in UfiRSC. DEPT. JJ TH FAR ME AND FORAGE PLANTS, BY D. L. PHARES. STARKVILLE, MISS J. C. HILL. PRINTER. 1881 ,4 HEADQUARTERS FOR THE JOHNSON GRASS SEED! (SORGHUM HALAPENSE.) This Grass has no equal for hay or pasturage. Belonging to the Sorghum family, it has an abundance of leaves, a rapid grower perennial, sweet and nu- JOHNSON GRASS. tritious. It stands the drought hotter (SORGHUM HALAPENSE.) than any oi}\GY grass, also the freezes of The above is from a photo- winter. In fact, wherever corn will graph of twenty-live stalks, , . -, it r-\ i gathered May 20th, 1881. For grow this grass does well. One bushel hay a Or grazing i, has no t() the ^.^ Qn any ffOO(] Jjm( ^ ^ richer the better the crop), will yield from one to two and one- half tons to the acre at each cutting, andean he cut from 3 to 4 times a season. It does not exhaust land, but improves it. Well cured hay made from tnis grass keeps stock in good con- dition when not at work Living on the original Johnson grass farm, where this seed has been planted for over thirty years, I am enabled to get the pure seed, and will furnish it in quanti- ties to suit purchasers; well cleaned and put up in good mer- chantable order. This is the same grass sometimes called Guin- ea grass, Means grass, Egyptian grass, Cuba grass and Green Valley grass; reference to which can be found in the March no. of American Agriculturist for 1881. Also in Howard's Man- ual, page 16 ; also in this work. Where it is possible sow the seed in the fall, as it will get sufficient growth to furnish two good crops the following year. Sowing in the spring will do, but the crop will not be as heavy the first summer, I also have the hay for sale made of this grass which I furnish in car load lots of 8 to 10 tons at the market price. Send stamp for descriptive circular which contains prices, and directions for Cultivation. HERBERT POST, Marion Junction, Dallas Co,, Ala. THE STARKVILLE LEDGER, A Weekly Newspaper, published every Wednesday, at Stark ville, Miss. BY J. C. HILL. Subscription : $2 a year. All styles of Job Printing and Book Work executed in the most artistic manner, and at short notice. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS, FOR THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES. BY D. L. PHARES, A. M., M. D., Professor of Biology, A. & M. College of Mississippi, Sanitary Commissioner for the State at large of Mississippi ; Member of A. P. H. A., and many other Scientific Bodies. Author of "Synopsis of Medical Flora of Mississippi/ 7 and of many papers on Medicine, Natural His- tory, Veterinary Science, Education, Improved Farming, Etc. Etc. Etc. STARKVILLE, MISS. J. C. HILL. PRINTER. 1881 COPY RIGHT, August, 3rd., 1881, in Office of Librarian of Congress. D. L. PHARLS. i J j V' ': PREFACE. This little manual has been prepared at the urgent solicita- tion of many planters for many years. It is written in as plain, simple language as could well be done ; so that any intelligent reader may easily understand it all. Full descriptions in plain English of all the plants mentioned would have much more than doubled the size of the book ; technical descriptions would be hard to comprehend , and hence it was deemed best to give first the botanical name of each plant, so that any desiring, may consult such books as Gray's, Chapman's, or Wood's recent works for fuller descriptions. The more important distinctive characters are given Avhenever deemed necessary. Much more time and labor have been expended in collecting and correcting synonyms, and carefully identifying plants by their popular or common names, than in all the other portions of the work together. A number of plants new or unknown to most farmers have been described at some length, especially when giving promise of much agricultural value. Many others of little worth are mentioned, that farmers may not waste time and money in ex- perimenting with them. Many that are very valuable are too briefly treated because the space assigned me would not admit of fuller detail. And for the same reason many important top- ics have not been even mentioned. My own experiences and practises have been given quite free- ly as requested by friends. The work has been prepared in the intervals of other absorb- ing labors, with an average of not less than twenty interrup- tions for every page. It has been printed from the original rough draft as it has been impossible to find time to copy or re- vise it. For the same reason a few typographical errors may have escaped uncorrected. In spite of all efforts to the contra- ry, the work contains over 50 per cent more than the limits assigned me would have permitted. Should health and leisure permit, I desire at some future time to prepare a large illustrated work on all the Forage Plants of the Southern United States. D. L. PHASES. A. & M. COLLEGE OF Miss. ) September, 1st., 1881. / 270397 ERRATUM. Page 7, line 5 from top, read pecks instead of pounds. Farmer's Bool of tees and Other Forap Plants, CHAPTER I. The Pulse Family. From the oldest records, it is evident that members of this family have been used as food for man and beast from the in- fancy of the human race. And for many ages other members have furnished timber, fuel, fibrous materials, dyes, medicines and many other products employed in economic uses. This fam- ily contains about 550 genera and 7000 species, of which our country produces more than 60 genera and over 200 species. In the limited space allowed in this work only a few of these can be mentioned. 