acre, are now com- 
 paratively valueless. The same result ^has 
 followed in the case of the rich Mississippi 
 bottom lands, which were worth $40 to $50 
 per acre. 
 
 These high prices of lands were excep- 
 tional instances. Before the war, the average 
 value of lauds was very low. In the State of 
 Georgia, with which the writer is most farnil- 
 
Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 iar, the highest average of land in any one 
 county was $10 per acre, while the lowest was 
 less than one dollar per acre. The average of 
 Georgia probably quite equalled that of any 
 other cotton State. The good cotton lands of 
 southwestern Georgia were worth frorn $10 
 to$30per acre. Now, they would not command 
 one-half that price. It is a significant fact, 
 that the rich lands in upper Georgia, in which 
 a mixed husbandry prevails, have rather in- 
 creased than decreased since the war in value. 
 Let the fact be pondered that the depression 
 in price has occurred only in lands devoted to ex- 
 clusive cotton and rice culture, both of which 
 require a large amount of labor. 
 
 A planter owning one thousand acres of fair 
 average land in the healthy portion of the 
 cotton States is a poor man. He could not 
 sell his land probably for more than $5,000- 
 He looks to the North and finds land ranging 
 from $50 to $200 per acre. He looks to 
 England, Holland or Belgium, and finds it 
 averaging from $300 to $500 per acre. Why 
 this difference ? Is the land in these countries 
 better than ours ? Not by nature if it be 
 better it is by the difference in treatment. Is 
 their climate better than ours ? The acknowl- 
 edged superiority is on our side. Are the 
 prices of their products any better than ours ? j 
 On an average not so good. Are their taxes 
 lighter than ours ? If we were compelled to 
 pay their tax, either at the North or in Eng- 
 land, our land would t once be sold for taxes. 
 Have they valuable crops which they can 
 raise, and' which we cannot raise ? There is 
 notafarm product in either Old or New Eng- 
 land which we cannot raise in equal perfection 
 at the South. Is their labor cheaper than 
 ours? The cost of labor at the North nearly 
 doubles the cost of labor at the South. In 
 England labor is cheaper than with us. But 
 the difference is perhaps compensated by the 
 poor and church rates, and other excessive 
 taxes paid by the English farmer. 
 
 If then our climate is as good as that of the 
 countries referred to, if our land is as good as 
 theirs, if our products bring as good prices, if 
 our taxes are much lighter, if we can grow all 
 the crops that they grow, if labor is cheaper 
 with us than it is at the North, and if differ- 
 ence in taxes compensates for the cheapness of 
 labor in England, why is it that their land is 
 so valuable and ours so valueless ? 
 
 We shall find the map of use to us in an- 
 swering this question. If we take the map of 
 the United States, and put our finger upon the 
 States or parts of States in which land sells at 
 the highest price, we shall find that in those 
 States or parts of States the greatest attention 
 is paid to the cultivation of the grasses and 
 forage plants. If we open the map of Europe 
 we shall find the same rule holds good. The 
 cheapest lands in Europe are those of Spain, 
 where little attention is paid to the grasses. 
 The value of land rises exactly in proportion 
 
 to" '"the attention which is given to them, in 
 England and Holland reaching sometimes for 
 farming purposes to $1,000 per acre. Holland 
 is almost a continuous meadow. This land 
 value culminates in Lombardy, where irrigated 
 meadow lands rent for $60 to $100 per acre. 
 Without exception, in Europe and America, 
 where a large portion of land is in grass or 
 forage crops, the price of land is high, reach- 
 ing the figures above mentioned. On the other 
 hand, without exception, wherever in either 
 continent the grasses do not receive this atten- 
 tion, landed estate is comparatively of low 
 value. Now, when in the investigation of the 
 cause of a given effect, we find in a number 
 of instances in which the result occurs, the 
 presence uniformly of a particular agent, and 
 in a number of similar instances in which the 
 result does not occur, we find this agent to be 
 absent ; then unless good reason to the con- 
 trary be given, we are at liberty to attribute the 
 result to the presence of this agent. The con- 
 clusion is irresistible that a large attention to 
 the cultivated grasses is essential not only to 
 improved agriculture, but also to a high value 
 of landed estate. If there be a flaw in this 
 reasoning, the writer has been unable to detect 
 it. Fifteen years ago this solution was offered 
 of the apparently anomalous condition of our 
 lands, so favored as to all the elements of ag- 
 riculture, and yet so ruinously low in saleable 
 value. Time has but strengthened the con- 
 viction of its correctness. The argument is 
 strengthened by the consideration that ex- 
 tended grass culture in any country is an 
 index of the existence of an improved agri- 
 culture. Where this occurs, there must be 
 large numbers of horses or mules, sheep and 
 cattle. These produce an abundance of ma- 
 nure. Where there is an abundance of manure 
 there will be large crops. Where there are 
 large crops land will be valuable. These 
 results follow from the grass crop as the first 
 cause. 
 
 If a farm of one thousand acres in the heal- 
 thy portion of the cotton belt were placed in 
 the condition of an English farm, as to the 
 quantity of meadow and pasture of the culti- 
 vated grasses, and which would now sell for 
 not more than $5,000, it would become intrin- 
 sically worth $100 per acre. At a low esti- 
 mate it would afford annually a net yield of 
 $10 per acre, or $10,000. This is ten per 
 cent, on $100,000. The owner would be very 
 foolish to-ftell a property yielding this income 
 for that price. The difference between the 
 present and practicable condition of the same 
 farm of one thousand acres is the difference 
 to the owner between $5,000 and $100,000 
 
 But it may be asked, would it not cost the 
 $100 per acre to bring this farm np to this es- 
 timated value ? By no mea.is. It is true that 
 the land must be made rich by manure, and 
 that this manure costs heavily. But it may be 
 applied to cotton or wheat, and the expense of 
 
Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 the manure be thus defrayed The same ma- 
 nure will answer for the following grass so 
 that the actual cost is only the grass seed, 
 which is comparatively trifling. This result 
 as to a whole farm, with our present limited 
 means, cannot be accomplished at once. But 
 it may be done field by field. If we have one 
 hundred acres in cotton or wheat, give it such 
 a manuring as will produce a maximum crop, 
 and leave a surplus of fertility in the soil. 
 This may be held there and made the basis of 
 a steadily-increasing fertility by putting the 
 land in clover or grass. This process may be 
 annually repeated with different fields until 
 the amelioration has included the whole farm. 
 A homeopathic dose of manure in the drill or 
 hill may favorably affect the growing crop. 
 But this is not a process of renovation which 
 adds value to land. To accomplish this re- 
 sult, the whole field must be made rich, and 
 afterward kept increasingly rich by a judicious 
 rotation of which clover or grass is an indis- 
 pensable constituent. 
 
 The inquirer desires to know how putting 
 a large portion of a farm into clover or grass 
 adds so much to its value. Why would not 
 cotton or corn answer the same purpose ? 
 
 The great advantage of investing money in 
 banking or other secure stocks is that we get 
 our dividends without labor on our part. We 
 can get that dividend while we are giving our 
 attention to something else. Property is 
 valuable in proportion to its security and the 
 smallness of the cost and trouble of managing 
 it. If we cultivate cotton or corn largely, we 
 must hire hands and buy mules, corn, hay, 
 bacon, and pay blacksmith's bills. If at the 
 end of the year these expenses overrun the 
 sales, then the land has been worth worse than 
 nothing to us. And if this process was to be 
 repeated it would be wise in us to give it 
 away. If there should be a small profit after 
 all our expense and trouble, then the land 
 has a small value to us, to be determined by 
 our net receipt from it. But if we put down 
 the same piece of land in grass, this is done 
 for a term of years. If this land yields only 
 a ton of hay to the acre, and if its saleable 
 value be only $20 per ton, and expenses $5, 
 we have a net profit of $15 per acre, which is 
 ten per cent, on $150, the actual value of the 
 land to the owner. The only labor in this 
 case is the cutting, curing and baling the hay. 
 With a horse-mower, tedder, rake and hay 
 lifter, this expense is not more than two 
 dollars per ton. 
 
 On a Belgian farm of one hundred acres, 
 every acre of which yields an income, the 
 steady force is not more than two hands 
 extra labor being required at grain and hay 
 harvest. The Belgian or English farm of one 
 thousand acres, under cultivation, would re- 
 quire twenty hands. The cotton plantation 
 of one thousand acres with the usual propor- 
 tion of cotton and corn would require sixty 
 
 hands, being an excess of forty hands. In 
 addition, in the one instance, capital is di- 
 minished by exhaustion of the soil in the- 
 other its fertility, and, therefore, its value, ia 
 increased. 
 
 A Belgian gentleman, who sold his land in 
 Belgium for $500 per acre, and bought river 
 bottom land in Floyd County, Georgia, at 
 $20 per acre, told the writer that he made 
 more on the Belgian farm, valuing it at 
 $500 per acre, under the Belgian system, than 
 he did on the Georgia land at $20 the acre, 
 under the Georgia system of cotton and corn. 
 He even believed that clover and grass would 
 not grow in Georgia, and, therefore, did not 
 attempt the Belgian system, and fell in with 
 the Georgia practice. 
 
 What is the difference between the Southern 
 plantation and the Belgian farm ? It is this : 
 Two-thirds of the latter yields a handsome 
 return without labor, while not an acre of the 
 former pays a cent without the use of costly 
 labor. 
 
 There are hundreds of cotton planters who 
 have abandoned their plantations and entered 
 into commercial business in the cities. There 
 are thousands who would do the same thing if 
 they could sell their lands even for a pittance. 
 Why is this ? They cannot endure the vexa- 
 tion and the expensive and unreliable labor of 
 the cotton plantation. They are disgusted 
 with it. It is not the land, or the seasons, or 
 the markets, but the labor which they think it 
 is necessary to use to excess. As a conse- 
 quence Southern cotton lands, already ruin- 
 ously cheap, are falling daily in price. 
 
 Now, suppose a system were adopted, by 
 which, while all the open land yielded an in- 
 come, only a third of the present labor was 
 used. This would give power of selection 
 among the blacks ; character among them 
 would become valuable. The quality of the 
 diminished labor which the planter would still 
 be compelled to use would be improved. But 
 the great point gained would be that by far 
 the larger portion of the land would give an 
 annual return, with scarcely an appreciable 
 amount of labor. 
 
 Any sensible person can see at once what 
 the effect of this change would be upon the 
 value and price of land. Men who have been 
 worn down by the anxiety of commercial life, 
 often think of retiring in the decline of their 
 years to the country. What sane man would 
 think of retiring to a cotton plantation, to be 
 burdened with the care of a great gang of ne- 
 groes? It would be retirement with a ven- 
 geance. On the other hand, to the wearied 
 business man there is something charming in 
 the thought of broad acres, a few select labor- 
 ers, green grass, cool shades, running water, 
 thrifty live stock, and all the abundance of the 
 farm. If there be poetry in this tkere is also 
 very pleasant and solid prose. A small, well 
 manured and well cultivated area of land in 
 
Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 cotton and the cereals, with a large proportion 
 in forage plants and grasses, would give to the 
 cotton planter a pleasure in his business and 
 an amount of real profit which he has never 
 before known. 
 
 But this subject has been sufficiently con- 
 sidered. The importance of grass culture has 
 been proved by reference to the fact, that 
 landed estate in Europe and America sells 
 high or low in proportion to the attention 
 given to the cultivated grasses, the human 
 pulse not being a surer indication of the con- 
 dition of the human body. And by these 
 grasses we are enabled to use profitably our 
 land with comparatively little care and anx- 
 iety on our part, and the employment of little 
 of our present expensive and unreliable labor. 
 
 The following condensed statement of the 
 value of the grass and hay crop, extracted 
 from the Hay, Straw and Grain Reporter, will 
 be read with interest. 
 
 THE GREATEST CROP IN THE WORLD. 
 
 A question widely discussed involves the 
 relative value of the wheat, cotton, tea, and 
 hay crops of the world. Which of these pro- 
 ducts employ the greatest amount of the 
 world's capital ? It is said that hay leads the 
 rest, and the items that enter into the account 
 as stated are somewhat startling, and will 
 make a Granger's hair stand on end. Cotton 
 and tea are local crops, while hay is produced 
 everywhere the world over, and thus the hay 
 crop greatly out-weighs either of the other 
 two. The aggregate reported value of all 
 farm products in the United States for 1870 
 was $2,447,538,658; but as this includes addi- 
 tions to stock, " betterments," etc., it is prob- 
 ably too' high. N ow the hay crop for that 
 year that is the grass dried and cured for 
 use or sold is reported at over twenty-seven 
 million tons. This, at half the selling price 
 in the large cities, would amount to $405,000,- 
 000, and is far greater than the aggregate 
 home value of the cotton crop or any other 
 crop. But the cured " hay " is but a portion 
 of the grass crop. The other portion is used 
 on the ground, and it requires considerable 
 calculation to get at the value so used, even 
 in the roughest way. In the first place, live 
 stock, including horned cattle, horses, sheep 
 swine, etc., to the value of $1,525,000,000 
 were fed from it that year. Averaging the 
 lives of these at five years, we have one-fifth 
 of that sum as representing the grass fed to 
 them in 1870, viz : $305,000,000 ; next we find 
 the value of the animals slaughtered for 
 food in that year to be $309,000,000, and as 
 this is an annual product, the whole of it will 
 for the present be credited to the grass crop ; 
 next we find that the butter crop of 1870 was 
 five hundred and fourteen millions pounds, 
 which at the low average of twenty-five cents, 
 amounts to $128,000,000, and this goes to the 
 credit of grass ; next we have two hundred 
 
 and thirty-five million gallons of milk, which 
 averaged at the low estimate of ten cents per 
 gallon, adds $25,000,000 more to the credit of 
 the grass crop; then we have one hundred 
 million pounds of wool at twenty-five cents 
 per pound, adding $25,000,000 more; and, 
 finally, fifty-three million pounds of cheese 
 at ten cents, adding over $5,000,000 to the 
 total credits to the grass crop of 1870, which 
 aggregates $887,000,000. Now, let us add the 
 value of the *' hay " crop as given above 
 viz : $405,000,000 and we have a grand 
 total for " hay " and the products of gniss con- 
 sumed on the ground amounting to $1,292,- 
 000,000 ! This is, of course, subject to deduc- 
 tion, as the meat, butter, milk, cheese and wool- 
 producing animals consume other food besides 
 grass and hay. To make ample allowance for 
 this, we deduct the entire value of the corn 
 and oat crops of 1870, estimated at $270,000,- 
 000, and this leaves a remainder of $1,082,- 
 000,000 to be credited to the hay and grass 
 crop of that year, when the reported aggregate 
 of all farm products was $2,447,528,658. If our 
 estimates make even the roughest approach 
 to accuracy, the value of that crop was two- 
 fifths of the aggregate value of all fa.rm pro- 
 ducts, and hence we may infer that two-fifths 
 of the capital then invested in agricultural 
 pursuits was devoted to the grass crop, and 
 this in the United States equals (in round 
 numbers) $4,575,000,000. Hay, Straw and 
 Grain Reporter. 
 
 It is proper now to consider another impor- 
 tant question. 
 
 WILL THE CULTIVATED GRASSES AND FORAGE 
 PLANTS GROW AT THE SOUTH ? 
 
 There are some portions of the South, as is 
 the case in all countries, where the valuable 
 grasses will not grow. These are those por- 
 tions which have been exhausted by long-con- 
 tinued and exhausting cultivation, which are 
 naturally poor, or which contain an excessive 
 quantity of sand. 
 
 If, however, it is meant to inquire whether 
 the climate of the South will prevent the suc- 
 cessful growth of valuable grasses, the answer 
 is given unhesitatingly in the negative. Per- 
 haps the only climate which is superior to ours 
 in this particular is that of England and Ire- 
 land, and others similarly situated. Theirs is 
 a dripping climate all the year round, and the 
 winters are so rnild that the grass is green the 
 whole year, so that winter and summer the 
 farmer has the advantage of grazing. 
 
 But as compared with the Northern States 
 of this country, the climate of the South is 
 certainly better adapted to grass culture, if we 
 take into consideration the whole year. At 
 the North, during the whole winter and late 
 in the spring, the ground is hard frozen or 
 covered with snow. Of course, during that 
 period the grass is useless, and this constitutes 
 a large portion of the year. 
 
Forage Plants at the /South. 
 
 The heats and dry weather of the summer 
 are the drawbacks to grass culture at the 
 South. But these affect summer pastures alone. 
 They do not affect the hay crop. This is an 
 important consideration. Clover and the hay 
 grasses are cut before dry weather sets in. 
 The hay crop at the South will not be injured 
 one year in twenty by dry weather in the 
 spring. We do not know a country more fa- 
 vored in this particular. In England, while 
 the grass grows luxuriantly in the Spring, it is 
 very uncertain whether there will be enough 
 dry weather at the proper time to save the hay. 
 Hence the preparation for hay harvest in 
 England are made with a degree of care and 
 anxiety to which we are strangers. If the 
 occasional sunshine be not used to the utmost 
 advantage, the crop is lost. We, on the con- 
 trary, always have rain enough in the Spring 
 to mature the grass, and not enough rain to 
 render the hay harvest at all precarious. 
 
 But it may be asked, when the hay is cut, 
 will not the July and August suns afterward 
 kill the grass ? There is danger of this result 
 if live stock are turned upon the meadow as 
 soon as the hay is hauled out, and the grass 
 that is left is grazed close to the ground. A 
 meadow at the South should never be grazed 
 during the summer. The grass ordinarily 
 springs rapidly after it is cut, and thus covers 
 the ground and protects the roots from the 
 intense heat of the sun. This precaution 
 should never be forgotten by those who hope 
 to raise hay successfully at the South. 
 
 But after the Fall rains set in and cool 
 weather begins, the meadows may be mode- 
 rately grazed in dry, but never in wet, weather. 
 With some grasses this grazing may be con- 
 tinued during all the dry weather of the ^win- 
 ter, as they continue green. 
 
 This winter grazing is the great advantage 
 of the South. It more than compensates for 
 the drought and heat of summer. It saves to 
 a considerable extent the cost of cutting and 
 curing hay, and of the construction of expen- 
 sive barns. While cattle and sheep at the 
 North are shut up in great stone barns, costing 
 thousands of dollars, for six or eight months 
 of the year, requiring costly feed and atten- 
 tion, the same animals during the same perioc 
 at the South might, on winter pastures, be 
 kept in equally good condition without any 
 other expense than their salt and the interest 
 on the land upon which they graze. This is 
 not mere theory. The writer has sold fa 
 Ayrshire cattle, fat enough to have been ap- 
 proved in Scotland, which never had tasted a 
 mouthful of food, winter or summer, save 
 that which they gathered for themselves. Tht 
 reasonable conclusion is that the Southerr 
 climate, if we consider the whole year, is wel 
 adapted to the successful cultivation of valu 
 able forage plants and grasses. 
 
 Now as to soil. Poor land in no countrj 
 will raise rich grass. But there is a differ 
 
 ence, other things being equal, in the natural 
 adaptation of soils to grass. Sandy soils are 
 unfavorable to it. This want of natural adap- 
 tation may, however, be compensated by extra 
 jains in preparation and manuring. Tight 
 clay soils are, at the South, best adapted to 
 rass. Wherever such a soil is either natu- 
 rally or artificially rich, grass will thrive in 
 t. Some of these soils are unsuited to any 
 other crop from their compactness, unless it 
 e oats. For instance, what are called " pipe- 
 lay lands," these will bring neither cotton nor 
 corn to advantage, but will produce excellent 
 lerdsgrass. There are thousands and tens of 
 thousands of acres of this pipe-clay land, now 
 .itterly valueless to their owners, which would 
 make fine herdsgrass meadows. 
 
 Success in grass culture is simply a question 
 of food for the plant. It must be the food 
 which the plant requires. If a horse has ever 
 so much meat near him and nothing else, 
 tie will starve. If a dog has a hay-stack 
 within his reach and nothing else, he also 
 will starve. Plants have their likes and dis- 
 likes in the way of food as decidedly as 
 animals. Land may bring a bag of cotton to 
 the acre, and yet be poor grass land. On the 
 contrary, land may be well adapted to grass, 
 which is unsuited for cotton. Lands, in their 
 virgin state, abounding in the salts useful in 
 general agriculture almost to excess, will pro- 
 duce a great variety of crops. From this 
 virgin affluence plants have an opportunity of 
 selecting their appropriate food But when 
 these salts have been consumed or washed 
 away, when we plant a crop of any kind we 
 must put back the specialty in the way of food 
 which is required by that particular crop. 
 Therefore, if we wish to sow clover on land 
 which has been deprived of phosphate of lime 
 and potash we must replace them. If we wish 
 to sow grass, we must replace ammonia and 
 potash. Perhaps the following general rule 
 will prove an useful guide : Any land that 
 will bring good wheat will bring good clover, 
 and any land that will bring good oats, will 
 bring good grass. 
 
 The writer has seen the various useful for- 
 age plants and grasses tried from the moun- 
 tains to the coast of Georgia. He has been 
 closely observing in regard to this important 
 interest for more than twenty years. As a 
 conclusion of this protracted observation, he 
 does not hesitate to say if ground be made 
 sufficiently rich and as well prepared, that if 
 judgment be exercised in sowing and in 
 adaptation of species to particular locality, 
 and proper subsequent management be ob- 
 served, that so far as soil and climate be 
 concerned, the South has unusual fitness for 
 successful cultivation of the valuable grasses. 
 
 DRAWBACKS. 
 
 The grass grown at the South will have 
 some difficulties to contend with. But none 
 
Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 so formidable as those which are incident to 
 cotton and wheat. One of these difficulties, 
 the heat of the summer's sun, has already 
 been noticed, and also the mode of removing 
 it. In this connection there is an additional 
 consideration. We have really comparatively 
 little need of artificial summer pastures. 
 Broomsedge makes excellent spring pastures, 
 and the crab-grass in the stubble gives a sum- 
 mer pasture which cannot be surpassed. This 
 is a point of superiority of the South over the 
 North. The Northern farmer has nothing to 
 correspond with our crab-grass. Bis stock are 
 eating without appetite or relish in August 
 and September the old grass of the spring, 
 while our stock are luxuriating on the fresh 
 bite of the newly-sprung crab-grass. 
 
 We are fortunately exempt in our pastures 
 and meadows to a great degree from perennial 
 weeds. The two most troublesome are the 
 dock and the thorn-apple, or ''tread soft," as 
 it is called in the vernacular. The former 
 must be dug up by the roots, the latter may 
 be killed in either of two ways ; it will be de- 
 stroyed by repeated mowing, or if sheep are 
 turned into the pasture when the berries are 
 green they will eat them with avidity. In 
 two seasons the plant will die when thus 
 treated. But if either sheep or cattle are 
 turned into the meadow or pasture when the 
 seeds of this pest are ripe, they will eat them 
 and scatter them over the farm. The cow- 
 itch and the China briar are easily destroyed 
 by cutting with a scythe as often during the 
 season as the leaves put out. The leaves are 
 the lungs of plants, and if they cannot breathe 
 they die. Blackberries and sassafras may be 
 destroyed in the same way, that is, by repeated 
 cutting. This work, however, requires the 
 attention of the owner. If a negro is sent to 
 cut down either briar or sassafras, and if he 
 leaves only a leaf or shrub on the stock he 
 might as well not have cut it at all. But it is 
 best to destroy these troublesome plants before 
 grass is sown. For this purpose a flock of 
 sheep is very effective. In a single season, if 
 kept hungry in a short pasture, they will ex- 
 terminate both briars and sassafras, if they 
 have been previously cut down in the spring 
 The sheep will render a second cutting un- 
 necessary. 
 
 But the greatest enemy to permanent mead- 
 ows or pastures of the cultivated grasses is 
 broomsedge. Ordinarily before a meadow or 
 pasture is five or six years old, it is overrun 
 with this grass ; and the richer the land the 
 ranker is its growth. It is usually considered 
 to be a sign of poverty of soil, but this is be- 
 cause fields at the South are usually turned 
 pastures only when they have become ex- 
 hausted of the food of valuable crops. It 
 will grow better on the richest bottom than 
 on poor upland. 
 
 A precaution against broomsedge is very 
 heavy seeding of the grasses which we desire 
 
 to occupy the soil. When grass seed is sown 
 it should be thick enough for the plants to oc- 
 cupy the whole ground at once. Wherever 
 there is the smallest vacant place broomsedge 
 will appear. When it has made its appear- 
 ance if a shovelful of wet or recent manure, 
 or of rotted manure in a powdered state, is 
 thrown upon a tuft of it it will die, and the 
 good grass is benefitted. It will be observed 
 that this pest never grows about a place in 
 which stock have been kept or penned. A 
 meadow or pasture well manured with stable 
 or barn yard manure will not be troubled 
 with broomsedge for a number of years It 
 is to be presumed that Peruvian guano, or 
 ammonia applied in any form will have the 
 same effect with barn-yard manure. Potash, 
 in the form of ashes, is equally destructive to 
 broomsedge, and beneficial to the valuable 
 grasses. The careful observer will have 
 noticed that in the thickest set old broom- 
 sedge field it never grows up to a burned 
 stump, not approaching nearer than a circle 
 of three or four feet. If a flock of sheep are 
 closely penned, using a moveable fence, for 
 ten or twelve nights, on places in a valuable 
 meadow, on which broomsedge has appeared, 
 it will be effectually killed without injury to 
 the good grasses. The treading and the ma- 
 nure combine to effect this result. The pres- 
 ence of broomsedge indicates the absence or 
 deficiency of ammoniacal manures. 
 
 In this connection, and as an adjunct of 
 grass farming at the South, it may be well to 
 describe a portable fence, in use by the writer, 
 originated by him, but not patented. 
 
 Make a panel of fence eight or ten feet 
 long, of five planks, six inches wide, and 
 three-quarters to one inch high, nailed to 
 three uprights, two by three inches, twenty- 
 five and one-half feet long. The uprights 
 should be sharpened at the lower end, a two 
 inch auger hole should be bored diagonally, 
 and in these, stakes should be inserted. These 
 stakes may be of saplings of any kind, six 
 feet long, sharpened at the lower end, and 
 with a shoulder at the upper end, so that the 
 stakes will project nearly one foot above the 
 plank. The fence will stand at an angle of 
 about forty-five degrees to the ground. If the 
 fence is to stand for a length of time, it would 
 be well to bore a three-quarter auger hole 
 through the stakes above the planks and in- 
 sert a wooden pin. The corner panels can 
 be made to fit by shortening the planks from 
 the top to the bottom. With a flock of sheep 
 and a movable fence, the farmer can be quite 
 independent of broomsedges in his meadows. 
 But it may be said that it may pay to 
 manure meadows or hay, but not manure 
 pastures. Certainly not summer pastures. 
 The natural grasses, broomsedge among them, 
 answer very well for that purpose. But it 
 will pay, and pay handsomely, to manure 
 winter pastures, because they are in effect 
 
Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 meadows without the cost of hay making. 
 In the whole range of Southern agriculture 
 there is no crop on which manure pays as 
 well as on winter pastures. 
 
 The annual weeds are no serious injury to 
 artificial meadows or pastures. The first year 
 their shade is rather valuable than otherwise ; 
 afterward most of them require the ground to 
 be stirred to induce vegetation. Mowing the 
 grass will destroy those which do vegetate by 
 preventing their going to seed. 
 
 On the whole the drawbacks to successful 
 grass culture at the South are as few and as 
 easily removable as in any portion of Chris- 
 tendom. 
 
 FORAGE PLANTS. 
 
 By the term Forage Plants, is meant any 
 plant not a grain or grass which is cut and 
 cured for food for the domestic animals. A 
 great variety of these plants are cultivated in 
 different parts of Europe. Most of these are 
 not adapted to the climate of the South. 
 Among them are Chicory, Burnett or Pimper- 
 nel, Scabius, Spurry, Lupin,and Sainfoin. Very 
 careful experiments were made with each of 
 these plants. They were tried on upland and 
 lowland, with and without lime, with and with- 
 out manure The first seeds were obtained 
 from England. When they failed, seeds were 
 ordered direct from France and Italy. The 
 seeds " vegetated in each case, but the plants 
 were not found to be practically useful. Chi- 
 cory grows at the South with great vigor, but 
 it requires too much labor in cultivation. 
 The experiments with Sainfoin were varied 
 and persistent. It was abandoned with reluc- 
 tance. It is so valuable in England, and 
 especially in France, in a climate very much 
 like our own, that great results were hoped 
 from it. The Sainfoin grew, but never became 
 tall enough to mow. It is said to flourish in 
 Europe best in sandy, calcareous soils. Possibly 
 it may thrive in what are called rotten lime- 
 stone lands. It is well worthy of experiment in 
 these soils, as where it thrives well it is placed 
 at the head of forage plants. Its name, " sa- 
 cred grass," indicates the value which is 
 attached to it. 
 
 It is proper to say that all of these experi- 
 ments were made in the blue limestone lands 
 of northwestern Georgia. In this section we 
 do not hesitate to say thfrt trials of all the 
 above-mentioned plants have been unsuccess- 
 ful In view of this failure it is unnecessary 
 to enter into a description of their cultivation 
 and use. 
 
 LUCERNE. 
 
 As a forage plant at the South, lucerne is 
 very far superior to all others. It is used for 
 two purposes. First, for feeding green or 
 soiling ; used in this way, it is best to cut the 
 lucerne a day in advance, so as to feed it in a 
 wilted state. It must never be pastured. Live 
 
 stock pasturing it, bifce out the crowns of the 
 plants and kill them. When fed green, it may 
 be given to horses, cattle and hogs. Horses 
 fed upon it when not at work need no grain-^ 
 when at work one good feed of grain a day 
 is sufficient. Hogs will keep in good order 
 on green lucerne cut and thrown to them. 
 
 Lucerne hay is extremely nutritious, and is 
 relished by horses, cattle and sheep. So far 
 as the observation of the writer extends, it is 
 preferred by the domestic animals to any other 
 kind of hay. 
 
 The product of lucerne is enormous. Five 
 tons of excellent hay may be cut from one 
 acre of ground planted in lucerne- It is esti- 
 mated that fodder, green and dry, may be ob- 
 tained from an acre of lucerne for the support 
 of five horses during the entire year this 
 includes the great bulk of green food during 
 the spring, summer and autumn. 
 
 In this latitude lucerne is not green during 
 0le months of December, January, and part of 
 February. In the low country it would prob- 
 ably be green all the year. In this section it 
 commences its growth during the latter part 
 of February, and gives its first cutting early 
 in April, even before the wild grass begins to 
 spring. It is ready to cut fully a month in 
 advance of red clover. The rapidity of its 
 growth is excelled only by asparagus. 
 
 The root is perennial, lasting ten or fifteen, 
 or perhaps more years. These roots become 
 as large as small-sized carrots. Five acres of 
 lucerne on this farm were destroyed during 
 the war by being grazed by Sherman's horses 
 and cattle. After that, the ground was left 
 riddled with holes, giving it the appearance 
 of a locust year. The succeeding crop of corn 
 was very heavy. This might have been ex- 
 pected in view of the fact stated by Ville, 
 that lucerne absorbs more ammonia from the 
 atmosphere than any other plant whatsoever. 
 This is a point, however, of little practical 
 utility, as no one having a field of lucerne 
 would plough it up for any other crop. Great 
 care must be taken in saving lucerne hay. If 
 it is too much exposed to a hot sun, the leaves 
 crumble and fall off. The prevention is to 
 put the lucerne cut in the morning into small 
 cocks in the afternoon, open them for a little 
 while the next morning after the dew is off, 
 and haul immediately to the barn. These 
 cocks should be not more than six feet tall, 
 and as small round as can be made to 
 stand. The hay is cured as it were in the 
 shade, the wind or air circulating through 
 the cocks. 
 
 Whenever lucerne turns yellow, it should 
 be mowed, no matter if it has not attained its 
 full height. The yellow color is an evidence 
 of disease, or the ravages of some small in- 
 sect. Lucerne should be cut as soon as it is 
 in blossom, after this the stems become hard 
 and woody. It does not reach perfection until 
 the third year. The yield is, however, heavy 
 
8 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 the first year as compared with other forage 
 plants 
 
 Notwithstanding all precautions, some 
 weeds and crab-grass will appear the first 
 year. These must be repeatedly mowed, so as 
 to prevent their going to seed. If they are 
 annuals they will give you no trouble after 
 the first year. 
 
 The ground designed for lucerne should 'be 
 made as clean as possible. In its first year it 
 is delicate, and in very rich ground is" liable 
 to be smothered by weeds, and especially 
 crab-grass. All perennial weeds, as dock, 
 plantain, thorn-apple or in the vernacular, 
 "Tread soft" should be carefully extermi- 
 nated. Either Bermuda or blue grass, or in 
 fact any stoloniferous perennial grass would 
 be very hurtful to it. In view of this neces- 
 sity, a cleansing crop should precede it, 
 as cotton or turnips, fed on the. ground by 
 sheep. 
 
 As the taproots of lucerne penetrate to% 
 great depth, the soil should be ploughed to a 
 great depth. A heavy two-horse plough 
 should be followed by a two-horse subsoil 
 plough. It would be well to cross-plough the 
 same way. The surface should then be re- 
 peatedly harrowed until it is perfectly free 
 from lumps. 
 
 Lucerne seems to be indifferent to the tex- 
 ture of the soil, provided it be dry and suffi- 
 ciently rich. The writer has seen it grow 
 with luxuriance on the sands of the seaboard, 
 and the clay of the blue lime-stone country. 
 But two things are required, the soil must be 
 dry and rich. 
 
 Too much pains cannot be taken with 
 ground to be sown in lucerne, as to cleanness, 
 fertility and depth of ploughing. It would be 
 best for any one who does not design to take 
 these pains, to let it alone. On land of ordi- 
 nary fertility and cleanness, lucerne would be 
 very profitless. 
 
 If barn-yard manure be used, it should be 
 perfectly rotted so as to contain no seeds of 
 weeds. If it be not rotted, it is best to use one 
 of the commercial manures. One should be 
 selected which contains a small amount of 
 ammonia, and a large percentage of phosphate 
 and potash. One thousand pounds of this 
 manure to an acre would not be at all too 
 much. This should be thoroughly harrowed 
 in before the seed is sown. A top dressing 
 should be given every third year. 
 
 Whether the seed should be sown broad- 
 cast or in drill, depends on the condition of 
 the ground as to cleanness. If the ground be 
 perfectly clean, broadcast sowing is the cheap- 
 est and best. If the ground in two or three 
 years becomes hard on the , surface, it can 
 be harrowed when the top dressing is ap- 
 plied. 
 
 If the ground be foul, the seed should be 
 sown in drills, about twelve inches apart. A 
 coulter or very narrow scooter-plough can be 
 
 run between the rows as often as may seem 
 necessary. 
 
 About ten pounds of seed should be sown 
 to the acre. This seed now sells in New 
 York at fifty cents per pound, making the 
 cost of seed for an acre five dollars. In large 
 quantity it can probably be bought at a 
 cheaper rate. When sowed, the seed should 
 be brushed in, or rolled. The covering should 
 be very light, in fact if the seed be sown be- 
 fore a rain or during a drizzle, no covering is 
 necessary. 
 
 Here it may be proper to remark in con- 
 nection with the sowing of all small seeds, 
 whether of forage plants or grasses, that if 
 they are covered an inch deep, vegetation is 
 doubtful, and if a clod is turned over upon 
 them they will not vegetate at all. The seeds- 
 man is often blamed when the fault is in too 
 deep covering by the farmer. 
 
 It may be said that the process of prepara- 
 tion of land for lucerne is very expensive. 
 That is true. But let us compare this expense 
 and the results. Suppose an acre of land to 
 be worth $10, and the cost of ploughing, 
 harrowing, manure and seed be $40, in all 
 $50 Five tons of lucerne hay, if it be sold 
 at $20 per ton, is $100, a very good interest 
 on $50. In most localities where there is a 
 market for hay, lucerne would command up- 
 wards of $30 per ton. It should also be re- 
 membered that the results of the expenditure 
 last for a term of years, and not for one 
 year, as in the case of corn or cotton or grain 
 crops. 
 
 Great efforts have been made to introduce 
 lucerne into England. Large premiums for a 
 series of years have been offered by the Royal 
 Agricultural Society. But the soil or climate, 
 or both, are unsuited to it. 
 
 Efforts have been made to introduce it 
 in the Northern States of this country, but 
 also without success. The winters are too 
 severe. 
 
 Lucerne is a child of the sun. It is a plant 
 of a warm climate. Its long taproots render 
 it comparatively insensible to drought. It 
 grows as well at the South as it does in France 
 or Italy. Yet it may be doubted if there are 
 ten acres of lucerne on any one farm at the 
 South. While we have a plant which yields 
 hay of a better quality and double in quan- 
 tity, as compared with any grass grown at the 
 North, our railroads are groaning under the 
 weight of Northern hay. 
 
 In our present condition it can hardly be 
 expected that farmers will lay down much 
 land in lucerne, on account of its expense, 
 unless it be where there is a ready market for 
 hay. But every farmer should have an acre 
 or more of lucerne near his stable, according 
 to the number of his horses. In no other 
 way can he provide for them a fodder so 
 cheap and nutritious. The practice is growing 
 among persons living in our villages, to have 
 
' 
 
 Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 a clover lot to provide hay, or cut green food 
 for their cows and horses. Such persons will 
 find lucerne to be much more valuable than 
 clover, both as to quantity and quality of the 
 food produced. 
 
 Much space has been devoted to this plant 
 because it is so little known among our farm- 
 ers, and because its cultivation would be of 
 such great benefit to them. 
 
 INDIAN CORN. 
 
 Corn is spoken of not as a grain. Nor in 
 reference to its fodder pulled in the ordinary 
 way. Few farmers understand the actual cost 
 of fodder pulling It will appear when they 
 send a gang of hands into a one hundred acre 
 field to pull fodder, every blade of every stalk 
 must be manipulated or handled. Contrast 
 this tedious, toilsome, costly process with 
 saving a crop of hay by improved machinery, 
 by aid of which the grass is not touched by 
 human hands from the cutting to the loading 
 into the barn. 
 
 Strictly as a forage plant corn possesses a 
 great value. It may be ranked next to 
 lucerne, which it exceeds in quantity, but does 
 not equal in quality. Ten tons of cured fodder 
 may be procured from an acre of land. 
 
 To obtain a full crop, the soil should be 
 heavily manured, and ploughed very deep. 
 The rows should be three feet apart, and the 
 corn sowed at the rate of three bushels to the 
 acre. One ploughing and hoeing is generally 
 sufficient. The corn should be cut when it is 
 in tassel. If the weather be good it may lay 
 upon the ground twenty-four hours. Stalks 
 should have been left standing at such dis- 
 tances that the cut stalks may be piled around 
 them in the shape of a stack. They may be 
 fastened by tying them with a stalk near the 
 top. Rain will not injure them in this posi- 
 tion, and in a week or ten days they may be 
 hauled into the barn- 
 
 These corn-stalks cut up with a straw-cutter 
 make very good winter forage for horses and 
 cattle, though not so good as hay. Their 
 principal use at the North is for soiling milch 
 cows in the summer. The necessity for this 
 arises from the fact that at that season grass 
 in their pastures is old and dry, and cows fail 
 in their milk on it. This necessity does not 
 exist with us, as at the same season our crab- 
 grass affords a frjph bite. Very sensible farm- 
 ers at the South have estimated the crab-grass 
 pastures of a fair season on stubble land as 
 being nearly equal in value to the preceding 
 small grain crop. 
 
 In the absence of a sufficient supply of hay, 
 it is very proper for the Southern farmer to 
 have some acres in sowed corn. The objection 
 to this practice is that it must be repeated 
 every year. This involves manual labor and 
 expense, whereas a meadow lasts for ye^rs, and 
 requires no labor but the harvest. In sowing 
 corn for forage, it is preferable to use North- 
 
 ern or Western seed onrn, as the stalks are not 
 as large and hard as the Southern varieties. 
 
 THE FIELD PEA. 
 