1. LOTUS TRIBE. Blossoms butterfly-like, pods not jointed, stems not climbing, cotyledons leafy. LUPINUS. Lupine. Of this genus, several species are found native; the more com- mon being the perennial, diffuse and vittous; all with generally purplish flowers, rarely white, and woolly pods. While afford- ing some food and worthy of protection, they are not of 'suffi- cient value to justify cultivation. CEOTALAEIA. Rattle-box. We have three native species of this genus, all with yellow blossoms and dark purple inflated pods. They are low plants, growing 011 sandy pine barrens and other poor soils, affording considerable food for live stock, where better plants do not thrive. They are sometimes cultivated, only however, for amusement of children. 2 ' - , ^. ^. s0 j, F>J^E^&,BQOK OF Gil ASHES MEDICAGO. Medick . 1. M. SATIVA. Modick, Lucerne, Spanish Trefoil, French Lu- zernc and Alfalfa. This plant is very pretty and very valuable. When first brought from South America to the United States, it was supposed to be a new plant and called Brazilian clover. A few years ago, it was taken from western South America to Cal- ifornia, and thence to the older States as a new plant with its Spanish name Alfalfa. But it was known in the earlier ages of the world. By the Greeks (about 500 years "before Christ) it was brought from Medea and hence its generic and one of its common names. It has been known ever since in most civil- ized States, and often mentioned by Roman agricultural writers and by others from their time to this. It is still grown in Per- sia, where, as in Peru, it is cut throuhout the year. It had been cultivated in the southern States 50 years before received from California. It is ready for use early. Last year I had it two feet high, the middle of February ; this year the same height a month la- ter, all the forage plants being late. It should be planted in drills 12 or 15 inches apart, and I think at the very least, ten pounds of seed per acre. The ground should be rich, dry and mellow. The first year it should be cultivated to keep down grass and weeds. The mowing should be made when the first blooms appear, if for hay. It makes a good hay, relished by stock. It is better however, for soiling or feeding green, or rather wilted. For this purpose the cutting should begin before the plant shows any blooms ; otherwise, before going over all the lot, some stems become too hard to digest promptly. By the time the last is cut, the first is again ready for the sickle. And thus it may be cut four to six times a year. The amount of rich forage it may produce is probably greater than from any other plant. It is very rich in milk and butter principles, and spe- cially suited for feeding milk cows. For this purpose cut after noon and feed next day. Stock must not have access to the growing lucerne ; for by eating out the crowns, the plants are killed. If protected and manured a little every few years, it will continue a vigorous growth for a life-time. Some plots of it are now in fine condi- tion, that are known to have been growing for over thirty -five years, without any marks of decay. Where the sub-soil can be penetrated and is not too moist, lu- cerne sends its roots down 10, 15, even 20 feet deep. Hence it is less affected by drought than any other plant. This should render it specially valuable in the Mission Valley and some oth- er portions of Texas, and perhaps on the skirts of our western desert. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 3 It may succeed well, sown broadcast on well cultivated lands free from seeds of grasses and weeds. In this case full twenty pounds of seed per acre should be used so as to cover the ground early and thus suppress weeds. It may afford good mowings the first year ; and these mowings prevent maturing of seeds of noxious weeds. Every owner of a horse or milk cow should have at least one acre of lucerne. These animals, sheep, swine and poultry rec- ognize the value of lucerne at the first glance. 2. M. LUPULINA is naturalized with us, but is of too little value to require special notice. It is the Nonesuch, or Black Medick. 