 A variety of the pea for forage purposes 
 should be selected which runs very much to 
 vine. In this respect the varieties of the pea 
 differ materially, some growing in bunches, 
 others in rich land, matting the ground with 
 vines. The peas should be sown in drills 
 three feet apart and worked sufficiently to 
 keep them clean. The vines should be cut 
 when a few of the peas have matured, but when 
 most of the pods are green. A short-bladed 
 scythe should be used in cutting them. They 
 are saved without difficulty by the same pro- 
 cess which was recommended in the case of 
 lucerne, only the pea vines should remain a 
 day or two longer in the cock. The amount 
 of valuable winter forage which can be ob- 
 tained from an acre of rich land in peas is 
 very great. The writer has found the follow- 
 ing an easy and efficacious method of saving 
 pea vine hay. Cut pine or other poles, about 
 as long as an ordinary fodder pole, leaving 
 the branches two to three feet long. Sink the 
 pole securely in the ground, and stack the 
 vines when quite green about this pole. The 
 short branches left will secure sufficient ven- 
 ^ilation and prevent mildew. 
 
 THE VETCH. 
 
 There are two general varieties of this 
 plant, the winter and summer vetch. The lat- 
 ter is of very little use to us, as it will not for 
 summer soiling yield as large an amount of 
 green forage as corn. The winter vetch will 
 be found quite useful for soiling purposes very 
 early in the spring. For this use it comes 
 earlier than lucerne, being ready for the first 
 cutting during the first warm spell in Feb- 
 ruary. The seeds should be sown early in 
 August, allowing one bushel to the acre. On 
 well-manured land the vetch, or tare, yields a 
 large amount of early-cut food, or it may be 
 made into nutritious hay. 
 
 The English attach much importance to the 
 vetch. But with the single exception of early 
 green food, they are hardly equal to our com- 
 mon field pea. 
 
 There is a small vetch or vetchling which is 
 sometimes introduced upon Southern farms 
 with Northern grass seed. On rich land it 
 will grow two to three feet high, blossoms 
 even before blue grass, and is very useful for 
 early pasture. As soon as ripe the pods burst 
 open, and the seeds are scattered. Wherever 
 this plant appears it should be encouraged. 
 
 More than twenty- five years ago, the writer 
 observed a very luxuriant bunch of native 
 vetch growing on a plantation wharf on 
 Cooper River, in South Carolina, and directed 
 the attention of the proprietor to it as a val- 
 uable plant. But he was a rice planter, and in 
 that day no man among rice or cotton planters 
 
10 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 had "two strings to his bow," and the sug- 
 gestion was unnoticed. 
 
 The December number, 1874, of that excel- 
 lent agricultural journal, the Rural Carolinian, 
 contains a suggestive article from Mr A. B. 
 Hose, of Charleston. That gentleman details 
 an experiment, in which he turned under a 
 crop of this native vetch, and with the aid of 
 some lime, and the result on four and a half 
 acres was the production of forty-five bushels 
 of corn to the acre. 
 
 The use of this native vetch as a fertilizer 
 is well worthy of consideration and examina- 
 tion in those parts of the South in which the 
 soil is too sandy for the successful growth of 
 red clover. 
 
 There is a perennial vetchling, somewhat 
 larger than what is called the partridge pea, 
 which is native in all parts of this State, and 
 which might be made useful by cultivation. 
 This variety grows wild in the woods, and is 
 green all winter. Live stock are very fond of 
 it, and eat it out where they can reach it. Its 
 being perennial is greatly in its favor. 
 
 RIBWORT, OR NARROW-LEAVED PLANTAIN. 
 
 The seed of this plant is frequently intro- 
 "duced with clover seed. On ordinary uplands 
 it is of little use, except that it is green during 
 the winter, and gives a moderate bite to sheep, 
 which are very fond of it at that season. On 
 rich upland or moist bottom land, it grows 
 quite high enough among the grass to be cut 
 for hay. In Lombardy it is an essential con- 
 stituent of their best meadows. The narrow 
 leaved should be distinguished from the broad 
 leaved plantain, which is worthless. 
 
 THE OAT AS A FORAGE PLANT. 
 
 No more valuable winter forage for horses' 
 cattle, and sheep, can be found than oats cu*" 
 just before the straw begins to turn. The seed 
 will mature, and the straw cut in this state is 
 equal to good hay. Horses will do moderate 
 work upon oats in this state without other 
 food. The oats should be cut with a mowing 
 blade, and cured as hay. They should, of 
 course, be cut up with a cutting-knife before 
 feeding. 
 
 The objection to all these annuals as forage 
 plants is quite serious. It is a tax to be com- 
 pelled to repeat the same process every year, 
 when there are plants equally valuable which 
 last for a term of years. Rather than pull 
 fodder, any one of them should be used, but 
 only until permanent meadows and pastures 
 are laid down. 
 
 RED CLOVER. 
 
 In the variety of its uses this is the most 
 valuable herbaceous plant to the Southern 
 farmer. Lucerne is superior to it in the quan- 
 tity and quality of its hay. But, then, lucerne 
 cannot be grazed, nor can it form a part of an 
 ameliorating rotation of crops, and will not 
 
 thrive ex|pj^>t upon land in the highest tilth 
 and of extreme fertility. Red clover, on the 
 other hand, bears grazing admirably, is an 
 ameliorating crop ; makes excellent hay and 
 in large quantity, and thrives on land of mod- 
 erate fertility, such as will produce remunera- 
 tive crops of wheat or corn. 
 
 The doubts as to whether red clover would 
 succeed at the South have been dispelled. 
 There have been fine clover fields from Hutch- 
 inson's Island, opposite Savannah, in the mid- 
 dle country, and among the mountains. In no 
 part of this State, or any other of the South- 
 ern States, has it finally failed after intelligent 
 and persistent trial upon proper soil. A 
 farmer may have sowed clover and failed. 
 Perhaps he may also have sowed wheat, or 
 planted cotton or corn, and failed. But this 
 does not deter him from sowing or planting 
 again. He knows that he must have made a 
 mistake, or the seasons may have been against 
 him. These failures in clover may be attri- 
 buted to bad seed, or too deep covering, or to 
 unsuitable soil, or to a very hot and dry sea- 
 son. 
 
 This plant is of so great importance to us, 
 that these causes of failure should be carefully 
 investigated and corrected by a different prac- 
 tice in the future. One, or several failures, 
 should not discourage us in a new and impor- 
 tant culture. Many persons have succeeded 
 in growing clover in all the different sections 
 of the South. Why not all succeed who have 
 suitable soil ? 
 
 What is a suitable clover soil ? It must 
 contain a large percentage of clay. Our ex- 
 tremely sandy lands on or near the coast will 
 not grow clover successfully. Among them 
 the pea must be the substitute for clover ; and 
 an excellent substitute it is, with the exception 
 that it is an annual, and requires some culti- 
 vation. The native vetch may also prove 
 useful. 
 
 But where the surface is sandy and the sub- 
 soil clay, the clay may be brought to the sur- 
 face and manured ; clover will then thrive 
 upon it. Generally a good wheat soil, and 
 every farmer knows what that is, is a good 
 clover soil. The richer the soil, the more 
 rankly will the clover grow. It is time thrown 
 away to sow clover seed on land that will not 
 bring ten or fifteen bushels of wheat to the 
 acre, or its equivalent in othr grains. 
 
 The subsoil for clover muft be dry. It will 
 not thrive on wet lands. But it does thrive 
 on bottom lands thoroughly drained. Hence 
 it has always been the opinion of the writer, 
 that the rice lands on our coast would yield 
 magnificent crops of clover, and be more 
 profitable, all things considered, than rice. 
 
 A gallon of clover seed is sufficient for an 
 acre, or a bushel to eight acres. The seed 
 should be lightly covered with a brush or 
 roller, and not with a plough. 
 
 The ground for clover should be ploughed as 
 
Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 11 
 
 deeply as possible. The danger to clover arises 
 from our hot suns acting upon the surface of 
 the ground. If the young clover root has a 
 loose bed underneath, it will rapidly penetrate 
 to a sufficient depth to pump up moisture, and 
 thus be measurably independent of drought. 
 The writer has seen excellent clover grown in 
 Morgan County, in this State (Georgia), one 
 of the midland counties, on worn clay soil, 
 the seed sown in April and followed by a dry 
 spring. The preparation was very deep 
 ploughing and dressing the surface with three 
 hundred pounds of superphosphate of lime. 
 
 USES OF RED CLOVER. 
 
 Hay. Clover should be cut for hay as soon 
 as a portion of the heads begin to turn brown. 
 Earlier than this it is too watery, later it is 
 too woody. Clover hay may be very useful 
 or very worthless for forage, according to the 
 time at which it is cut, and the manner in 
 which it is cured. Clover cut in the morning 
 should be treated as previously directed for 
 lucerne. The great object is to cure it as 
 much as possible in the shade. The hay, when 
 cut at the proper time and cured in this way, 
 will be of a nice green color, with all the leaves 
 and blossoms attached, instead of the black 
 sticks which are often sold to us as clover 
 hay. Rich land will yield two tons, and 
 sometimes three, of clover hay. At $30 per 
 ton this is $60 to $90 per acre. It is as sure 
 a crop as wheat, cotton or corn. Where there 
 is a market for hay, considering the amount 
 of labor it requires, and the condition in 
 which it leaves the land, it is a more profit- 
 able crop at present prices of hay, than either 
 of the three crops above mentioned. 
 
 Seed. The use of clover is extending so 
 rapidly at the South, that it is quite time 
 that we raise our own seed. The present 
 price is enormous as compared with the cost 
 of saving it. The second crop should be re- 
 served for seed. A simple implement, which 
 can be made on any farm, is used for gather- 
 ing the clover heads, when the seed is ripe. 
 This is a box on wheels running near the 
 ground ; in front of it are fingers like those of 
 the cradle, only shorter. The box, to which 
 handles are attached is made to tilt backward 
 when full. It is drawn by one horse in shafts. 
 The clover huller can be bought in New York 
 for $50. Five to six bushels of clover seed 
 can be grown on an acre. At present prices, 
 $10 in most Southern markets, this would pay 
 very well. There would be material advan- 
 tage in buying acclimated seed. 
 
 Pasture. No live stock should be turned 
 upon a clover field until the clover is in blos- 
 8om. The temptation to violate this rule is 
 very great. Ordinarily short as our winters 
 are, the provision for winter forage is scant. 
 Clover springs so early, and our live stock are 
 
 so hungry, that the inducement is very great 
 to put them upon the clover before the proper 
 time. But it would be less costly to buy food 
 than to do this. By too early pasturing, the 
 clover is killed out, and it is then said that 
 clover will not succeed at the South. Pre- 
 cautions should be taken in turning horses or 
 cattle into a clover field. If they are hungry 
 at the time, they would over-eat themselves, 
 andthe result is an attack of what is called 
 hoven The animal swells, and often in a 
 short time dies. To prevent this, live stock 
 turned into a clover field should previously 
 be fully fed ; they should not have had access 
 to salt within twenty-four hours ; they should 
 not the first day remain more than half an 
 hour, and the dew should have been dis- 
 sipated. 
 
 While clover gives a valuable pasture for 
 all live stock, it is especially valuable^for 
 hogs. If they are put upon clover after it is 
 in blossom, with the exception of sucking 
 sows they will need little or no other food. 
 No one who has not made the trial, can 
 imagine how many hogs an acre of really good 
 clover will keep in growing order. 
 
 It should be remembered that clover, as 
 well as all other forage plants and grasses, 
 should be lightly pastured during midsum- 
 mer. It is absolutely essential that sufficient 
 growth be left upon the ground to protect the 
 roots from the intense heat of the summer's 
 sun. Our main reliance for pasture at that 
 season should be the crab-graf^ n 
 stubble fields. 
 
 An Improver of Land. It cannot be ex- 
 pected that clover will restore, unassisted, an 
 absolutely exhausted soil. Land must be in 
 a condition to bring fair crops of grain before 
 clover can be sowed upon it to advantage. Af- 
 terward in a judicious rotation, it will im- 
 prove the soil* rapidly. It does this in two 
 ways, by the decay of its large taproot, and by 
 its absorbing ammonia rapidly from the at- 
 mosphere- The cheapest manure that we can 
 use, after land has been put into proper con- 
 dition, is clover seed. At the North clover is 
 a biennial ; at the South it lasts for several 
 years, exactly how long the writer does not 
 know. After clover has once fairly gone to 
 seed at the South, if a short rotation is 
 adopted, it will not be necessary to sow it 
 again. For instance in the following rota- 
 tions : First, cotton or corn ; second, oats ; 
 third, wheat ; the clover will spring sponta- 
 neously among the wheat. The ground should 
 remain two years in clover and the rotation 
 then be repeated. Land thus treated will im- 
 prove steadily and even rapidly, without fur- 
 ther expenditure for manures. 
 
 In view of these varied uses, the successful 
 cultivation of red clover is an object of the 
 greatest importance to the people of the 
 South. 
 
12 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 CRIMSON CLOVER. 
 
 This is an annual, and is liable to the same 
 objections with all other annuals. It may be 
 sowed with wheat in the fall, and after the 
 wheat is cut, will yield a fair crop of hay, or 
 give good pasture the same season. But in 
 the experience of the writer, it has been found 
 to be inferior to the common red clover. 
 
 ALSIKE CLOVER. 
 
 This is a perennial plant, spreading, like 
 white clover, from the roots. It appears to 
 be an intermediate between red and white 
 clover. It grows taller than the latter, but 
 not so tall as the former. A prima facia con- 
 sideration against it is that it is a native of 
 Sweden, and could hardly be expected to 
 thrive in a hot climate. Some persons at the 
 South have spoken well of it. The trials 
 of it by the writer have not been satisfactory. 
 
 WHITE CLOVER. 
 
 This is a very valuable plant at the South. 
 On rich land it will grow tall enough to be 
 cut by itself, which is not the case at the 
 North or in England. Mixed with timothy 
 and herds-grass, it greatly increases the bulk 
 and value of the hay, giving a cutting close to 
 the ground. 
 
 It affords excellent pasture in the spring 
 for hogs, sheep, and cattle, and also for horses, 
 until the blossoms fall, when it salivates them. 
 This is also true of the second crop of red 
 clover. 
 
 White clover is much valued in England on 
 account of its manurial properties. After it is 
 once firmly set in the soil, whenever it is at 
 rest, the white clover springs up. When a 
 worn soil has become natural to white clover, 
 the process of resuscitation is rapid. An ap- 
 plication of ashes will often cause white clover 
 to spring up where it has not been known be- 
 fore. If mixed with red clover two quarts of 
 seed is sufficient, as it spreads both from the 
 seed and root. 
 
 MILLET. 
 
 Eight varieties of millet exist in this coun" 
 try and have been cultivated. It is used for 
 soiling purposes, for hay, and for its seed. 
 Upward of fifty bushels of seed have been 
 raised to the acre on rich land. The hay 
 made from millet is of good quality and large 
 quantity. For forage purposes, in the opinion 
 of the writer, it is not superior to oats, and is 
 inferior to the winter vetch. It is objection- 
 able as being an annual for reasons previously 
 given. 
 
 Other forage plants might have been con- 
 sidered. It is, however, the object of this 
 little manual to call attention only to those 
 which have been practically useful at the 
 South. Further consideration of the subject 
 would, therefore, be rather curious than in- 
 structive. 
 
 GUINEA GRASS. 
 
 The writer has had no opportunity of 
 practical acquaintance with this grass. In 
 fact the name seems to be applied to three 
 entirely different species. Flint applies this 
 name to the Sorghum vulgare. This is 
 generally known as Dhourra corn at the 
 South. 
 
 The editor of the Rural Carolinian says 
 that the true Guinea Grass is the Pauicum 
 jumeritorium, which is an annual. 
 
 That which is ordinarily termed Guinea 
 Grass, is the Sorghum hala pense, by some 
 persons also called the Means grass. This 
 grass is propagated by underground stems or 
 roots. It has been dreaded by planters, 
 because it seems almost impossible to exter- 
 pate it where it has once been established. 
 
 A prominent position is given to this grass 
 by its endorsement in the letter of Mr. N. B. 
 Moore, of Augusta, Ga. This gentleman is 
 certainly the highest authority in Southern 
 grass culture. I have before me a communi- 
 cation from Mr. Moore, published in 1834, 
 in the Southern Planter, urging the general 
 cultivation of the grasses at the South. Since 
 that time he has steadily devoted himself to 
 grass culture, planting nothing else on his 
 farm of one hundred acres of Savannah river 
 land, near Augusta, Ga. From these one 
 hundred acres he has derived an income of 
 from seven to ten thousand dollars per annum. 
 After persistent and skilful trial of the differ- 
 ent grasses, his preference of Guinea grass 
 will occasion much surprise. The difficulty 
 of eradicating the Guinea grass, is with him 
 an advantage. This would be a very serious 
 objection where the meadow was not designed 
 to be permanent. It does not appear to 
 spread. The letter of Mr. Moore will be 
 read with great interest by persons engaged 
 in grass culture. 
 
 AUGUSTA, September 7, 1874. 
 
 DEAR SIR: Yours of the 5th instant is 
 before me. In answer to your questions I 
 would say, that after an experience of up- 
 wards of forty years in cultivating grasses, 
 of almost every variety described in your 
 " Manual of the Grasses," I now prefer the 
 Guinea grass. It is perennial, is as nutri- 
 tious as any other ; when once well set, is 
 difficult to eradicate ; will grow on ordinary 
 land and yields abundantly. 
 
 My meadow consists of one hundred acres 
 of alluvial land, near Augusta. Before 
 emancipation it received annually, for twelve 
 years, an average of five hundred cords of 
 stable manure, hauled from town, besides 
 wood ashes in large quantity. For the past 
 seven years, I have been top dressing with 
 commercial fertilizers, preferring Ober & 
 Son's double A. A., Baltimore, to any other. 
 
 In winter I employ but four men, who are 
 enough to work my packing press ; in sum- 
 
Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 13 
 
 mer, when harvesting, double that number. ) stroyed by the sun, OP by the grazing of live 
 In the autumn, I usually scarify both ways 
 with sharp, steel-toothed harrows, and sow 
 over the stubble a peck of red clover per acre, 
 
 which, with volunteer vetches, come off about, 
 the middle of May. The second yield of 
 clover is uniformly eaten up by grasshoppers. 
 The top root remains to fertilize the then 
 coming Guinea grass, which should be cut 
 when from two to three feet high. 
 
 My barns will contain two hundred and 
 fifty tons of hay. I know of no point this 
 side of the Island of Jamaica, where the seed 
 of the Guinea grass can be obtained. The 
 Guinea grass would not answer in a Northern 
 climate. On such land as mine, it will afford 
 three or four cuttings if the season is propi- 
 tious. 1 use an average of five tons of gyp- 
 sum, soon aft^r the first cutting, and about 
 the same quantity of the best commercial 
 fertilizers, in March or April. 
 
 I use mowing machines. The grass which 
 is cut at noon, is put up with horse sulky 
 rakes, in cocks, before sundown. 
 
 I believe in shelter and paint for the pre- 
 servation of every tool. I have wagons built 
 in 1852 and 1853; also, carts and harrows 
 of like age, now perfectly sound. My ex- 
 perience and observation teach me that 
 farmers, as a class, to be successful, require 
 more brains than any of the so-called learned 
 professions. Very respectfully, 
 
 N. B. MOORE. 
 
 NATIVE GRASSES. 
 
 The native grasses of the South are an in- 
 teresting subject of study. We have much 
 to learn in regard to them. Our absorption 
 by cotton has heretofore prevented due atten- 
 tion both to them and the cultivated or arti- 
 ficial grasses. It is very certain that the 
 famous Texas grasses once covered the sur- 
 face of the richer portions of the older 
 Southern States. These, when desirable, may 
 be restored by the restoration of the soil to its 
 former fertility. But both the experience 
 and reading of the writer have satisfied him 
 that none of these Texas grasses are equal, 
 either for hay or pasturage, to some of the 
 artificial grasses now in cultivation at the 
 South. 
 
 It is doubtful whether we may expect to 
 find any native evergreen grass at the South, 
 the value of which h not known. It is possi- 
 ble that such discoveries may be made in 
 swamps inaccessible to cattle, by examinations 
 made during the winter. The possibility is 
 of sufficient importance to justify attentive 
 observation on the part of those who own this 
 description of land. 
 
 A grass, to be valuable either for hay or 
 pasture, must take a firm hold of the soil by 
 its roots. A grass that pulls up easily, how- 
 ever promising it may appear to be, is of 
 little worth. It will be either easily de- 
 
 stock. 
 
 Little value can be attached to a grass, 
 which is an annual, requiring annual re- 
 sowing. Grasses which seed themselves, as 
 crab-grass and crow-foot, are more valuable 
 than those which require re-sowing. 
 
 The field of inquiry as to hay grasses is 
 much larger than that of the winter grasses. 
 It is quite possible that some valuable hay 
 grasses have been heretofore overlooked 
 by us. 
 
 Because a grass is rejected, when in flower, 
 by live stock, is no evidence that it will not 
 make a good hay. Turn cattle into a meadow 
 of herdsgrass or timothy when they are ready 
 to cut, and they will eat them with reluctance. 
 But if turned upon timothy or herdsgrass 
 when they are young and tender, both will be 
 eaten with avidity. 
 
 It seems to be a general, though perhaps 
 not an universal rule, that any grass of 
 which live stock are fond when it is young, 
 if it grows tall enough to cut, will make hay 
 of more or less excellence if cut and cured 
 when in flower. 
 
 Some of our young men, who are begin- 
 ning to see with their own eyes and not the 
 glasses of others (and there are many such), 
 would do a public service if they would at- 
 tentively examine the tastes of cattle and 
 horses while grazing, observe the grasses of 
 which they are fond in the spring, transplant 
 some of them into an experimental plat, and 
 in the proper season cut and cure them for 
 hay. Their value, or want of value, will be 
 quickly determined when offered to horses or 
 cattle. 
 
 Among our grasses, which are green all 
 winter, are the two varieties of Lyme grass 
 or Elymus. There are six varieties of this 
 grass in the United States. Only two of them 
 have been observed in Georgia, and the differ- 
 ence between them is not material. The Ely- 
 mus is known among us as Wild Rye, or 
 Terrell grass. The first name was given to 
 it popularly on account of the resemblance of 
 its heads to rye. The other, as Dr. Terrell, 
 of Sparta, Georgia, brought it prominently 
 into notice many years ago. This grass is 
 native from the mountains to the seaboard of 
 Georgia. Wherever cattle have unrestricted 
 access to it in the winter and spring, they 
 destroy it biting it into the earth and pre- 
 venting its seeding. Hence in the older parts 
 of the South, it can be found only in frnce 
 corners, where it has been protected by bu>hes 
 or briars In such localities it can be found 
 all over this State. I have seen it growing 
 luxuriantly in the blue limestone lands of 
 northwest Georgia, on the sand hills near 
 Augusta, in an old fence row, and on the rich 
 alluvial land of Hutchinson Island, opposite 
 Savannah, and among the small cane on the 
 coast generally. 
 
14 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 This grass will live on thin land. But the 
 soil to make it valuable must be rich the 
 richer the better. It lasts for years. I have 
 known it to occupy and flourish on the same 
 spot for twenty years.' It grows as well on 
 sandy as on clay lands, requiring only fertili- 
 ty. Horses, sheep, and cattle, are very fond 
 of it during the winter and spring. Hogs 
 reject it. Orchard, blue, or meadow-oat grass 
 are either of them preferable to it, where they 
 thrive. Whatever doubt there may be as to 
 their thriving in a given locality, there can 
 be no doubt of the thrift of the Terrell grass 
 in any part of the iSouth, however hot it may 
 be, if the soil be made rich. The planter 
 living in the flat and somewhat sandy por- 
 tions of the South, who says he cannot get a 
 good winter pasture, has certainly never tried 
 the Terrell grass on rich land. The seed is 
 very light. Two bushels by measure should 
 be sowed to the acre. 
 
 It is very frequently remarked in the thinly 
 populated portions of the South, where the 
 summer pasture or range is good, " we can 
 keep as much stock as we can winter.'' With 
 one hundred acres of Terrell grass on rich 
 land, from which stock has been excluded 
 during the summer and fall, one hundred 
 head of cattle, or five hundred sheep, can be 
 carried from Christmas to April. 
 
 GAMMA GRASS. 
 
 This is a native of the South, from the 
 mountains to the coast. The seed stem runs 
 up to the height of five to seven feet. The 
 seeds break off from the stem as if in a joint, 
 a single seed at a time. The leaves resemble 
 those of corn. When cut before the seed 
 stems shoot up, they make a coarse but nu- 
 tritious hay. This grass may be cut three or 
 four times during the season. The quantity 
 of forage which can be made from it is enor- 
 mous. Both horses and cattle are fond of the 
 hay. The roots are almost as large and strong 
 as cane roots. Hence, it must be meant to 
 stay where it is put. It would require a team 
 of four or six oxen to plough it up. It can, 
 however, be easily killed by close grazing, 
 and the mass of dead roots would certainly 
 greatly enrich the land. 
 
 As the seeds of this grass vegetate with un- 
 certainty, it is usually propagated by setting 
 out slips of the roots about two feet apart each 
 way. On rich land the tussocks will soon 
 meet. Gamma grass grows equally well on 
 rich upland or bottom land. In the absence of 
 the finer hay grasses, this grass will be found 
 an abundant and excellent substitute. The 
 hay made from it is very like fodder ; is quite 
 equal to it in value, and may be saved at a 
 tithe of the expense of the former. 
 
 CRAB AND CROW-FOOT GRASSES. 
 
 These grasses are so well known at the 
 South that but little need be said in regard to 
 
 them. Both of them answer a valuable pur- 
 pose, both for hay and pasture. The crow- 
 foot is confined to the lower and sandy part 
 of the Southern States. The hay made from 
 it is more esteemed than that from crab-grass. 
 Both of these grasses should be cut as soon 
 as they are in blossom. Some farmers pull 
 the hay from among the corn. This is a little 
 worse than pulling fodder. 
 
 Any one wishing to save crab-grass or crow- 
 foot hay, should select a piece of rich land, 
 and, after the weeds have sprung up, plough 
 them under. If they spring the second time, 
 they should again be ploughed under, the 
 land then harrowed and afterward rolled. 
 This will give a smooth surface for the mower. 
 This treatment will ordinarily give a large 
 and clean crop of hay, free from weeds. Very 
 frequently of a wet season a good crop of this 
 hay may be obtained after small grain is cut. 
 But this is precarious, and the farmer will not 
 do well to rely on it. It is better by a little 
 more labor to be certain. 
 
 The objection to these grasses as a reliance 
 for hay is, that the hay, though large in 
 quantity, is' light as compared with better 
 grasses, as it is ordinarily treated that is, 
 cut when the seed is ripe, it is inferior to 
 straw that they are annuals and make no 
 sward. 
 
 For pasture they are of great value. For 
 this purpose, they are often badly managed. 
 Cattle and sheep are turned upon the grain 
 stubble as soon as the grain is cut. Hogs may 
 be put upon the stubble for a short time, to 
 eat up the shattered grain. They should be 
 removed, and all stock kept out of the pasture 
 until the grass has made a good start. Treated 
 thus, the pasture will be valuable until frost. 
 
 This is a singular advantage. It is not ad- 
 visable to pasture clover and the cultivated 
 grasses closely during the heat of summer. 
 The crab-grass is an admirable substitute 
 until cool weather begins, when the stock may 
 again be turned into the artificial pastures. 
 The Northern dairyman would give a great 
 deal for a fresh crab-grass pasture in August, 
 when the grass of the spring is old, dry, and 
 perhaps burned by the sun. In the absence 
 of this reliance he must soil his cattle. 
 
 BROMUS BROMK GRASS RESCUE GRASS 
 CHEAT, OR CHESS. 
 
 This Bromus family would not be noticed 
 were it not for the fact that every now and 
 then some member of it produces a tempo- 
 rary excitement, and a very decided loss of 
 money on the part of the farmer. There are 
 seven varieties of Bromus. The most com- 
 mon is that pest called cheat. Some persons 
 think that the small grains, under certain 
 ircumstances, turn into cheat, as if the Al- 
 mighty ever made one thing that could be 
 turned into another. Everything that was 
 
 made, was made perfect of its kind, and staya 
 
 ind, 
 
Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 15 
 
 so. We might as soon expect wheat to be 
 turned into oats or rye, as into cheat. 
 
 The botanical description of the Bromus 
 genus is as follows. The unlearned farmer 
 will not understand all the botanical terms, 
 but he will understand enough of them to be 
 able to detect a Brome grass by whatever 
 name it may be called. Besides, all the girls 
 who attend our female colleges study botany 
 so that if the lather cannot determine, the 
 daughter can, if she has been properly taught: 
 
 "Spikelets from five to many flowered, 
 panielled ; glumes not quite equal, shorter 
 than the flowers, mostly keeled, the lower 
 one to five, the other three to nine nerved; 
 palcae herbaceous, lower one convex on the 
 back or compressed, keeled, five to nine 
 nerved ; awned or bristle-pointed from below 
 the tip ; upper palca at length adhering to the 
 groove of the oblong grain ; fringed on the 
 keel ; stamens three ; styles attached below 
 the apex of the ovary. The grasses of this 
 genus are coarse, with large spikelets, some- 
 what drooping generally when ripe." 
 
 Flint remarks, " Not one of the brome 
 grasses is worthy of a moment's attention as 
 a cultivated agricultural grass, and the cleaner 
 the farmer keeps his fields of them the bet- 
 ter." 
 
 On rich land the brome grasses, including 
 the common cheat, make a nice winter past- 
 ure. But this pasture is bought at too dear a 
 rate by the small grain grower, as the seeds 
 of this family ripen at the same time with 
 wheat, and diminish the value of the grain. 
 Barley or rye on rich land will yield more 
 winter pasture than the species of this family 
 called rescue grass, and are not liable to the 
 same objections. If a farmer desires an an- 
 nual winter grass pasture, he should sow 
 Italian rye-grass, of which more will be said 
 hereafter. 
 
 BERMUDA GRASS CYNODON DACTOLON. 
 
 Although this has been introduced from 
 the West Indies, it has been so thoroughly 
 domesticated in parts of the South that it may 
 be classed among native grasses. 
 
 It is said to be the celebrated Daub 
 sacred grass of India. At the South, gener- 
 ally, it has received cursing rather than 
 blessings, especially by exclusive cotton 
 planters. 
 
 Not having had any extended personal ex- 
 perience of this grass, yet having formed, 
 from long observation, a high opinion of its 
 value, instead of giving my own estimate of 
 it, I have thought it best to lay before the 
 readers of this manual the opinions of gentle- 
 men who, by long familiarity with it, are 
 well qualified to pronounce in regard to its 
 merits. Accordingly, extracts from letters 
 are submitted from Colonel A. J. Lane, a 
 successful cotton planter, formerly of Han- 
 cock County, Ga., now of Macon, Colonel 
 
 T. C. Howard, Seoretary of the Georgia 
 Department of Agriculture, Dr. St. Julien 
 Ravenel, of Charleston. It would have been 
 gratifying to have given these letters in full, 
 but t his would have too far enlarged this little 
 manual. 
 
 The points presented to these gentlemen 
 were the following: 
 
 What is the best method of destroying 
 Bermuda grass, and how many seasons does 
 it require? 
 
 What is its manurial value? 
 
 What is its value for grazing and for how 
 much of the year ? 
 
 What is its value as a hay grass? 
 
 Colonel Lane says: "Upon our ordinary 
 upland I have found no difficulty in destroy- 
 ing it, by close cultivation in cotton for two 
 years. It requires a few extra plough ings to 
 get the sod thoroughly broken to pieces. The 
 breaking should be done with a small plough 
 first, and a harrow run over it once or twice. 
 All of this in winter or early spring. Take 
 advantage of the dry hot months of summer 
 to have the grass that may be found alive, 
 ploughed and hoed, and exposed as much as 
 possible to the sun. With the ordinary sea- 
 sons, so much of the grass will be killed the 
 first year, that but little interference with the 
 next crop need be apprehended. Pea vines, 
 or any crop that will thoroughly shade the 
 land, will kill it. When not pastured, broom 
 sedge or briars soon destroy it. Upon low 
 lands, where there is much moisture, its de- 
 struction is impracticable. 
 
 I think it very doubtful whether there is 
 an acre of land in the South thoroughly set 
 in Bermuda grass, (if the proper use was 
 made of it,) that is not worth more than any 
 other crop that can be grown on it. If I am 
 right in this broad opinion our effort should 
 be not to kill it, but to propagate it. I am 
 myself planting it in every year upon such 
 land as does not pay for cultivation, and how 
 much such land is there throughout the 
 South. 
 
 I cannot better illustrate the grazing value 
 of Bermuda grass, than by an instance in my 
 own experience. Nearly thirty years ago I 
 bought an old plantation, near my place in 
 Hancock County. It was bought low on 
 account of its being infested in places wi'th 
 Bermuda grass. I permitted a man to use 
 thirty acres of it which were fully set in Ber- 
 muda grass. He had at the time, a cow and 
 calf, sow and pigs, and a brood mare. He 
 cultivated a little crop of corn, but never 
 enough to feed his family. His stock lived 
 upon this thirty acres of Bermuda grass, 
 except for a short time during the winter, 
 when they had access to other parts of the 
 plantation. He remained upon this place for 
 five or six years. At the end of that time, 
 he had twenty-five head of cattle, seventy- 
 five hogs, and five horses. I offered him for 
 
16 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 his increase $1,000 which he refused. So 
 much for the grazing value of Bermuda grass. 
 
 I cannot give you a better illustration of 
 the manurial value of this grass, than by re- 
 ference to the crops made on this same thirty 
 acres of land, after the man referred to had 
 left the place. 
 
 First crop, cotton, half stand, owing to the 
 mass of undecomposed sod, eighteen hundred 
 pounds of seed cotton per acre. 
 
 Second crop, cotton, two thousand eight 
 hundred pounds seed cotton per acre. 
 
 Third crop, corn, sixty-five bushels per 
 acre corn manured with cotton seed. 
 
 Fourth crop, wheat, forty-two bushels per 
 acre. 
 
 The average product of this land without 
 the sod, would have been not more than one 
 hundred pounds of seed cotton, fifteen to 
 twenty bushels of corn, and eight to ten of 
 wheat. I know of no crop that will improve 
 land more, and certainly none that will, at 
 the same time, give so large an income with 
 so little labor. 
 
 I have never made hay from it. A gentle- 
 man of this County informed me a few days 
 since, that he had just cut from one acre of 
 Bermuda grass, eight two-horse wagon loads 
 of excellent hay. 
 
 Col. T. C. Howard gives an equally strong 
 opinion of the value of Bermuda grass, in the 
 following extract : 
 
 '' The desideratum to the South is a grass 
 that is perennial, nutritious and adapted to 
 the climate. While we have grasses and 
 forage plants that do well when nursed, we 
 have few that live and thrive here as in their 
 native 'habitat.' The Bermuda and crab 
 grass are at home in the South. They not 
 only live, but live in spite of neglect, and 
 when petted and encouraged, they make such 
 grateful returns as astonish the benefactor. 
 I have known $114 worth of hay sold from 
 seven-eighths of an acre of Bermuda grass 
 in one season. I have known this ' pest,' so 
 called, extirpated, after twentv years. Sod that 
 had been undisturbed by any tool, and aston- 
 ishing crops, both of cotton and corn raised 
 in place of it the first year. Indeed I doubt 
 if even the far-famed blue grass sod is a better 
 fertilizer, and every one knows what the 
 Western Virginians think of that a 1 ? a re- 
 storer of impoverished land." 
 
 "To destroy Bermuda grass, run a coulter 
 or narrow bull tongue through it, then set a 
 turning plough to run very shallow, and turn 
 the surface over, but not under. This exposes 
 the roots to cold and frost, which will as cer- 
 tainly kill it as ii will kill sugar-cane. But 
 my trouble is to raise it to the greatest per- 
 fection, not to destroy it. One acre of good 
 Bermuda grass, as good as my friend's, who 
 sold the $il4 worth of hay from less than an 
 acre will give a gross product of twenty per 
 cent, on $570. 
 
 White Bermuda grass has seed vessels ; it 
 certainly has no seed. There are the effigies 
 of seeds, but not the seeds themselves. The 
 proof of this is, that while red and white 
 clover, the whole family of grasses and weeds, 
 can be propagated by the spread of annual 
 manure, no one ever saw a patch of Bermuda 
 so propagated. It must be grown by its roots 
 and joints. 
 
 The proper plan of setting land in Bermuda 
 is, to run, in small checks, a sharp "sword 
 coulter" through the soil, then lift the turf, 
 remove it to running water, wash out the 
 dirt, and run the roots through a cutting- 
 knife so set as to chop fine. Then sow broad- 
 cast and plough under shallow, as you should 
 do in putting in wheat. 
 
 If Bermuda grass be trampled or grazed 
 by stock, it will for an indefinite period hold 
 its place. While grazed, neither Lespedeza, 
 broom sedge, blue grass, or any other growth, 
 will oust it. But if enclosed and ungrazed, 
 broom sedge will certainly kill it out in three 
 or four years. No one need fear the intro- 
 duction of Bermuda grass on his farm, from 
 an apprehension that he cannot get rid of it 
 when he desires to do so. Either of the above 
 methods will certainly destroy it. 
 
 Dr. St. Julien Ravenel, an accurate man 
 of science, makes the following remarkable 
 statement in regard to Bermuda grass. The 
 experiment was conducted near Charleston, 
 S. C.: 
 
 "One-eighth of an acre of ordinary land 
 covered with Bermuda grass was ploughed in 
 March last f!874), harrowed, rolled smooth 
 enough for the mowing machine, and fifty 
 pounds of ammoniated super-phosphate of 
 lime applied. 
 
 Four cuttings were obtained which yielded 
 two thousand eight hundred and eighty 
 pounds of hay. This was at the rate of ten 
 tons to the acre. 
 
 The first cutting contained ten per cent, of 
 albumenoMs, the last cutting fourteen per cent, 
 albumenoids. Ash 6 or 1.456 of ash to the 
 acre. The hay was nicely cured, and was 
 preferred by horses and cattle to hay brought 
 from the North." 
 
 The opinions of these gentlemen are very 
 decided as to the valuable qualities of Ber- 
 muda grass, as to grazing, for hay and ma- 
 nurial purposes. The continued and careful 
 observation of the writer corroborate the re- 
 sults of their practical experience. 
 
 The exclusive cotton planter shrinks from 
 this grass. If he would shrink from so much 
 cotton it would be a more valuable shrinkage. 
 Yet the writer has seen fields, which were 
 covered with a dense Bermuda grass sod, 
 completely cleansed of it by two successive 
 crops of cotton, and those crops were inva- 
 riably fine. It is true that the inversion of a 
 Bermuda grass sod increases at first seriously 
 the cost of the cultivation of the cotton crop. 
 
I 
 
 Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 
 But this increase is not equal to the cost of 
 buying commercial fertilizers. No ordinary 
 application of these fertilizers will communi- 
 cate to the soil an equal degree of fertility 
 with that which is communicated by the in- 
 version of a Bermuda grass sod. The fer- 
 tility created in the latter case will be felt for 
 several years in the former it is ephem- 
 eral. 
 
 The following rotation on Bermuda grass 
 land has been adopted by some cotton plant- 
 ers with excellent results. The first year cot- 
 ton, the second, corn, the third, oats or wheat, 
 sowed after corn. The grass which has been 
 scotched, not killed, begins to run as soon as 
 the small grain is cut, and if grazed for two 
 or three years there will be a thick sward of 
 Bermuda on which the same rotation may be 
 repeated. Under such a rotation the soil, 
 now the only capital of the Southern farmer, 
 would rapidly improve. If he will take the 
 pains to calculate the value of this interme- 
 diate grazing, he will find that it will be, in 
 either horses, mules, colts, cattle or sheep, an 
 enormous per centage on the sum for which 
 he would gladly sell his land. 
 
 If, when the soil is not too sandy, Bermuda 
 grass is torn up by the plough or coulter, 
 blue grass and white clover seed are sowed, 
 after harrowing and previous to rolling, the 
 perfection of a pasture, capable of sustaining 
 the best live stock, whether horses, mules, 
 colts, cattle, sheep, or hogs, will be produced, 
 winter and summer. There is nothing equal 
 to it at the North, or in Europe. As the Ber- 
 muda dies down in autumn, the blue grass 
 and white clover then appear, the reverse re- 
 curring in the heat of summer. 
 
 More than thirty years ago the writer, 
 walking with a gentleman of far-reaching 
 mind, and observing the gullied and exco- 
 riated condition of the soil near Mllledgeville, 
 enquired, ''What is to restore its fertility to 
 the worn out portion of Georgia?" The an- 
 swer was promptly given. "Sheep and Ber- 
 muda grass " There was profound wisdom 
 in the reply. A large portion of old Georgia 
 must become a sheep walk before it can be 
 restored to fertility, and the land owners be- 
 come independent of the negro. 
 