3. M. MACULATA, spotted Medick, is a valuable plant. It was brought from Chili to California, and thence to the States under the names of California Clover, Yellow Clover and Burr Clover. Many mistook it for lucerne and still so call it. This has only two or three ydlow blossoms in each cluster, while lucerne has many blue blossoms in an elongated head. From the melilots and clovers proper, the medicks are readily distinguished by the pods or legumes being spirally twisted or coiled. That of M. saliva is loosely coiled about twice so as to somewhat resemble a rams horn. That of the M. malculala is very compactly coiled, so as to present the appearance of a solid oblate spheroid, thick- ly covered with curved prickles. But seize the prickles at the poles and draw gently ; the spheroidal burr is changed to a spiral flat legume with two rows of hooked prickles on its thicker edge. I have grown this plant about thirty-five years. It furnishes good grazing from February till April or May ; a small lot ot ground feeding a large number of cattle, sheep, etc. Many think it the best thing possible for grazing and hay. It is the opinion of some, that animals naturally prefer it to other green plants. This does not accord with my experience. They do not incline to eat it at first ; but it is easy to teach them, and they acquire a great fondness for it. But all the grass eating animals including geese, etc., know and eat lucerne greedily at first sight. Horses that refuse the spotted Medick when green, eat it readi- ly when wilted or dried. The last lot I sowed was in 1859 or 1860. Every year, many persons passing the public roads near this lot stop and admire the luxuriant growth. For a number of years my live stock had free access to it from December to March, or later, with much profit. On removing them it shot up and spread out rapidly in April and May, in the latter month maturing an immense quantity of seed and then dicing. In June the crab grass (panicum sanguinale) sprang up and in August, this grass while in bloom was mowed. In October, I had a sec- ond lighter mowing. In a few weeks, the medick would be up and in full possession of the ground till next June. I never 4 F A KM ER '&> B( )( >K OF G K A 88 ES mowed the medick, but to a very limited extent. Thus for years, I had the latter for grazing in winter and spring, and in August and October took off two and a half or three tons of crab grass hay per acre. The hay is better than we usually get from the West. After a luxuriant crop of medick, the ground is very loose and in condition to produce a good crop of anything else. One may cultivate land every year and make better crops of corn and cot- ton than on ground not occupied by the mcdick, and still have the benefit of the latter for winter and early spring grazing. In order to do this, in bedding for cotton and corn, leave between the rows a space four, six, or more inches wide unbroken till the latter part of May, and you will have plenty of seed on the ground to give you a good stand, the next fall. Even without this pre- caution, the lot which I have mentioned has maintained a heavy crop of the medick and for two years made heavy crops of cotton, the latter growing to very large size and fruiting heavily. I had rented it and the lessee broke it up completely, leaving no space to mature Medick seed. This year the plowing of this lot was not begun till May, and the ground was so heavily covered with the plant that the heaviest two-horse plow could not touch the ground till the medick was cut up with a Nishwitz harrow. Those who have not examined it can form no idea of the dense heavy growth. Yet if left alone, it has nearly all disappeared by July, except an inch or tw^o in depth of the legumes covering the ground. A single root will often throw out stems radiating all around and branching so much as to cover a space of eighty square feet. These, though slender, overlapping in every direc- tion and piled two feet deep in May and J une render it next to impossible to plow the ground. But by earlier plowing or wait- ing till July there is none of this trouble. The plant may be recognized at an early stage of growth by the leaf, which is com- posed of three inversely cordate, rather large leaflets, each hav- ing near the middle a dark spot. It is from this spot that the plant receives its specific and one trivial name. 4. M. DENTICULATA. This differs from the preceding in the sharp edged pod being less compactly coiled and having shorter prickles. It is often confounded with the preceding. 5. M. SCUTELLATA, Bee-hive, Snail Medick. This is culti- vated only for its curious, large pods, which are coiled like a snail shell with many turns. As we have no process for removing the seeds from the pods of spotted medick, it is necessary to sow the burr-like pods, say half a bushel per acre. The planting should be done early, in July or August, in order that the tough pods may have time to rot and release the seeds. If covered deep, the seed will not ger- minate, but remain in the ground for years, to grow when brought to the surface. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 5 MELILOTUS. Sweet Clover. Of this we have two species : 1. M. OFFICINALIS and M. AL- BA, White Melilot, Tree Clover, Bokhara Clover. They are cultivated for forage ; but oftener in the flower garden for come- liness and fragrance. They have run wild in many places, thus adding to the value of native pasturage. T RIFOLIUM. Clover. 