 Possibly some persons might think it a 
 degradation of even a worn out cotton field 
 to convert it into a sheep walk. It would, 
 indeed, be degrading it. to the level of an 
 English farm, worth from three to four hun- 
 dred dollars an acre. It would be well for us 
 if we suffered this degradation. Besides all 
 the land in clover and meadow, of which 
 there is a vast amount, forty-eight per cent of 
 the whole of the valuable soil of England is 
 in permanent pasture. 
 
 So much space has been given in this 
 manual to Bermuda grass, on account of the 
 prejudices against it, its great value, and the 
 facts that while the artificial grasses are ex- 
 
 2 
 
 pensive, it is within asy reach of the poorest 
 farmer. 
 
 It would be improper to close these re- 
 marks upon the natural resources of the South 
 in the way of native forage plants and grasses 
 without reference to the value of our com- 
 mon cane as a winter food for mules and cattle. 
 Our canebrakes should be preserved with the 
 greatest care. Where they have been des- 
 troyed they may be renewed by inclosing and 
 keeping hogs and fire away from them. If 
 cattle are turned in the fall fat into a cane- 
 brake they will not lose flesh, but improve 
 until grass comes again. With a judicious 
 management of cane in those portions of the 
 South in which it grows, vast herds of cattle 
 might be kept at trifling expense. As (he 
 cane is a swamp growth, cattle could be driv- 
 en into the cane pasture in the morning and 
 driven out and penned at night on poor up- 
 land, thereby making it rich without damag- 
 ing the cane ground. 
 
 Without reference to the artificial or cul- 
 tivated grasses, we have the following natur- 
 al reliances for live stock food during all sea- 
 sons of the year : Terrell grass and cane for 
 winter pasture ; Gama, crab and crow-foot 
 grasses for hay , Bermuda, the sedge, and 
 other common grasses, including crab-grass 
 and crow-foot, for spring, summer and fall 
 grazing. 
 
 With these reliances alone, sheep and cat- 
 tle can be raised at the South to decided pro- 
 fit. They will enable the poor man to begin 
 stock raising, who cannot afford at once to 
 make his lands rich, or to buy grass seeds, 
 which are expensive. As his means improve 
 he may add such of the artificial grasses as 
 may be adapted to his particular locality. 
 
 In large portioi s of the South there are 
 creek and river bottom lands which are now 
 utterly useless. They are too wet for relia- 
 ble cultivation with the plow, and are grown 
 up into impenetrable thickets of briars, vines 
 and bushes. If such land is grubbed in Au- 
 gust, and the timber where it is too thick is 
 thinned out, and if the next season hungry 
 cattle, sheep and goats are kept upon it, they 
 will destroy the sprouts, and in a short time 
 the natural winter grasses will form an ex- 
 cellent winter pasture. These grasses will 
 spring up spontaneously. Thus with a little 
 labor; at a season of comparative leisure, a 
 piece of profitless property may be made 
 profitable in a double sense one of fat- 
 tening stock in winter at no other cost than 
 the interest on the land, and the other of mak- 
 ing that stock, by penning at night, an im- 
 prover of land which requires improvement. 
 
 Time sometimes misleads us. He clothes 
 error with gray hairs and makes him venera- 
 ble. There are many persons who prefer an 
 old error to a new truth. While long exist- 
 ing opinion should be approached with cau- 
 tion, it should be, if the expression may be 
 
18 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 allowed, with bold caution. That which may 
 have been sound policy in one condition of 
 affairs may be very unsound in another. Our 
 fathers made nothing but cotton and corn. 
 They thought they did right. But because it 
 may have been right for them, it does not follow 
 that it is right for us. We have never availed 
 ourselves of the full natural resources of soil 
 elements and products with which God has 
 blessed us. When we have thus availed our- 
 selves, and to these natural resources have 
 added the appliances of modern agricultural 
 science, the South will have attained a pros- 
 perity which will make her a marvel among 
 the peoples of the earth. 
 
 WINTER GRASSES. 
 
 One of the most marked and singular ad- 
 vantages of the South, is its ability to grow 
 grasses which may be pastured in the winter. 
 It is a blessing of climate which we have not 
 yet appreciated. The raising a full supply 
 of horses, mules, cattle, sheep and hogs for 
 our own consumption, is an absolute essential 
 of skilled agriculture. For all of these, ex- 
 cept the hog, grass, either green or cured, is 
 necessary. The cost of cutting and saving 
 hay has been greatly reduced by the use of 
 improved implements. Slill it is something. 
 Besides the cost of the hay is the cost of the 
 barn to store it in, and in addition the cost 
 of feeding it out. A barn sufficiently large 
 to hold the hay for a considerable stock, is an 
 expensive affair. Nearly all of this expense 
 is saved by good winter pastures. The stock 
 upon them do their own mowing, and are 
 their own barn. Exceptional periods occur, 
 as in a heavy freeze or severe storm, when 
 some hay must be fed. By the aid of the 
 winter grasses, it is perfectly practicable to 
 raise colts, cattle and sheep, throughout a 
 large portion of the South, without other 
 cost than the interest on land and the value 
 of the salt. The first object of the farmer, 
 who designs to grow the grasses, should be 
 to sow those which are green all the winter. 
 " Roughness," as it is called, may be tempo- 
 rarily secured by sowing corn, peas, millet 
 and oats. But there is no adequate substi- 
 tute for winter grass pastures. Oats, barley 
 and rye may be grazed, but the stock must 
 be taken from them at a season when the ne- 
 cessity is most pinching, and besides they 
 must be sowed annually, which is expensive. 
 They are decidedly to be preferred to no win- 
 ter pasture, but are very inferior to perma- 
 nent grass pastures. 
 
 MEADOW-OAT GRASS. 
 
 This grass deserves to be placed at the head 
 of the winter grasses for the South. It has 
 the double advantage of being a good hay 
 as well as winter pasture grass. It does not 
 answer well on moist land. Kich upland is 
 the proper soil for it. On such land it will 
 
 grow from five to seven feet tall, completely 
 hiding a man walking in it. It will grow on 
 more Randy land than most of the artificial 
 grasses. Hence it is well suited to a large por- 
 tion of the soil of the cotton belt, perhaps better 
 suited on this account than any other upland 
 grass. The yield of hay on rich land is large 
 and the quality is excellent. It matures rap- 
 idly. Seed sown in the spring will produce 
 seed in the fall. The seed is ripe when the 
 stalk is green. It shatters easily, and the 
 seed must therefore be saved in time. If it 
 be desired to save seed, it is best to cut off 
 the heads with a cradle and tie in bundles as 
 grain ; afterwards the rest can be mowed for 
 hay. This is a great advantage of being able 
 to save hay and seed from the same crop. Of 
 a wet season it may be necessary to cut a sec- 
 ond crop. After it is cut no stock should be 
 allowed to graze it, during the summer 
 and fall. The rowen or aftermath, or after- 
 growth, all of these named being used, should 
 remain until after Christmas, then the stock 
 may be turned upon it in dry weather and 
 remain during the months of January and 
 February. If it be not designed to make 
 hay, they may be continued on it until the 
 other grasses spring. The amount of green 
 food yielded by this grass during the winter 
 is greater than that of any other grass. On 
 rich land at Christmas, the ends of the leaves 
 will have turned yellow, but there will be 
 found an astonishing mass of green grass be- 
 neath, which live stock eat with avidity; this, 
 according to Flint, is the ray grass of France. 
 The seed is very light and chaffy. It is 
 proper to sow two bushels to the acre. It is 
 a tussock, or bunch grass, not spreading from 
 the roots, hence the necessity of heavy seed- 
 ing. The amount of seed required makes the 
 beginning expensive, but if sowed by itself, 
 an acre will give a large amount of seed, and 
 subsequent purchases become unnecessary. 
 
 In this connection it will not be amiss to 
 make some remarks on winter pastures gene- 
 rally. 
 
 They must not be pastured when the ground 
 is wet ; at such times all stock must be re- 
 moved from them. They must not at any 
 time be grazed too closely. Everybody knows 
 how to treat a rye or barley lot. It is well 
 known that if stock bite into tho crown 
 of the plant it will be killed. Winter 
 grass pastures must be treated in the same 
 way with grain paeture. The temptation to 
 transgress in this particular is very great. 
 When all other vegetable matter is dead, live 
 stock become almost crazy for green food, 
 and they are suffered by the sympathizing 
 owner to remain while a particle of green 
 food is visible. As a consequence of this 
 practice persisted in, the grass is killed. It 
 will be better to buy fodder, if it be necessa- 
 ry, rather than allow a practice so ruinous to 
 the farmer. 
 
Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 19 
 
 In order to make winter pastures valuable, 
 the ground should be heavily manured. This 
 manure may be given to the preceding cotton 
 or grain crop. The winter pasture should be 
 the richest land on the farm. It should be 
 prepared as for a barley lot It is impossible 
 to make something out of nothing. The 
 artificial grasses are highly concentrated 
 food, and it is out of the question to raise 
 them on poor, or even moderately fertile 
 land. 
 
 In all well-cultivated countries, it is con- 
 ceded that the wisest use of manure is to apply 
 it to meadow land. How much more valuable 
 is it to apply manure to land which gives all 
 the good results of hay without the cost and 
 trouble of cutting, curing and housing it ? In 
 any movement toward an improved agricul- 
 ture at the South, the first step should be the 
 laying down of rich winter pastures. 
 
 ORCHARD GRASS. 
 
 This valuable grass ranks next in impor- 
 tance to the tall meadow-oat grass for hay and 
 winter pasture. It succeeds very well at the 
 South on drained and dry bottom land, or on 
 rich upland. There is a peculiarity about it. 
 The writer has never observed it to spread 
 from the scattering of its own seeds. From 
 some unaccountable reason the shattered seed 
 does not vegetate, if, therefore, it be sowed 
 too thin it does not fill the gap, and presents 
 an unsightly appearance and gives inferior 
 grasses a chance to occupy the vacant space. 
 
 Orchard grass for hay should be cut as soon 
 as it begins to blossom ; if cut then, the hay is 
 sweet, tender and nutritious, but if the cutting 
 be deferred until the seed has formed, the hay 
 will be hard and valueless. 
 
 After cutting, orchard grass springs rapidly, 
 and the aftergrowth is heavy. This should not 
 be pastured during the summer or fall, but 
 should be reserved for winter grazing. It 
 should be treated as above directed in the case 
 of the tall meadow-oat grass. 
 
 The seed of orchard grass is also very light 
 and chaffy, and therefore two bushels should 
 be sowed to the acre. 
 
 This grass was introduced into England 
 from Virginia, in 1764. It is very highly 
 valued in that country, and in the Northern 
 States it holds a high rank as a hay and pas- 
 ture grass. But its chief benefit is lost at the 
 North, as it cannot be pastured there during 
 the winter. 
 
 Orchard grass is not suited to wet bottom 
 land, but thrives in a rich upland. It grows 
 well in an orchard or in thinned woodland. 
 With the exception of meadow-oat grass, 
 orchard grass stands a drought better than any 
 other of the cultivated grasses. 
 
 Where hay is an object, these two grasses, 
 meadow-oat and orchard grass, should be 
 sowed with red clover and white, as each of 
 the four blossoms at the same time, and is, 
 
 therefore, simultaneously ready for the scythe. 
 They answer also to mix with clover in a rota- 
 tion, where the clover is to stand two or three 
 years, as they mature rapidly, and assist in 
 giving a compact sod. The farmer should re- 
 member, that a sod of good grass and clover 
 turned under is quite equal in value to a costly 
 application of either putrescent or purchased 
 manures. The cultivation of these two grasses 
 at the South cannot be too itrongly recom- 
 mended on soils adapted to them. 
 
 ITALIAN RYE GRASS. 
 
 This is perhaps the most beautiful of all the 
 grasses. On very rich land, the green of the 
 blades almost approaches blackness, and their 
 shining lustre is metallic. It seems to be in- 
 different to climate and texture of soil, requir- 
 ing only dryness and richness. It thrives as 
 well in the severe climate of Scotland as in 
 its native sunny Italy. 
 
 The statements of the yield of this grass on 
 the irrigated lands near Edinburgh are almost 
 incredible. It has been grown with success 
 in all parts of this State, Georgia, from the 
 sandy lands of the coast to the blue limestone 
 lands of the northwestern part of the State. 
 
 It is an annual, and should be sowed in 
 August or September, at the rate of ten pounds 
 of seed to the acre. Italian rye grass sowed 
 in August or September will be ready for 
 grazing in February. Although the return in 
 winter grazing or hay is very large, on ac- 
 count of its being an annual, it is doubtful 
 whether it be really more valuable than bar- 
 ley or rye, for the above purposes. 
 
 BLUE-GRASS. 
 
 This well-known grass is, for certain pur- 
 poses, one of much value. It is supposed that 
 it is adapted only to a limited character of 
 soils and climate. Kentuckians will tell us 
 that the successful growth of this grass is 
 monopolized by the Blue-Grass region of 
 Kentucky. This is a mistake. The lands in 
 Kentucky on which the blue-grass grows with 
 such vigor, will bring fifty to seventy-five 
 bushels of corn to the acre. Make any other 
 lands at the South, unless it be a sand-bed, 
 equally rich, and blue-grass will grow well on 
 them. In fact it is native in localities suited 
 to it all over the South. It will be observed 
 everywhere at the South, about abandoned 
 settlements, to which stock have not had ac- 
 cess, and especially where locust, china-berry 
 or walnut trees are growing, that both blue- 
 grass and white clover have sprung up sponta- 
 neously. The writer has seen it growing in 
 protected spots along the roadsides near Sa- 
 vannah. It certainly has annoyed him by 
 coming an unasked volunteer into hie mead- 
 ows of herdsgrass and timothy in the blue 
 limestone bottoms of Bartow County. 
 
 There are three reasons why it is generally 
 
20 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 supposed that blue-grass will not succeed at 
 the South. 
 
 It has been sown on land that is too poor. 
 It requires a soil naturally or artificially rich. 
 
 Because it is burned up in a dry summer, it 
 is concluded that it is a failure, and is 
 ploughed up. In Kentucky and in Ohio, 
 blue-grass frequently becomes so dry in the 
 summer that it would burn up, if set on fire. 
 But as soon as the cool weather and the rains 
 of autumn set in, it resumes its green color 
 and renews its growth. The same result will 
 occur in the cotton States. 
 
 It may be remarked in passing, that all the 
 winter grasses stop their growth and turn 
 more or less yellow during the dry heat of 
 summer at the South. This is to be expected. 
 Everything which grows, animal or vegeta- 
 ble, must have a period of sleep or rest. The 
 grass which grows at the North during the 
 summer, rests during the winter. The con- 
 verse is true. The grass which grows at the 
 South during the winter, must rest during the 
 summer. Hence, winter grasses at the South 
 should not be pastured during the summer, 
 but should be left with a covering of their 
 own leaves to shield them from the heat of 
 the sun, and make the sleep of the roots com- 
 fortable. 
 
 The third mistake in the cultivation of blue- 
 grass arises from an ignorance of the habits 
 of the plant. When it first comes up it is as 
 fine as a needle, hardly visible to the most 
 carefni inspection. It increases its size but 
 little during the first summer. Even the next 
 year the stand will seem to be imperfect. But 
 in the third and fourth year it spreads like 
 magic, and occupies the whole ground. When 
 a man goes into the lot on which he has sowed 
 blue-grass seed, finds month after month no 
 blue-grass, but a crop of weeds as high as his 
 head, he concludes that it is a failure, ploughs 
 up the ground, and next spring puts it in 
 cotton. 
 
 If a piece of ground be made very rich, and 
 good blue-grass seed be sowed upon it, there 
 will be no failure. Give it time and it will 
 take possession of the ground, even though it 
 be invisible the first year. 
 
 On account of its slow' maturity, blue-grass 
 seed should never be sowed by itself. It 
 should be mixed with red and white clover, 
 meadow-oat and orchard grass. These will 
 occupy the ground at once, and the blue-grass 
 will advance slowly, but in the end will whip 
 the whole of them out, except the white clover. 
 For this reason blue-grass should never be 
 sowed with grasses designed for permanent 
 meadow, as it will be certain finally to root 
 them out. 
 
 On very rich land, blue-grass will make hay 
 excellent in quality, but small in quantity. Its 
 chief value is for winter pasture. While they 
 last, meadow-oat and orchard grass are much 
 superior to it. But the permanence of blue- 
 
 j grass gives it a great advantage. It will last 
 an indefinite number of years. After having 
 
 I been long grazed it becomes what is popularly 
 called " hide-bound," and ceases to thrive. If 
 a coulter is then run through it both ways, 
 
 I thoroughly tearing the sod, the grass will re- 
 
 I new its youth and spring again with great 
 vigor. 
 
 Blue-grass, designed for winter pasture, 
 should be treated in the same way with mead- 
 ow-oat and orchard grass. Thus treated, it 
 will not only last, but will continue to im- 
 prove. This improvement will be the more 
 decided if the stock grazing it are suffered to 
 remain all night upon it. It should be re- 
 membered, in the treatment of pastures, tbat 
 a large portion of the excrement of live stock 
 is voided during the night, or when they first 
 rise in the morning. This is, of course, lost 
 to the pasture when the stock are driven to 
 the yard at night. 
 
 Blue-grass will bear more shade than any 
 other grass, and it should, therefore, be the 
 main reliance in woodland pastures. While it 
 affords excellent grazing for horses, cattle, and 
 sheep, its greatest value is for hogs, especially 
 in woodland pastures. The trees thinned out 
 and trampled around scarcely ever fail in their 
 mast, and between the acorns and grass, hogs 
 can be raised and nearly fattened at very small 
 expense. 
 
 Four quarts of seed should be sown to the 
 acre. No stock should be allowed to go on 
 the ground the first year, nor indeed the sec- 
 ond, until about the first of June, when a por- 
 tion of the grass has gone to seed. 
 
 There is, perhaps, more nmriment in a 
 given amount of blue-grass than any other 
 grass with the exception, perhaps, of the Ber- 
 muda. Live stock will keep fat on it, when 
 they seem to be biting into the very clay or 
 gravel. Close grazing does not injure it as it 
 does many other grasses, from the fact that it 
 is stoloniferous, or runs and spreads from the 
 roots. On the whole, it is an exceedingly 
 valuable grass to the Southern farmer who 
 owns land rich enough to produce it. 
 
 The grasses named, viz: meadow-oat, or- 
 chard, and blue-grass, must be our chief reli- 
 ance for permanent winter grass pasture. The 
 wild rye, or Terrel grass, will be found to be 
 a useful adjunct. These four should be sowed 
 together. 
 
 HAY GRASSES. 
 
 The grasses already described have their 
 value as hay grasses, but are most valuable 
 for their winter use. There are other grasses 
 which are not green during the winter, which 
 afford little aftermath, and which are valuable 
 solely for their hay. At the head of these 
 stands 
 
 TIMOTHY. 
 
 The history of this valuable grass is in some 
 doubt. Loudon, in his Encyclopedia of Agri- 
 
Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 21 
 
 culture, states that it is a native of South Caro- 
 lina, and was introduced into England in 1780, 
 by Timothy Hudson. Flint says that by some 
 persons it was said to have been introduced 
 into England from Virginia, in 1760, by one 
 Peter Wynne. It is sometimes called cat-tail, 
 from the shape of the head. In New England 
 it is called Herd's grass, as a man of that 
 name found it growing in a swamp in New 
 Hampshire. This should be borne in mind, 
 when we are reading New England agricul- 
 tural newspapers, otherwise we shall be con- 
 fused. What we call herdsgrass, they call 
 red-top. 
 
 As a mere hay grass timothy is, perhaps, 
 unrivalled. It is extremely nutritious. Four 
 tons of this excellent hay have been frequently 
 cut from an acre. 
 
 It is useful only as a hay grass. It has little 
 or no aftermath ; it is not green during the 
 winter. It should rarely be pastured, as its 
 roots are bulbous, and the plant is easily de- 
 stroyed by close grazing. 
 
 The soil suited to it is the richest of bottom 
 land that is dry enough for wheat. At the 
 South it does not thrive on upland. The 
 well-drained rice land of the coast would pro- 
 duce it in perfection. In our city markets 
 timothy hay commands a higher price than 
 any other. 
 