1. T. PRATENSE. Red Clover. In a large portion of Missis- sippi, Louisiana and other southern States, this plant grows as promptly and as luxuriantly, and yields as heavy crops of forage, as in any other portions of America. In truth, from a compar- ison of the clover crops of Mississippi wifrh those I have seen and had reports of in all the States further north, it is evident that in the former there is much more certainty and less difficulty in ob- taining a good catch, and in maintaining a good stand ; and in consequence of this, in connection with climatic influences, a larger .yield is annually realized, and for a greater number of years, if desired. True this is putting it pretty strong ; but not a whit stronger than, I believe, the facts warrant. I have secured good stands whether the seed were sown in September, October, November, December, January or February ; and even to the middle of March. That growing in the field on the east side of the telegraph lines, which so many of you have stopped to admire, and which Northern and Western men have so often gone in to examine closely and handled to be certain that their eyes had not deceived them, was planted five years ago. Yet the hands declare the crop of this year is as heavy or heavier than that of any former year. By special request, I measured a part of this field two years ago, and after thoroughly drying the clover (dryer than I make it for housing) it weighed at the rate of nine thousand pounds per acre. But others, in various and widely distant parts of the State, have done equally well ; and some much better, I am happy to acknowl- edge. I have been asked many times what fertilizers I applied. All of you perhaps have seen and some of you are well acquainted with every foot of this field, and know that it is old, that the sub- soil is a red clay many feet deep, as seen by the cut in the adjacent road, and that there is but little surface soil. It was worn out and abandoned in 1833, the first time I ever saw it. In 1840, having located near by, I purchased and enclosed it for pasture. Thus it was used for years and very much improved. Two years before sowing the clover, I bedded for cotton, and in the beds before 1 sowing the cotton seed, on one portion, I applied Bradley's Fer- ft FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES tilizer ; on another part Sterne's Superphosphate ; on another Dickson's Compound ; and on another in the first furrow stable manure, upon which the bed was made. All parts made a good crop of cotton. It has had no fertilizer since. The next year I raised corn on it and a good crop of weeds. In September all the live stock was turned on it for a month. It was then broken and harrowed several times and seeded with clover in November and January. It has had two mowings a year, and more or less stock on it every winter. Yet it is what you have seen. I have other lots of clover equally good, one better. The first week in April, 1874, a passing plow cut off a clover root. Examining it, I found fifty-six stems from 20 to 25 inches long growing from the one root. It was just beginning to bloom. This some of you have seen as well as other equally interesting specimens. Last year we commenced feeding clover early in A- pril; this year nearly a month later, the season being very unfa- vorable for early growth. All kinds of farm animals eat red clo- ver very greedily whether green, or drv. I need not tell you of its value for all. This you already know. Varieties. The sapling clover is a very large coarse variety, and not desirable. The medium and smaller, I think really but one ; the diiference in size depending on the soil and management. The common medium variety sometimes grows larger than I like. I have no doubt I could make it produce seven tons of cured hay per acre. But it would be coarse, less nutritious and require longer to cure than when lighter, AVhen it yields enough for three tons of dry hay at one mowing, it cann'ot be cured prompt- ly enough to make the choicest hay, unless the product of one aere be spread over much more ground than it grows on. More can be cured indeed and make excellent hav ; but not the best. Red clover improves land much more than spotted medick both as a fertilizer and ameliorator. Its large tap-root in favor- able situations penetrates five to ten feet deep. The above remarks were made in a lecture in 1875; speci- mens being in the hands of the audience. The clover was suf- fered to occupy the land two years longer, or in all seven years. 1^0 fertilizer was at any time applied after 1869 as above stated for cotton. The clover was equally good to the last. But pro- longed rains and want of time prevented more than one mow- ing a year for two years ; and thus many weeds had time to ma- ture seeds and propagate to a large extent. Two mowings a year seem sufficient to prevent the growth of noxious weeds a- mong the clover. After mowing in 1877, the ground was plowed and set with sweet potatoe vines in the summer and yielded an immense crop without manure. When the potatoes were harvested iu autumn, the field was seeded with red rust proof oats, a small quantity of cotton seed being scattered and plowed in with the oats. The AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. .7 next spring showed the largest stems and heaviest