 This grass should not be sown with clover, 
 as the clover is ready to cut before the timo- 
 thy. There must be a loss in one or the other. 
 Timothy should be cut when it is in full blos- 
 som. As it is a late grass it has this advan- 
 tage, that the wheat crop may be saved before 
 the Timothy is ready. Twelve pounds of seed 
 should be sowed to the acre. 
 
 HERD'S GRASS. 
 
 For hay alone this grass ranks next to Tim- 
 othy. The soil best suited to it is moist, swamp 
 land. It will grow almost in running water. 
 It yields a valuable return on thinner land 
 than, perhaps, 'any other of the cultivated 
 grasses. Its chief requisite seems to be moist- 
 ure. There are large bodies of pipe-clay land 
 at the South which will produce nothing but 
 oats, which will make fair Herd's grass mead- 
 ows. Of course the richer the land the greater 
 the yield. The hay is good in quality, and 
 sometimes very large in quantity. The grass 
 should be cut just as the seed begins to ripen, 
 and before the stalk has changed its color. 
 Sow a peck of seed to the acre. 
 
 Timothy and Herd's grass should be 
 sowed together, as they are ready for the 
 scythe at the same time. This mixture is 
 better than either grass singly. The Timo- 
 thy will be some eighteen inches taller than 
 the Herd's grass, and the mixture of the 
 two will give a heavy cutting close to the 
 ground. 
 
 In the preceding description all the forage 
 plants and grasses are noticed which the 
 
 writer believes are practically useful at the 
 South. A great number of other plants and 
 grasses have been tried by him in a series of 
 experiments running through thirty years, 
 and have been rejected as unsuited to our soil 
 and climate. 
 
 TIME OF SOWING GRASS SEEDS. 
 
 Experience has proved, so far as the obser- 
 vation of the writer goes, that August or 
 early in September is the best time to sow 
 grass seeds, or about the same time with sow- 
 ing turnips. There is usually sufficient rain 
 at that season to cause the seeds to germinate. 
 The young plants will have time to make 
 sufficient root to stand the severest cold of 
 winter. When sown at this time there is a 
 gain of a season, as clover, lucerne, and sev- 
 eral of the grasses, if sowed without grain in 
 August, will give a cutting in the following 
 spring. Should there be a failure of the seed, 
 an opportunity to re-sow will occur in the fol- 
 lowing February. 
 
 Grass seed sown late in the fall is liable to 
 be winter killed. If the farmer cannot sow 
 early in the fall, it will be wise in him to de- 
 fer sowing until the ordinary time of sowing 
 oats. The different parts of the South vary 
 so much in climate, that it would be wrong, 
 perhaps, to specify any particular month or 
 months for sowing grass seeds. The general 
 rule may be stated, the application of which 
 will vary according to locality, that it is best 
 to sow sufficiently early in the fall to avoid 
 danger from freezing, or if deferred until 
 spring, the usual time of sowing spring 
 oats. 
 
 SOWING WITH OB WITHOUT GBAIN. 
 
 There can be no doubt that sowing grass 
 seed with grain should always be avoided, un- 
 less necessity requires It. The objections to 
 this practice are, that it involves the loss of a 
 year in either hay or pasture As has been 
 stated, clover, lucerne and several of the 
 grasses, if sown early in the fall without 
 grain, will give a cutting or maybe pastured 
 in the following spring. If sown with grain, 
 the grass will be of no practical use during 
 the season after the grain is cut. No grass 
 should ever be cut or pastured until after it 
 has gone to seed once. This seeding will se- 
 cure a full occupation of the soil. Of a wet 
 season, clover and some of the grasses may 
 seed late in the fall after grain is cut, they 
 may then be pastured lightly with calves or 
 sheep. But the grass is of little value during 
 that entire year. 
 
 There is another objection to sowing grasa 
 seed with grain. When the grain is cut, the 
 young grass and clover are very tender, hav- 
 ing been shaded by the grain. The cutting 
 suddenly exposes them to the sun at the hot- 
 test season of the year. There is great danger, 
 therefore, that they will be burned out. If 
 
22 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 sowed alone the heat affects them gradually, 
 and if the ground is occupied by weeds, these 
 mature and decay slowly, and not until au- 
 tumn admits the heat of the sun to the young 
 grass. 
 
 The justification of sowing grass seed with 
 grain is our present poverty. It may be, and 
 in nine cases out of ten it will be, necessary 
 to manure heavily land to be put in grass. 
 The necessities of the farmer require that the 
 cost of the manure should be repaid the first 
 year. In that event, he must sow grain with 
 his grass seed, but always remembering that 
 by so doing he loses a year and endangers the 
 grass. 
 
 When grain and grass are mixed both may 
 be sowed either in the fall or spring. Or the 
 grain may be sowed early in the fall, as oats 
 among cotton, the grain may be pastured 
 during the winter, and in the spring it may 
 be harrowed, clover and grass seed sown 
 upon it, and then rolled. The grain will 
 be benefitted by the harrowing and rolling, 
 although at the time it may look like de- 
 struction. 
 
 "WHETHER IT IS BEST TO SOW A VAKIETT OF 
 GRASS SEEDS. 
 
 The only instance in which it is advisable 
 to sow the seed of a single grass or forage 
 plant, are in the case of lucerne, which will 
 not bear admixture, clover in a rotation, or 
 where it is desired to save the seed of a par- 
 ticular grass. Perhaps in all other cases a 
 variety of grass seeds should be sown. 
 
 The reasons for this practice are obvious. 
 There are certain grasses which are called 
 jungle or tussock grasses. These do not spread 
 from the root, but grow in bunches, as orch- 
 ard and meadow-oat grass. It is necessary 
 that some running grasses should be sown 
 with them to fill up the interstices, other- 
 wise broom-sedge, nimble-will, or that pest, 
 the native fox- tail, will take possession. 
 
 Again the appetites of the grasses differ as 
 much as that of the cereals. The food which 
 one grass rejects, another devours. We 
 should imitate nature. If we will take a foot 
 square of land which has been a long time in 
 grass, we shall be surprised to find the num- 
 ber of different grasses which it contains. 
 The lesson taught us is obvious. We should 
 sow a sufficient variety of seeds to consume 
 every variety of food, and so to occupy the 
 ground as to keep out all intruders. Un- 
 fortunately, the list of grasses suitable to our 
 climate is limited. We should use them to 
 their fullest extent. At the hazard of some 
 repetition the variety of forage plants and 
 grasses and the quantity of seed to be sown is 
 given. 
 
 PROPER MIXTURE OF GRASS SEEDS FOR DIF- 
 FERENT PURPOSES. 
 
 For a rotation and to improve the soil, red 
 clover and orchard grass four quarts of 
 
 clover and one bushel of orchard grass and 
 one bushel of meadow-oat grass. These 
 grasses are selected in connection with clover 
 because they mature rapidly ; a slow-spread- 
 ing grass like blue-grass would not answer in 
 a rotation when the grass would occupy the 
 ground only two or three years. These two 
 grasses produce in the run of a year, a vast 
 quantity of vegetable matter. The chief value 
 of the clover is the amount of ammonia which 
 it draws from the atmosphere, and by the de- 
 cay of its roots and leaves imparts to the soil. 
 These grasses would give an additional sward, 
 which turned under would supply a large 
 amount of humus, so necessary to our d~e- 
 nuded and exhausted soil. The sward of both 
 these grasses, being in themselves rich food, 
 when turned under, makes rich soil. The 
 farmer should always remember that plants 
 differ greatly in their value as manures. All 
 vegetable matters ploughed into the soil are 
 a manure, but their value differs as much as 
 our currency and gold. Both pass as money 
 but there is a material difference in their 
 value. The same remark holds true as to the 
 value of the manure of animals fed on differ- 
 ent kinds of food. One-fourth of the mnnure 
 of an animal fed on cotton-seed meal, will go 
 as far in enriching a soil as the whole of the 
 manure of the same animal fed on shucks or 
 straw. 
 
 GRASS SEEDS FOR MEADOW LAND. 
 
 One peck of Timothy, four quarts of Herd's 
 grass, and four quarts of white clover per 
 acre. If it be desired to obtain immediate 
 results, four quarts of red clover may be 
 added. This will disappear in two years if it 
 be mowed so as not to be allowed to seed. 
 For a permanent purpose the addition of red 
 clover is not judicious, because, as has been 
 previously remarked, it is ready for the scythe 
 long before either Timothy or Herd's grass. 
 It should be borne in mind that the word 
 meadow is generally applied to bottom land 
 in grass. When upland is mowed it is usually 
 designated as upland meadow. -Neither 
 Timothy nor Herd's grass are suitable for 
 mowing on upland. 
 
 FOR SUMMER PASTURES. 
 
 Our best summer pastures are Bermuda 
 and crab-grass. Red clover is valuable dur- 
 ing the spring and autumn. Herd's grass will 
 ive fair summer pasture on upland, especi- 
 ally on north hillsides; white clover is ex- 
 tremely valuable for certain kinds of stock ; 
 but, like red clover, after the seed has been 
 matured, it salivates horses. Little reliance 
 can be placed on -the cultivated grasses for 
 summer pasture ; we are, however, abundant- 
 ly supplied with natural grasses 
 
 FOR WINTER PASTURE. 
 
 Meadow-oat grass, orchard, blue and Ter- 
 rell grass, or wild rye, and red and white 
 
Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 23 
 
 clover. One bushel of orchard, meadow-oat 
 and wild rye, each, four quarts each of blue- 
 grass and red and white clover. The blue- 
 grass and white clover will ultimately take 
 possession of the soil. This winter pasture 
 should not be grazed after June or before 
 Christmas. 
 
 FOR EARLY SPRING SOILING. 
 
 Lucerne comes very early in the spring, 
 and may be used then for soiling and after- 
 ward for hay. A still earlier soiling reliance 
 would be a half bushel of barley, a peck of 
 Italian rye-grass, and the same of winter 
 vetches. For this purpose land should be 
 made very rich. On such lands, in most parts 
 of the South, this mixture can be cut in Feb- 
 ruary. In the absence of permanent winter 
 pastures it would be found of great value to 
 the farmer. It has this advantage, that its 
 results may be realized within a few months 
 after the seed is sown. 
 
 SELECTION OF SEEDS BUYING BY WKIOHT OR 
 MEASURK, WITH A TABLE OF WEIGHTS. 
 
 One of the great drawbacks to grass cul- 
 ture at the South is the cost of grass seeds. It 
 is of the utmost importance, therefore, that 
 the grass seeds should be good. Gross im- 
 positions are often practiced upon us by the 
 seedsmen. Grass seeds three years old are 
 unreliable. Old seeds are often mixed with 
 those that are fresh The fresh will vegetate, 
 the others will not. The farmer attributes 
 the bad stand to the bad climate or his bad 
 management, when it is attributable to the 
 bad seed. 
 
 Flint gives an easy way of determinng the 
 freshness of grass seeds : " Take two pieces 
 of thick cloth, moisten them with water, and 
 place them, one upon the other, in the bottom 
 of a saucer. Place any number of seeds 
 which it is desired to try upon the cloth, 
 spreading them so as not to allow them to 
 cover or touch each other. Cover them over 
 with a third piece of cloth, similar to the 
 others, moistened in the same manner. Then 
 place the saucer in a moderately warm place. 
 Sufficient water must be turned on from time 
 to time to keep the three thicknesses of cloth 
 moist, but great care must be taken not to use 
 too much water, as this would destroy the 
 seed. There should be only enough to moist- 
 en the cloth, and not enough to allow any to 
 stand in the saucer. Danger from this source 
 may be avoided, in a great measure, however, 
 by tipping up the saucer, so as to permit any 
 superfluous water in it to drain off. The cloth 
 used for covering may be gently raised each 
 day to watch the progress of the swelling or 
 molding of the seeds. The good seed will be 
 found to swell gradually, while the old or 
 poor seed, which has lost its germinating 
 power, will become moldy in a very few 
 d ays. 
 
 In this way, also, any one can judge whether 
 old seed is mixed with new. The latter will 
 germinate much more quickly than the for- 
 mer. He can, moreover, judge of the quantity 
 which he must sow, since he can tell whether 
 a half, or three-fourths, or the whole, will be 
 likely to germinate, and can regulate his sow- 
 ing accordingly. The seeds of the clovers, if 
 they are new and fresh, will show their germs 
 on the third or fourth day ; other seeds will 
 take a little longer ; but till they become coat- 
 ed with a mold there is hope of their germi- 
 nating. As soon as the mold appears it is 
 decisive, and the seed that molds is worthless. 
 
 It is always best to buy grass seeds by 
 weight, rather than by measure. Knowing 
 the weight of the different grass seeds, the 
 buyer can determine whether he has been im- 
 posed on by the seedsman better than if he 
 bought by measure. The following is a list 
 of the weight of the seeds of forage plants 
 and grasses suitable to the South : 
 
 Herd's grass, weight of a bushel of seed, 14 Ibs. 
 
 Timothy 44 " 
 
 Meadow-oat grass 7 " 
 
 Orchard grass 12 ' 
 
 Italian ryergrass 15 
 
 Blue-grass 13 
 
 Bed clover 64 
 
 White clover 65 
 
 Crimson clover 60 
 
 Lucerne 60 
 
 If the reader will trust to the experience of 
 the writer, he will find it hardly worth his 
 while to go beyond the list of grasses describ- 
 ed in this Essay. Full trial has been made 
 of more than twenty other species of grass 
 cultivated in Europe and at the North, witk- 
 out success. 
 
 AFTER-TREATMENT OF GRASS LAND. 
 
 Fatal errors are often committed in the 
 management of lands in grass. As soon as 
 the young grass is green in the spring, live 
 stock is turned upon it ; whereas grass should 
 not be grazed until it has once gone to seed, 
 and in subsequent years only after it is nearly 
 in blossom. Too much stock should at no 
 time be put upon it as to graze it close to the 
 ground, Bermuda and blue-grass being excep- 
 tions. 
 
 A thin growth of the annual grasses and 
 weeds is not injurious to newly sown grass 
 lands, but is rather beneficial, shading the 
 young grass from the sun. But lands suffi- 
 ciently rich to give a vigorous growth of the 
 artificial grasses, is also apt to produce a rank 
 growth of crab grass and weeds. If these are 
 suffered to mature, the young grass will be 
 smothered. They should be mowed as soon 
 as they are tall enough for the scythe, and this 
 mowing must be repeated as often as necessa- 
 ry, to keep down the rank growth. And if in 
 
24 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 the fall, the young grass kept back by these 
 weeds should be hardly visible, it must not 
 be concluded that there has been a failure ; 
 wait until the spring and then determine 
 whether it is best or not to put in some other 
 crop. 
 
 MANURES FOR GRASS LAND. 
 
 The best manure is farm-yard manure. 
 Where the supply of this is limited its value 
 may be increased by composting it with rich 
 earth from ditches, woods-mould and ashes ; 
 or the quantity of manure may be incre;ised 
 by composting commercial or chemical ma- 
 nures with the same materials. It should be 
 remembered that ammonia and potash are the 
 dominant wants of the grasses, and phosphate 
 of lime of the clovers and lucerne. 
 
 This compost applied in the winter is valu- 
 able not only on account of the manure, but 
 especially for the mulch that is given to the 
 young grass, protecting it from the severity of 
 the winter and the intense heat of summer. 
 Indeed, if the land be sufficiently rich to cause 
 a full stand of grass, this subsequent top-dress- 
 ing is really more valuable than if the ma- 
 nure had been incorporated with the soil at 
 the time of sowing. This top-dressing should 
 be applied only in dry weather. 
 
 If no stock is allowed to graze a meadow 
 after it has been cut until toward Christmas, 
 and if the meadow consist of grasses which 
 bear a full aftermath, as in the case with or- 
 chard, meadow-oat and blue-grass, and if the 
 stock grazing it are not removed at night, such 
 a meadow will continue to improve. This is 
 not the case with a Timothy and Herd's grass 
 meadow, as they leave very little second 
 growth or aftermath. They should receive a 
 top-dressing at least every three years. If the 
 farm does not produce the manure, the farmer 
 should buy it. An acre of land that will yield 
 two tons of hay worth $60, well deserves a 
 triennial application of $10 worth of purchas- 
 ed fertilizer. It will pay better than the same 
 application to cotton land, taking into the ac- 
 count the cost of culture. 
 
 The cheapest manure for grass land is water 
 by means of irrigation. But the limits of this 
 little Manual will not allow a detailed ac- 
 count of this cheap and important process 
 The reader who is interested in it is respect- 
 fully referred to a Prize Essay on that subject 
 by the writer, which was published in the 
 Plantation, Atlanta, 1871. 
 
 WHETHER TO SELL HAY OR TO FEED IT. 
 
 This depends upon our locality and the 
 price we can get for our hay. If hay sells for 
 $30 or $35 per ton, a farmer who lives near a 
 market would be very foolish to feed that hay 
 to cattle, provided he will invest a portion of 
 the proceeds of the hay in chemical or com- 
 mercial fertilizers. In our mild winters a cow 
 will eat five hundred pounds of hay, and much 
 
 more if it be given to her. But after the run 
 of the fields five hundred pounds of hay will 
 sustain her until grass springs. This five 
 hundred pounds of hay would sell for six or 
 seven dollars. If we deduct trouble of hous- 
 ing and hauling, the manure of this covr is 
 not worth the six or seven dollars. If she be 
 fed on winter pastures, that is another affair. 
 The question now is between the value of 
 a given amount of hay, merchantable at a 
 given price, and the valueof a winter's 
 manure of a cow. Six or seven dollars, 
 worth of a suitable fertilizer will go furher 
 in improving a meadow than the manure 
 of one cow, unless extraordinary expense 
 is incurred and care bestowed in providing 
 litter, muck and tanks for liquid manure. 
 But in determining this question of compara- 
 tive profit, it must be quite certain that the 
 man who sells the hay buys the six or seven 
 dollars' worth of fertilizer. If he does not, 
 it will be better for him- to feed his hay, no 
 matter what price it will bring in market, for 
 his meadow must have manure 
 
 It isVery clear that if we take more from 
 land than we give to it, we are ripping up the 
 goose. A very small leak will empty a bar- 
 rel in time, unless we continue to pour into it. 
 A crop of hay takes so much of a variety of 
 salts from the ground. If we do not return 
 an equivalent, our crops will annually dimin- 
 ish- If we wish them to increase, we must 
 return more than an equivalent. This is only 
 common sense. 
 
 This comparison is made only as to the 
 value of the manure of the domestic animals 
 when fed with hay. There may be a special 
 value in beef or butter, or in'mule or horse 
 colts which would modify it. It is important 
 not to be misunderstood. When hay is at a 
 high price and the market is near, it is cheap- 
 er to spend some of the hay money for ma- 
 nure than to trust to the cow fed on hay 
 simply as a manure-making animal. 
 
 It is not designed to decrease the number of 
 horses, cattle or sheep, but to point to the fact 
 that hay at present prices is too expensive a 
 food to feed them with when they can be fed 
 much more cheaply, and that is by means of 
 winter pastures, which cost nothing after the 
 first outlay, and continually improved by judi- 
 cious grazing. 
 
 The present prices of hay, $30 to $35, will 
 probably continue for along time in the plan- 
 tation States. Under our former system the 
 planter could pull an excess of fodder and sell 
 it at a small profit at $1 per hundred pounds. 
 Now if he sold fodder pulled by our present 
 hired labor at $30 per ton, it would be a 
 losing business. 
 
 There are a vast number of horses and cows 
 in our cities and elsewhere belonging to non- 
 producers, which consume bought forage. 
 This number is yearly increasing with the 
 increase of our non-producing population. 
 
Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 25 
 
 The supply of forage for this live stock has 
 hereto fore been brought by rail from the West. 
 On account of the cost of freights, the Western 
 farmer cannot lay down hay in our cities at 
 less than present prices. There is, therefore, 
 no reasonable expectation that the price of 
 hay will materially diminish. At the pre- 
 sent prices, to one living near a railroad or a 
 market, the profits are enormous. 
 
 Let us take a case. Lucerne will grow 
 anywhere in the South where the land is not 
 too sandy, is dry, and is made very rich. 
 Five tons of lucerne hay to the acre is not 
 an unreasonable estimate, but we will say 
 four tons. This at $30 per ton, is $120 per 
 acre. 
 
 Now suppose a man buys one hundred acres 
 of land it may be old broom-sedge with a 
 good clay foundation, near a good hay mar- 
 ketat $10 per acre, $1,000. Suppose that 
 it costs him $40 per acre to plough, harrow, 
 roll, seed, and manure this land. His invest- 
 ment will have been $5,000. At four tons 
 per acre, worth $30 per ton, his crop will 
 bring him $12,000; that is to say, $12,000 
 grass is obtained from an investment of $5,000. 
 There is nothing speculative or theoretic in 
 these figures. Every one who knows any- 
 thing about it, knows that four tons to the 
 acre is a small yield for lucerne. If there be 
 an error, it is in the under-estimate. Any 
 one who reads the prices-current of our news- 
 papers also knows that the price quoted 
 above is correct. It should be borne in mind 
 that the $5,000 investment is only for the 
 first ^ year. After that the $12,000 will be 
 obtained with only the cost of a triennial top- 
 dressing and the cutting and saving the crop, 
 which with improved implements is less than 
 $2 per ton. What cotton or rice planter ap- 
 proximates these results ? 
 
 But it is said, perhaps, with a sneer, " We 
 are poor ? None of us have $5,000 to invest in 
 one hundred acres of grass." Yes, you have, 
 if you are a cotton planter to any extent. Sell 
 a dozen of your mules, that have been annu- 
 ally eating their heads off since the war the 
 Southern mule being like a cat with nine 
 lives. Sell the corn and fodder that would 
 feed them for a year, or save the money that 
 would buy it. Estimate the annual cost of 
 the twelve hands which would be necessary to 
 work the twelve mules, and if you have the 
 land already, you will have saved money 
 enough for the one hundred acres of lucerne. 
 
 One hundred acres has been selected as a 
 definite figure. Of course the amount of land 
 can be diminished according to the ability of 
 the party concerned. 
 
 In this calculation lucerne has been selected, 
 as four tons per acre is an under-estimate. 
 Both clover and Timothy have yielded that 
 amount under high culture. 
 
 It is not at all the design of the writer to 
 propose grass of any kind as a substitute for 
 
 cotton, which would be preposterous. But it 
 is his purpose to urge the diminution of the 
 area planted in cotton, to impress the neces- 
 sity of a diversification of our products, and 
 the wisdom of getting the benefit to ourselves 
 of these high prices for hay while they last, 
 which must be for a number of years. We 
 want a cotton crop, a wool crop, a butter and 
 cheese crop, a grain crop, and a hay crop. 
 We want all of these to a greater or less ex- 
 tent, according to circumstances, on a single 
 plantation. This is, of course, impossible with 
 what we call a full crop of cotton, which re- 
 quires all hands all the year. But it is pos- 
 sible where cotton is as it should be, one 
 constituent of a four or five years' rotation. 
 
 IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS FOR SAVING HAY. 
 
 When land has stumps in it, or rocks upon 
 the surface, these improved implements can- 
 not be used. In such cases the grass must 
 be cut with a scythe. Where it is possible 
 without too great expense, these obstructions 
 should be removed, as the cost of saving a 
 crop of hay is greatly reduced by the use of 
 these implements. These implements are the 
 horse-mower, tedder, rake, and hay-lifter, and 
 loader. With their aid the grass is not touched 
 by hand, either in cutting, curing, or housing. 
 The saving of human labor is more than one- 
 half. The cost is diminished more than one- 
 half. The rapidity with which the work is 
 done enables us to command the weather. At 
 the South the saving of human labor is a 
 great object, as it is very difficult to obtain at 
 harvest time. Any one having ten acres of 
 meadow should provide himself with these 
 implements. The saving annually will be a 
 large interest on his money. This is true 
 where skillful mowers can be obtained. At 
 the South they are very rare. It is seldom 
 that a good cradler is a good mower, as the 
 movement is entirely different. 
 
 The cost of a light two-horse mowing ma- 
 chine is from $100 to $120; a hay-tedder, 
 $80 : sulky horse-rake, $35 ; say in all, $250. 
 If we allow fifteen per cent, for interest and 
 repair, this would amount to $37 50. Much 
 more than this sum would be saved annually 
 on saving the hay crop of ten acres of meadow. 
 
 RAISING GRASS SEED FOR SALE. 
 
 The amount of money spent for Northern 
 grass seeds at the South is very large. Last 
 year two seedsmen in Atlanta sold during the 
 season from $75 to $100 worth of clover and 
 grass seeds daily. In the small village of 
 Cartersville $5,000 was expended in one sea- 
 son for clover seed alone. The consumption 
 is increasing every year. There is no good 
 reason why we should not raise our own grass 
 seeds and supply our own dealers. At pre- 
 sent prices the profits would be large. But 
 little labor and expense attends the process. 
 As an illustration, the writer saved this year 
 
26 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 the seed from a little more than an acre of 
 meadow-oat grass. The yield was six bushels. 
 This at five dollars per bushel, the usual price, 
 would amount to thirty dollars. The grass 
 was cut with a cradle and bound, and was 
 threshed with a flail. The hay was saved, as 
 the seed of this grass ripens while the stalk 
 is green. Southern farmers should stop this 
 leak from the agricultural income of the 
 South. Besides the direct money saving, it 
 would be best to use acclimated grass seeds. 
 
 WOODS PASTURES. 
 
 Most of our woodland is, to a certain 
 extent, dead capital. This is not the case 
 where woodland rises sufficiently in value to 
 pay a fair interest on the investment, or so 
 far as necessary fence-rails and fuel are con- 
 cerned. In some of the older portions of the 
 South there is not sufficient timber for the 
 wants of the farm ; but there are vast tracts 
 of timber land in other portions which do not 
 appreciate perceptibly in value, and which 
 are comparatively useless. Woojls pastures 
 which correspond to the English parks, would 
 in such localities be found very profitable. 
 The timber should be thinned out, leaving the 
 trees thirty to fifty feet distant from each other. 
 Crooked and worthless timber should be cut, 
 leaving rail and mast-bearing trees. Every- 
 thing that is cut down should be piled and 
 burned in as small heaps as possible, to allow 
 the ashes to be more readily scattered. There 
 is very little of our upland which is rich 
 enough to bring good grass without assistance. 
 The scattered ashes will stimulate the young 
 grass. We have vast quantities of bottom 
 land rich enough to bring good grass, but 
 these are suitable only for summer pastures. 
 They would be poached and damaged by the 
 feet of cattle in the winter. We labor under 
 no deficiency of summer pastures it is win- 
 ter pasture that we most need. For this we 
 must depend on our upland, unless during a 
 very dry season on bottom land. 
 
 After the ground is prepared by cutting 
 down, burning and scattering the ashes, it 
 should be harrowed, so as to simply loosen 
 the surface. If ploughed, the plough will 
 turn up tussocks and lumps, and if these are 
 turned back again on the grass seed after it is 
 sown, they will fail to vegetate. If sown after 
 the ground is loosened, before a rain or during 
 a drizzle, no covering is necessary. If in a dry 
 time a light brush is sufficient. "Or if the pas- 
 ture be small, and the stock of cattle or sheep 
 be large, penning them and driving them about 
 for a few days will pack the seed into the 
 ground without inverting any of the sods or 
 tussocks. The grass seeds recommended for 
 winter pastures would be sown on this land, 
 and treated as prescribed for them. 
 
 Woods pastures or parks thus formed will 
 
 convert dead into living capital. We now 
 pay taxes on our woodland ; it should pay us 
 something in return. A woods pasture is a 
 great relief to the corn-crib in raising hogs. 
 Trees trampled around and thinned rarely 
 fail in bearing mast. This, in connection with 
 the grass, will nearly fatten a large amount of 
 pork. 
 
 They are also a great saving in the way of 
 shelter. While it is a cruelty "to confine stock 
 in a bare lot without shelter, in a woods pas- 
 ture in our climate they really do not need 
 shelter. This is especially the case where 
 they can have access to a south hillside. On 
 such spots it is always well to leave a thicket 
 for shelter. 
 
 Scarcely any improvement would add more 
 to the value of our landed estate than woods 
 pastures or parks. Nothing would add more 
 to its beauty. The parks of England are one 
 of its chief ornaments an ornament which is 
 also an utility. Fine oaks, green grass, run- 
 ning water, and blatant sheep or lowing 
 cattle, form a landscape which the painter 
 attempts in vain adequately to depict. There 
 is no reason why a large portion of the neg- 
 lected woodland of the South may not be 
 made to add to our weaith, while it fills the 
 eye with scenes of beauty. 
 
 NUTRITIVE VALUE OF THE GRASSES. 
 
 The following tables will be read with in- 
 terest. They were prepared by Prof. Way, 
 Chemist of the Royal Agricultural Society 
 of England. Wherever the examination of 
 these tables is not instructive, referring as 
 they do to a number of grasses not in use 
 among us, they will at all events gratify 
 commendable curiosity. In these tables, a 
 distinction is made to which we are not 
 accustomed. The grasses are all called natu- 
 ral those which we term " forage plants," 
 are called artificial grasses, as clover, etc. 
 
 These tables will be readily understood by 
 the unscientific reader, if he will remember, 
 that Albuminous matters are those which 
 produce flesh, that fatty matters are the 
 fat forming principles, that the heat produc- 
 ing principles, include all others besides 
 those which form flesh, fats or woody fibre, 
 and that the ash includes all the mineral 
 matter which is left after burning, as phos- 
 phate of lime, potash, etc., all of which the 
 plant has taken from the soil. These valua- 
 ble tables deserve other explanatory com- 
 ments. But these comments would carry us 
 beyond the limits of a merely popular manual 
 for the unscientific reader. Those who are 
 disposed to pursue the subject further are 
 referred to Flint's admirable work on the 
 Grasses, published by Crosby, Nichols & 
 Lee, Boston, Mass. 
 
ANALYSIS OF NATURAL GRASSES. (100 PARTS AS TAKEN GREEN FROM 
 
 THE FIELD.) 
 
 NAMES OF GRASS. 
 
 I 
 
 
 Albuminous, ori 
 Flesh Forming 
 Principles. 
 
 2 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 3* 
 
 N 
 
 Heat producing 
 Principles, 
 Starch, Gum, 
 Sugar, etc. 
 
 o> 
 
 fc 
 
 X3 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 Mineral Matter 
 or Ash. 
 
 Sweet-scented Vernal 
 
 8035 
 
 2 05 
 
 67 
 
 8 54 
 
 7 15 
 
 1 24 
 
 
 80 20 
 
 2 44 
 
 52 
 
 8KQ 
 
 6 70 
 
 1 -fi^ 
 
 Tall Oat Grass 
 
 72 65 
 
 3 54 
 
 87 
 
 11 21 
 
 907 
 
 2 3fi 
 
 
 60 40 
 
 2 96 
 
 1 04 
 
 18 66 
 
 H22 
 
 9 70 
 
 
 61 50 
 
 3 07 
 
 92 
 
 19 16 
 
 13 34 
 
 2 01 
 
 
 51 85 
 
 2 93 
 
 1 45 
 
 22 60 
 
 17 00 
 
 4 17 
 
 
 59 57 
 
 3 78 
 
 1 36 
 
 00 33 
 
 19 00 
 
 2 11 
 
 
 76 62 
 
 4 05 
 
 47 
 
 9 04 
 
 84fi 
 
 1 00 
 
 
 62 73 
 
 4 13 
 
 1 32 
 
 19 64 
 
 9 80 
 
 2 38 
 
 Orchard Grass 
 
 70 00 
 
 4 06 
 
 94 
 
 13 30 
 
 10 11 
 
 1 59 
 
 Orchard Grass, seeds ripe 
 
 52 57 
 
 10 93 
 
 74 
 
 12 61 
 
 20 54 
 
 2 61 
 
 Hard Fescue Grass 
 
 69 33 
 
 3 70 
 
 1 02 
 
 12 46 
 
 11 83 
 
 1 66 
 
 Meadow Soft Grass 
 
 69.70 
 
 3 49 
 
 1 02 
 
 11 92 
 
 11 94 
 
 1 93 
 
 
 58 85 
 
 4 59 
 
 94 
 
 20 05 
 
 13 03 
 
 2 54 
 
 Perennial Rye Grass 
 
 71 43 
 
 3 37 
 
 91 
 
 12 08 
 
 10 06 
 
 2 15 
 
 Italian Rye Grass 
 
 75 61 
 
 245 
 
 80 
 
 14 11 
 
 4 82 
 
 2 21 
 
 
 67 21 
 
 4 86 
 
 1 50 
 
 22 85 
 
 11 32 
 
 2 26 
 
 
 79 14 
 
 2 47 
 
 71 
 
 10 79 
 
 6 30 
 
 59 
 
 
 67 14 
 
 3 41 
 
 86 
 
 14 15 
 
 12 49 
 
 1 95 
 
 
 73 60 
 
 2 58 
 
 97 
 
 10 54 
 
 10 11 
 
 2 20 
 
 
 87 58 
 
 3 22 
 
 81 
 
 3 98 
 
 3 13 
 
 1.28 
 
 
 74 5J 
 
 2.78 
 
 052 
 
 11.17 
 
 8 76 
 
 2.24 
 
 Annual Rye Grass... 
 
 69.00 
 
 2.96 
 
 0.69 
 
 12.89 
 
 12.47 
 
 1.99 
 
 ANALYSIS OF NATURAL GRASSES. (100 PARTS OF THE GRASSES DRIED AT 
 
 212 FAHRENHEIT.) 
 
 NAME OF GRASS. 
 
 Albuminous or 
 Flesh Forming 
 Principles. 
 
 2 
 5 
 
 jit! 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 Mineral Matter 
 or Ash. 
 
 
 10.43 
 
 3.41 
 
 43.48 
 
 36.36 
 
 6.32 
 
 Meadow Foxtail tT^X ^ 
 
 , 12.32 
 
 2.92 
 
 43.12 
 
 33.83 
 
 7.81 
 
 Tall Oat Grass A^ / 
 
 12 95 
 
 3.19 
 
 38.03 
 
 34.24 
 
 11.59 
 
 Yellow Oat Grass ^r* ^ 
 
 7.48 
 
 2.61 
 
 47.08 
 
 35.95 
 
 6.88 
 
 
 7.97 
 
 239 
 
 49.78 
 
 34.64 
 
 522 
 
 
 6.08 
 
 3.01 
 
 4695 
 
 35.30 
 
 8.66 
 
 Upright Brome Grass .TJ** &+ ** 
 
 9.44 
 17.29 
 
 3.33 
 2.11 
 
 82 
 38.66 
 
 02 
 36.12 
 
 5.21 
 5.82 
 
 Crested Dog-s-tail g, t 7?t... ..%T..... 
 
 11.08 
 13.53 
 
 3.54 
 3.14 
 
 52.64 
 44.32 
 
 26.36 
 33.70 
 
 6.38 
 5.31 
 
 Orchard Grass, seeds ripe .t>t ^*. T 
 Hard Fescue Grass ^ -^ * 
 
 23.08 
 12.10 
 11 52 
 
 1.56 
 3.34 
 3.56 
 
 26.53 
 40.43 
 39.25 
 
 43.32 
 38 71 
 39.30 
 
 5.51 
 5.42 
 
 6.37 
 
 
 11.17 
 
 2.30 
 
 46.68 
 
 31.67 
 
 6.18 
 
 Perennial Rye Grass /< ....^T.i 
 
 11.85 
 
 3 17 
 
 42.24 
 
 35.20 
 
 7.54 
 
 Italian Rye Grass . 
 
 10.10 
 
 3.27 
 
 5782 
 
 19.76 
 
 9.05 
 
 Timothy 
 
 11.36 
 
 3.55 
 
 53.35 
 
 26.46 
 
 528 
 
 
 11.83 
 
 3.42 
 
 61.70 
 
 30.22 
 
 283 
 
 
 10.35 
 
 2.63 
 
 43.06 
 
 38.02 
 
 5.94 
 
 Rough Stalked Meadow 
 
 9.80 
 
 3.67 
 
 40.17 
 
 38.03 
 
 8.33 
 
 
 25.91 
 
 6.53 
 
 32.05 
 
 25.14 
 
 10.37 
 
 
 10.92 
 
 2.06 
 
 4390 
 
 34.30 
 
 8.82 
 
 Bermuda Grass 
 
 12.00 
 
 Rave 
 
 nel. 
 
 
 6.50 
 
28 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and 
 
 ANALYSIS OF AETIFICIAL GRASSES. (100 PARTS AS TAKEN FROM THE 
 
 FIELD.) 
 
 NAME OF PLANT. 
 
 1 
 
 Albuminous or 
 Flesh Forming 
 Principles. 
 
 Fatty Matters. 
 
 bfi 
 
 C rT 
 
 1 s ~ 
 1^ e . 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Si M 
 Q O 
 
 c 
 
 Rd Clover 
 
 81.01 
 
 4.27 
 
 .69 
 
 8 45 
 
 3 76 
 
 1 82 
 
 Perennial Clover 
 
 81 05 
 
 3 64 
 
 .78 
 
 8 04 
 
 4 91 
 
 1 58 
 
 Crimson Clover 
 
 82.14 
 
 2.96 
 
 .67 
 
 6 70 
 
 5 78 
 
 1 75 
 
 Cow Grass 
 
 74.10 
 
 6 30 
 
 .92 
 
 942 
 
 6 25 
 
 3 01 
 
 
 77 57 
 
 4 22 
 
 1 07 
 
 11 14 
 
 4 23 
 
 1 77 
 
 Hop Trefoil 
 
 83 48 
 
 3 39 
 
 77 
 
 7 25 
 
 3 74 
 
 1 37 
 
 White Clover 
 
 79 71 
 
 3 80 
 
 .89 
 
 8 14 
 
 5 38 
 
 2 08 
 
 Common Vetch . ... 
 
 82 90 
 
 404 
 
 .52 
 
 6 75 
 
 4 68 
 
 1 11 
 
 Sainfoin .. . .. . .. 
 
 76.64 
 
 4.32 
 
 .70 
 
 10 73 
 
 5 77 
 
 1 84 
 
 Lucerne or Alfalfa 
 
 69.95 
 
 3 83 
 
 82 
 
 13 62 
 
 8 74 
 
 3 04 
 
 Black Medick. or Nonsuch... 
 
 76.80 
 
 5.70 
 
 .94 
 
 7.73 
 
 6.32 
 
 2.51 
 
 ANALYSIS OF ARTIFICIAL GRASSES, (IN 100 PARTS OF THE GRASS DRIED 
 
 AT 212 FAHR.) 
 
 
 *$ 
 
 
 
 1 s a" 
 
 6 
 
 o> 
 
 a 
 
 
 '. G 
 o * 
 
 
 
 ~ H 5 -2 
 
 o *H rn o^ 
 
 M 
 
 ^ -^ 
 
 NAME OF PLANT. 
 
 
 a 
 
 ;X| e c ^ iT 
 
 
 "*i 
 
 
 c _ 2"' 
 
 >-> 
 
 -^> ^* "o tc 
 
 "O 
 
 t* rt 
 
 
 J S.1 
 
 "i 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 ^ cL 
 
 EM 
 
 ^.5^ 
 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 Red Clover 
 
 22.55 
 
 3 67 
 
 4447 
 
 19 75 
 
 9 56 
 
 Perennial Clover 
 
 19 18 
 
 4 09 
 
 42.42 
 
 25 96 
 
 8 35 
 
 Crimson Clover 
 
 16.60 
 
 3.73 
 
 37.50 
 
 32.39 
 
 9 78 
 
 Cow Grass 
 
 24 33 
 
 3 57 
 
 36 36 
 
 24 14 
 
 11 60 
 
 
 18 77 
 
 4 77 
 
 49 65 
 
 18 84 
 
 7 97 
 
 Hop Trefoil 
 
 20 48 
 
 4 67 
 
 43 86 
 
 22 66 
 
 8 33 
 
 White Clover 
 
 18 76 
 
 4 38 
 
 40 04 
 
 26 53 
 
 10 29 
 
 Common Vetch . .... 
 
 23.61 
 
 306 
 
 39 45 
 
 27 38 
 
 6 50 
 
 
 1845 
 
 3 01 
 
 4596 
 
 2471 
 
 7 87 
 
 Lucerne or Alfalfa 
 
 12.76 
 
 2.76 
 
 40.16 
 
 3421 
 
 10 11 
 
 Black Medick... 
 
 24.60 
 
 4.06 
 
 33.31 
 
 27-19 
 
 10.84 
 
Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 29 
 
 SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE SELECTION OF A 
 GRASS OR STOCK FARM. 
 
 There seems to be little to choose as to cli- 
 mate. At the South in each of the planta- 
 tion States we have three different climates 
 that of the mountains, the interior and the 
 coast. For live stock the mountains have 
 the advantage in summer, the low country in 
 the winter, while the middle country has a 
 share of advantages and disadvantages of 
 both, without the special excellencies or 
 defects of either. 
 
 As a general rule a clay soil is best suited 
 to growing good grass A soil with a good 
 deal of sand may, however, by manuring, be 
 made to yield very good grass. A piece of 
 worn and unraanured sandy land will pro- 
 duce a light crop of crab-grass ; the same soil 
 well manured will produce a heavy crop of 
 that grass. The soil that will yield a heavy 
 crop of crab-grass will be pretty certain to 
 produce a good crop of other upland grasses. 
 Still, other things being equal, the clay soil 
 is to be preferred. 
 
 The lands most likely in the judgment of 
 the writer to produce heavy crops of Timothy 
 and Herd's grass hay, are the rice lands of 
 the coast. They are very rich, and have am- 
 ple command of water. If the rice planters 
 would apply to their land the agricultural 
 system of Lombardy, they would attain a 
 value of which they have not dreamed. Do 
 they know that the Marcite, or lands in grass 
 irrigated in winter near Milan, rent for from 
 $60 to $100 per acre, while hay sells at $10 
 per ton ? 
 
 After the rice lands, the best meadow lands 
 of the South have been as yet almost wholly 
 untouc'ied by the ax or plow. Reference is 
 made to the immense bodies of bottom land 
 sometimes from five to eight miles wide on our 
 rivers, after they pass from the rolling lands 
 into the flat country. These lands are suffi- 
 ciently rich, sufficiently moist, and are usually 
 of a compact nature. Being too low for culti- 
 vation in cotton and corn, they have been left 
 uncleared. They are worth now generally not 
 more than one dollar per acre converted into 
 meadow they would pay a heavy interest on 
 $200 Where they are not within reach of 
 railroads the hay can usually be taken cheaply 
 to market by steamer or flat-bottomed boats. 
 The wealth of the South is to be largely in- 
 creased from this now useless source. 
 
 Nothing is said of the range portions of the 
 South, because where there isanexclusivereli- 
 ance upon the range, nothing but range stock 
 can be sustained. The object of this Manual 
 is to give suggestions as to the rearing of good 
 live stock and the cultivation of good grass 
 for hay or pasture. 
 
 If hay is the chief object, proximity to mar- 
 ket or river or railway transportation is a ma- 
 terial object. If summer and winter pasture is 
 
 the leading featufe, proximity to market is 
 not so important, as stock can be cheaply 
 driven. 
 
 Upon grass farms sheep and cattle are the 
 most profitable stock. Colts and hogs require 
 too much grain. 
 
 A. level surface of upland, without running 
 water, with an excess of sand, is the most 
 unsuitable for a grass farm, and of course for 
 stock-raising. 
 
 The perfection of a grass farm, so far as 
 natural requisites are concerned, are enough 
 bottom land to yield the meadow hay that is 
 required for sale or consumption, enough level 
 land to meet the home necessities of grain, and 
 also for lucerne, and the rest rich broken land. 
 In our climate the steeper the hills of our pas- 
 ture lands the better, provided they may be . 
 rich. The reason of this is that in summer 
 the grass will be exposed to the sun only a 
 portion of the day, and in winter the north 
 hillsides are always most natural to grass, 
 and the south sides give stock a sufficiently 
 warm exposure. 
 
 To young men at the South entering upon 
 agricultural life, grass farms offer great induce- 
 ments. They require so little labor and so 
 little outlay. If a young man begins with ex- 
 clusive cotton culture, he must buy a number 
 of mules and farm implements. He must lay 
 in a stock of food for his mules and laborers. 
 This requires much ready money or running 
 into debt. 
 
 These expenses are largely avoided on a 
 grass farm. If a return must be had the first 
 year, grass seeds can be sown with small grain 
 the whole expense is then the cost of the 
 grass seed. Afterwards the farm will provide 
 for all its own expenses. The commencement 
 of a stock of sheep and cattle is a trifle as com- 
 pared with the cost of a number of mules and 
 food for them. 
 
 The pleasure of life on a grass farm is in- 
 comparably greater than on a plantation de- 
 voted exclusively to cotton. The latter exacts 
 our whole time; the former gives leisure for 
 reading, study, and the amenities of social 
 life. 
 
 The indolent negro is a constant thorn in 
 the side of the cotton planter. It is not neces- 
 sary to rise before day to fret at our live stock 
 because they will not eat and grow, or with 
 the grass because it will not shoot up its 
 beautiful green blades in the spring-time. 
 Neither the stock nor the grass quarrel with 
 us at Christmas about wages or their share of 
 the crop, or threaten to carry us before a 
 magistrate. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Sound political economy requires that the 
 South should raise its own horses, mules, 
 sheep, cattle and hogs, and prod ce its own 
 wool, butter, cheese and hay. When we add 
 
30 
 
 Cultivation of the Grasses and Forage Plants at the South. 
 
 these products to our cotton and rice and 
 sugar, we shall, perhaps, live more independ- 
 ently than any other people in Christendom. 
 Grass culture is the basis of this independ- 
 ence. It is a dictate of philanthropy, as well 
 as a suggestion of interest, to promote it. If 
 
 this Ifttle Manual, making no display, using 
 no scientific terms, but as popular as simple 
 language could make it, shall have assisted in 
 the most humble manner in the attainment of 
 this end, it will have fully answered the pur- 
 pose of the writer. 
 
 L 1 J> It A U V 
 
 IV KKS ITY OK 
 
High Grade English Fertilizers, 
 
 CON ENTRATEB SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME. 
 
 This article, manufactured in England, is the highest grade ACID PHOSPHATE ever 
 offered for sale in this country. 
 
 Every ton is guaranteed to contain 80 per cent, of Soluble or available Phosphateof Lime, 
 and the shipments received contain as high as 90 per cent., as analyzed by Professor C. U. 
 Shepard. As 400 Ibs., containing 90 per cent, available Phosphate of Lime, will go as far 
 in making compost or artificial manure as one ton of Acid Phosphate, with 18 per cent, 
 available, the saving in cost of freight and handling will be very great. 
 
 It is put up in barrels, and the price is ^11O Otili, per ton of 2,000 pounds, or 
 Times, approved security. 
 
 THE ALBION, OR ENGLISH COTTON FERTILIZER, 
 
 Manufactured by the above Company, is a highly Ammoniated Superphosphate, made 
 specially for Cotton, and is one of the highest grade manures offered in this market ; the 
 per centage of Soluble Phosphate of Lime and Ammonia, the two most important constitu- 
 ents, being unusually large. 
 
 Price $55 Cash, per ton of 2,000 Ibs., and $65 Time, approved security. 
 
 W. C. COURTNEY & CO., Agents, 
 
 FACTORS AND COMMISSION MERCHANTS, 
 
 3 Boyce's Wharf, Charleston, 8. C. 
 
 OF CHARLESTON, S. C. 
 
 WILLIAMS, BLACK & WILLIAMS, Agents, 
 
 COTTON FACTORS AND COMMISSION MERCHANTS, 
 
 No. 3 Cotton Exchange, South Atlantic Wharf. 
 
 WILLIAMS, BLACK & CO., 
 
 TNo. 1 WI3L,:L,IA.M: HT11EET, - NEW YORK. 
 
 THE STOITO "FERTILIZERS, 
 
 Carefully prepared under the special supervision of our Chemist, Dr. ST. JULIEN KAVENKL, 
 are offered at the following Reduced Rates : 
 
 SOLUBLE GUANO (thoroughly Ammoniated,) payable April 1st, $46 5 payable, 
 ber 1st, without interest, $53. 
 
 ACID PHOSPHATE, Cash, as above, $30; Time, as above, $35. With Cotton option, 
 on basis of Liverpool Middlings at 16 cents per pound, delivered at nearest Railroad Depot, 
 on or before November 15th, as follows : Soluble Guano Time, $60. Acid Phosphate 
 Time, $40. Drayage, $1 per ton, unless ordered by the Car load (8 tons.) 
 
 j^=> Special Rates will le made with purchasers *or Cash, 
 on orders of one or more Car loads. Address 
 
 E. C. WILLIAMS, Treasurer, 
 
 January 1st, 1875. Ke V Box 486 ' 
 
ETIWAN FERTILIZERS. 
 
 A first class Fertilizer for Cotton, Wheat, Tobacco, Grass, Vegetables, 
 
 and Flowers. 
 
 ETIWAN DISSOLVED BONE, 
 
 The highest grade of Phosphoric Acid offered by any Fertilizer ; and, 
 therefore, the cheapest and best material for compost. 
 
 Agents at all usual railroad deliveries, and at seaports, will furnish further 
 details. 
 
 wntE. c 
 
 
 Greneral 
 
 * s. o. 
 
 constantly in stock 
 
 ALL KINDS OF SEEDS ; 
 
 FOR THE FIELD AND GARDEN, 
 
 Address them, Nashville, Tennessee. 
 
 Mark W. Johnson, Woodruff & Co. 
 
 SEE3DS3VCEJST, 
 CTT A . , Cr E Q !Ft 
 
 1,000 bushels RED CLOVER, 100 bushels Crimson Annual Clover, 50 bushels White Clover, 2,000 
 pounds Lucerne, or Alfafa, 500 bushels German Millet Seed, 1,000 bushels Orchard Grass, 1,000 bush- 
 els Red Top or Herd's, 1,000 bushels Blue Grass, 1,000 bushels Timothy, 100 bushels Tall Meadow Oat 
 Gras*, 250 bushels Perennial Rye Grass, 500 bushels Hungarian Grass, or Millet, 1,000 pounds Cat 
 Tail Millet (Green Food,) 500 bushels assorted Grasses of other varieties, besides those named above. 
 5,000 bushels Seed Oats. We also have a large st >ck of Garden, Field, and Flower Seeds, Bone Dust, 
 Land Plaster, Ammonia, Soda, Potash, Kainits, Lime, <fcc. Also, Agricultural Implements, Wagons, 
 Buggies, Carriages, <fcc. Send for Price List. TERMS CASH. 
 
18S9. 
 
 The Rural Carolinian. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 MONTHLY 
 
 Agricultural 
 
 MAGAZINE, 
 
 LEADING 
 
 SOUTHERN 
 
 AGRICULTURAL 
 
 PERIODICAL 
 
 AND 
 
 PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT PATROl OF HIR11RY, 
 
 A FEATURE OF THE 
 
 RURAL CAROLINIAN. 
 
 The RURAL, CAROLINIAN is the leading Agricultural Journal of the South. Publisher! and 
 Editors are all Southern men, and it is devoted exclusiTely to the interests of Southern Agriculture. While 
 it is not the paid organ of the Patrons of Husbandry, or any society or set of men, it has been the most 
 powerful advocate for the establishment of Granges in the South, and its influence has contributed greatly 
 to the present prosperity of the Order. 
 
 D. H. JACQUES, ESQ., of Charleston, S. C., Editor-in-Chief. 
 CHARLES R. DODGE, ESQ., of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., Entomological Editor. 
 
 CONTRIBUTORS. 
 
 COL. D. WYATT AIKEN, Washington, D. C. 
 HENRY W. RAVENEL, ESQ., Alken, 8. C. 
 
 Biv. C. W. HOWARD, Kingston Ga. 
 COL. N. H. DAVIS, Greenville, S. C. 
 
 POSTAGE, 10 CENTS. SPECIMEN COPIES, 20 CENTS. 
 
 , EVANS & COGSWELL, Publishers, 
 
 OHIlA-IE^IDESTOlsr, S. O. 
 
This establishment has been conducted by its present proprietor since 1857. 
 Its area is now of such extent that we are enabled to offer the largest and 
 most varied stock of 
 
 Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, Roses, etc., etc., 
 
 IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. 
 
 The collection of Fruits and Plants are most extensive, and have been 
 selected with careful reference to the Southern climate. An intimate know- 
 ledge of the needs of Southern Fruit Culturists is a guarantee that the 
 interests of the patrons of this establishment shall be faithfully served. 
 
 Catalogues mailed free, by addressing as above. No. 1 Fruit and Orna- 
 mental Trees, Koses, Evergreens, &c. No. 2 Greenhouse, Bedding Plants, 
 &c. No. 3 Wholesale Price List for the Trade. 
 
 No Tree Peddlers connected with our establishment. 
 
 BELMOXTT STOCK FARM, 
 
 , GEORGIA. 
 
 IFETIEIRS, 
 
 IBIRJEIEIIDIEIR, 
 
 Alderney Cattle, Spanish Merino Sheep, Cashmere Anpra Goats, 
 
 Essex Swine, Brown Leghorn and Game Fowk 
 
 THE GRASS jatUESTION. 
 
 Owing to the increased interest manifested throughout the cotton growing 
 States and the great necessity for a diversified agriculture, we were induced 
 last fall to offer a Champion Mowing Machine as a prize for the best Essay 
 on Grasses and Meadows for the South. There was a liberal response from 
 Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas. For the benefit of our cus- 
 tomers, we publish the Essays in our Catalogue, that every means may be 
 employed to recuperate the farming interests of the country. Those desiring 
 to sow grasses can get very valuable information from these Essays, and we 
 hope thousands may reap rich harvests. Send for Catalogue. 
 
 We are indebted to Philips' Southern Farmer, and other agricultural jour- 
 nals, for the publicity given this offer. 
 
 R. G. CRAIG & CO., Seedsmen, 
 
 377 and 379 MAIN STREET, Memphis, Torn*. 
 
North Carolina Agricultural House and Harta Store. 
 
 ALLEN A. CO., 
 
 DEALERS IN 
 
 HARDWARE AND FINE EDGE TOOLS, CIRCULAR & CROSS-CUT SAWS, 
 
 Bubber and Leather Belting, Packing, Lace Leather, 
 
 Carriage Materials, Amies, Bolts, Harness, Saddlery, Leather, Iron, 
 
 Cast Steel and Plow Steel, Bagging, Rope, Iron Ties, Paint, Oil, Glass, Varnish, Putty, 
 Brick, Lime, Cement, Plaster, Seines, Net Twine, Turbine Water Wheels, 
 
 Agricultural Implements, Cotton Gins, Cotton Presses, 
 
 HORSE POWERS, MOWERS AND REAPERS, PLOWS, HARROWS, CULTI- 
 VATORS, GIN SEGMENTS* BOLTS, GUDGEONS, STRAW CUTTERS, 
 
 Corn Shellers, Corn and Wheat Fans, Threshers, Cider Mills, 
 
 COTTON -PLANTERS, GRAIN JDRADLES, PRASS BLADES, 
 
 Flow Manvifaetu^ers, 
 
 22 and 24 POLLOK STREET, NEWBERN, N. C. 
 
 TO THE PRACTICAL MTER AND FARMER! 
 
 The Book needed toy every Planter and 
 
 Farmer who desires to know how his 
 
 Farming Investment Pays. 
 
 THE RURAL ACCOUNTANT! 
 
 A COMPLETE AND SIMPLE SYSTEM 
 
 PLANTATION & FABM ACCOUNTS, 
 
 CONTENTS A Plan of the Farm, Gestation 
 Account, General Accounts, Inventory of 
 Farm Investment, Time Rolls for Each 
 Month, Cash Account, Crop Accounts, 
 Memoranda. Prefaced by a full and com- 
 plete explanation of the book; also, comprising 
 a selection of practical information needed 
 every day on the farm. 
 
 GREATLY REDUCED PRICES. 
 
 PRICE Small Size - - - $1.00 
 Large Size - - - 1.50 
 
 Sent per mail postage prepaid. 
 
 Liberal reductions to Granges and Clubs 
 ordering quantities. 
 
 PUBLISHES BY 
 
 WALKER, EVANS & COGSWELL, 
 
 PUBLISHERS RURAL CAROLINIAN, 
 Stationers, Printers, and Binders, 
 
 HO*, $ BROAD AND 109 EA8T BAY 8TREET8, 
 
 FINE PAPERS 
 
 The demand for 
 FINE PAPERS 
 
 warrants us in keep- 
 ing a large stock of 
 all the new and 
 
 ELEGANT KINDS 
 
 MONOGRAMS, Engraved and Stamped in Blank and 
 Colors. 
 
 INITIAL LETTERS Stamped on Paper. 
 
 CARD ETIQUETTE, a Book on the forms and fashions 
 of Cards, Wedding Invitations, General Invita- 
 tions, Ac., mailed to any address free on receipt 
 of three cent postage stamp. 
 
 WEDDING INVITATIONS and VISITING CARDS, pre- 
 pared in the most elegant style. 
 
 Everything as Cheap as in Baltimore, Philadel- 
 phia, or New York. 
 
 WALKER, E7ANS & COGSWELL, 
 
 Manufacturing Stationers, 
 
 Charleston, S. C. 
 
OF 
 
 Grasses and Forage Plants. 
 
 ORCHARD GRASS, TIMOTHY, HERDS GRASS, (Red Top,) TALL 
 
 OAT GRASS, ALFALFA, or LUCERNE, PEA VINE, 
 
 and MEDIUM CLOVERS. 
 
 Field and Garden Seeds of all the Best and Cleanest sorts. 
 
 SENT> Jb'OR, PRICES. 
 
 Samples and Catalogues sent FRKE, by mail, to all applicants. 
 
 PERUVIAN GUANO, BONE DUST, AND OTHER FERTILIZERS. 
 
 II* H Aldhlilf 4k $0 
 
 \& 
 
 P. O. Box 376. 189 & 191 WATER STREET, NEW YORK, 
 
 HARYESTIHGlMPLEMEHTS. 
 
 MOWING AND REAPING MACHINES, 
 HORSE BAKES, HORSE HAY FORKS, 
 
 HAY AND GRAIN STACKING IMPLEMENTS, 
 
 THRESHERS AND SEPARATORS, CORN HUSKERS AND SHELLERS, 
 
 SEED SOWERS, for Horse or Hand Power, 
 
 LIME AND PLASTER SOWERS, FIELD AND GRAIN DRILLS, which sow Wheat 
 and other grain, either alone or with Fertilizer. 
 
 PLOWS, upwards of 100 different sizes and patterns. Prices from $2.50 up. We would 
 call particular attention to ihe celebrated "BEE" PLOWS, our new steel patterns, which are 
 not only lighter, but stronger and more enduring than cast-iron, and they never clog in clay 
 soil. 
 
 MINER'S CELEBRATED SUB-SOIL PLOW, CHAIN SCOTCH, FRIEDMAN, and 
 other Harrow Cultivators, wilh steel or cast-iron teeth, of various patterns. 
 
 The largest and most complete assortment of Agricultural and Horticultural Implements 
 in America. 
 
 Peruvian Guano, Bone Dust, Superphosphate and other Fertilizers. 
 
 Improved Live Stock! 
 
 THOROUGH-BRED ROAD AND DRAFT HORSES, 
 
 Short-Horn, (Durham,) Devon, teey, (Alierney,) Gnrnsey, Ayrshire, 
 
 and Palled Cattle. 
 
 For Beef, for Milk, for Butter, for Labor. 
 
 BERKSHIRE, ESSEX, AND POLAND CHINA SWINE, 
 
 Which are better than the white breeds for the South. 
 
 LONG WOOLS, DOWNS, & MERINO SHEEP. 
 POULTRY, of all kinds. 
 
 All selected from the best breeders in the country, and shipped from New York, to any 
 accessible Port or Railway Station in the South. 
 
 P. O. Box 376, 
 
 189 & 191 Water Street, NEW YORK CITY, 
 
-*TTNIVERSITY'OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY, 
 
 BERKELEY 
 
 ON THE LAST DATE 
 D BELOW 
 
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 50c per volume after the third day overdue, increasing 
 to $1.00 per volume after the sixth day. Books not in 
 demand may be renewed if application is made beforr 
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 JUH 2 7 1997 
 
 U.C.BERKELEY 
 
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Manufactured bit 
 
 GAYLORD BROS. Inc. 
 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 Stockton, Calif.