yield of oats I have ever seen. Seed per acre. Not less than ten pounds should be used. This may do very well when orchard grass is sown with it, at the rate of four or five pounds per acre. And this is a good combina- tion, as the orchard grass is ready at the same time with the clo- ver for the mower, and it assists in curing the clover more prompt- ly and nicely,, though not quite so nicely cured itself in the mix- ture. When clover is planted alone, I prefer to use twelve or fifteen pounds ; or one bushel (sixty pounds) for four acres, or at most' five. By using plenty of seed we obtain a better catch, and the . increased harvest pays many times over the additional cost of more seed. Soil. Any good soil with red clay subsoil near the surface is well adapted to clover. 2. T. ARVENSE. Rabbit-foot Clover, Stone Clover. This species is small and almost worthless. The calyx of this and red clover remanis erect in seed, while in all the following it be- comes reflexed or turned downward. It may be known by the corolla being of flesh color, or whitish with a purple spot, and al- most concealed by the plumose silky calyx. The heads are very soft silky-downy, oblong at length cylindrical. 8. T." REPLEXUM. Buffalo Clover. This native plant grows a foot high with very stout ascending pubescent stems and large heads of rose-red and whitish flowers. It is a valuable plant and cattle are fond of it. The large succulent stems and leaves afford so much forage, that it might be cultivated profitably. 4. T. REPEUS. White Clover. This universally known plant, though perhaps not a native, grows luxuriantly and spontaneous- ly on nearly all deep, red clay lands and furnishes excellent gra- zing in many parts of the southern States from January on for some months, sometimes through spring and early summer. The later second growth, like that of red clover, salivates horses, mules, and sometimes cows. The flow of saliva is often enormous and very damaging to horses. I have seen but one bad case in the cow. White Clover yields a large quantity of the best honey that can be made. It is however not reliable for this use from ,the fact that sometimes, without any apparent cause, it disap- pears almost wholly for one or more years, and then suddenly again covers the earth with a most luxuriant and nutritious growth. I have often had much trouble on account of its per- sistent, luxuriant growth among other crops where I did not want it. It frequently starts well into rich growth earlier than the red clover and though soon concealed from sight by the latter, both are unavoidably mowed and cured together, thus giving a hay that w r ill salivate. 8 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES I have found that red clover hay of the second cutting, kept a year or more, loses the property of salivating; but whether the same is true of white clover I have not learned. In nutri- tive value, it is about equal to red clover; as a fat producer much better. 5. T. PROCUMBEUS. Low Hop Clover. This plant is small, spreading, downy and of little value. 6. T. AGRARIUM. Yellow Hop Clover. This is a little lar- ger than the preceding, but not very valuable. Both have yel- low blossoms. 7. T. CAROL.INIANUM. Carolina Clover, with purplish blooms^ is procumbent, small and ajFords but little grazing. 8. T. STOLONIFERUM. Running Buffalo Clover. This is much like, and may be a variety of number 3 above, but differ- ing by sending out runners. 9. T. MEDIUM. Zigzag Clover. This is only a variety prob- ably of the red clover, from which it differs in having spotless, more oblong, entire leaves and zigzag stems. 10. T. INCARNATUM. Crimson Clover. An annual, matu- ring earlier than the red of which it is perhaps a variety. 11. T. ERECTUM. Sapling Clover, as stated on a preceding page is a coarse, erect variety of the red clover, later maturing. 12. T. HYBRIDUM. Alsike Clover. This Sweedish species is superior to red clover in feeding value, furnishes more fat and flesh forming materials and less crude fibre. Its yield per acre of hay however is less. It is admirable for grazing. It is slow- taking possession of land, but is perennial and does well with orchard grass, both for grazing and hay. It "is quite fragrant and a good honey plant. My personal knowledge of it is too limited to estimate properly its true value in the South. PSORA LEA. 8ix or more species are native. No common or local name is known to me. These plants furnish considerable forage for live stock ; but they are hardly worthy of cultivation. PETALOSTEMON. Prairie Clover. We have five or six species, which, though valuable and use- ful to stock in pasture or forest, are not sufficiently so to assure cultivation. ONOBRYCHIS SATIVA. Esparsette, Sainfoin. This perennial, European, pea-like plant has a high character as a feed in France. It is cultivated to but a limited extent in the South. It is worthy of trial as it belongs to a warm climate. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 9 ASTRAGALUS. Milk Vetch. Of these bean-like plants we have five or six species, two of v hich deserve mention. The Tennessee milk vetch and the Caro- lina milk vetch furnish considerable food for cattle and might be improved by cultivation. ARACHIS. Pea Nut, Ground Pea, Finder. A. HYPOG^EA. This species from South America and the Af- rican Gouva or Goober are every where known and much esteem- ed for the large seeds and the bland oil made from them. But the stems and leaves making an excellent hay, are too often left to; decay in the fields. The fodder made from these is very nutritious, valuable and much relished by animals. The seeds are admirable for hogs and other live stock. II. THE VETCH TRIBE. I Pods not jointed, two valved ; the thick fleshy cotyledons re- main under ground in germination; climbing vines; the petiole of the abruptly pinnate leaves terminated by a tendril. PISUM. Pea. P. SATIVUM. Common Pea, English Pea, Garden Pea. This species, in its many varieties and uses is so well and univer- sally known that it needs only to be named here. LATHYRUS. Vetchling. 1. L. VENOSUS, and 2. L. MYRTIFOLIUS, native species are of little value; and L. ODORATUS, Sweet Pea and L. LATIFO- LIUS, Everlasting Pea are from Europe and planted only for ornament. VICIA. Vetch. 1. V. SATIVA. Common Vetch or Tare is much cultivated in Europe for fodder, and to a limited extent in this country for the same purpose. There are two varieties, winter and spring. The winter variety is sometimes planted with turnips and with oats, barley and rye for winter pasture or soiling. My expe- rience with it is too limited to commend it highly for cultiva- tion in this country where other things perhaps more profitable and hardier are in season at the same time with the tares. As a variety it may be cultivated to a small extent as the product is very valuable if not abundant. V. FABA. Bean, Windsor or Horse Bean. This is well known every where and in some regions cultivated for the edi- 10 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES 3. V. AMERICANA, 4. V. CAROLINIANA, Carolina Vetch, 5. V. ACUTIFOLIA. Acute leaved Vetch, 6. V. MICRANTHA, Small flowered Vetch, and 7. V. IIIRSUTA, Hairy Vetch, nat- uralized, are all valuable wild forage plants. Deer and cattle feed on these greedily and grow fat. Some of these grow abun- dantly and richly in the southern States and would no doubt give better satisfaction in cultivation than the imported varieties. LENS. Lentil. L. ESCULENTA. Common Lentil. This is from Europe and cultivated both for fodder and for the seeds. But it is too f*3- ble and small to yield much of either. III. TICK TREFOIL TRIBE. Pod separating transversely into one seeded joints, or having one joint or achene. Stems not twining. STYLOSANTHES. Pencil Flower. 5. ELATIOR. This is a low herb with trifoliate leaves, and small orange yellow flowers in Iktie clusters or heads; and it is valuable in pine barrens for browsing in heat of summer. LESPEDEZA. Bush Clover. 1. L. REPENS. Creeping Lespedeza lies flat on the ground covering from three to ten square fcet of surface. It will not grow on good soil ; prefers indeed no soil proper, but clay and sand. It is utterly worthless. 2. L. VIOLACEA. Purple Bush Clover has an erect, stout, branching stem and varies so greatly with locality that several distinct varieties are named. 3. L. STUVEI. Downy Bush Clover with stem erect, branch- ing, downy. 4. L. HIRTA. Hairy Bush Clover has an erect, wand-like, pubescent stem. 6. L. CAPITATA. Headed Bush Clover has a mostly simple, erect, softly pubescent stem. These last four contain much nourishment in the seed and foliage and grow on sterile soils, where stock that can do no better eat them in late summer, and early part of autumn. Though highly commended by some per- sons, they are unworthy of notice except on very poor lands. 6. L. STRIATA. Japan Clover. Stock do not relish this plant at first sight ; but tasting a few times, they become very ibnd of it for grazing and hay. In many places, they abandon all the natural pasturage in March, April or May, and confine themselves to this till frost kills it down. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 11 By frequent grazing or mowing it is kept in a growing, ten- der; palatable, digestible condition. Cattle fatten 011 it and pro- duce superior milk, butter and beef. And this is just what should be expected when we consider that the justly esteemed red clover contains 16 per cent of albuminoids and 41 per cent of carbohydrates, while lespedeza contains nearly as much albiy- minoids and 56.79 per cent carbohydrates. Yet planters differ, widely as to the feeding value of the plant. Nor is this very re- markable, since this, as other plants, must vary much in eco- nomic value according to soil, climate and culture. In the report for 1878, p. 180, Department of Agriculture, it is stated that, "It is a low, perennial plant, not rising much above the ground, but spreading widely on the surface." It is true that it rises little above the ground till May and perhaps throughout the season north of 35 and on poor soils. But in Mississippi from the south-west corner to Brandon, between 31 and 33 latitude it rises in*favorable localities to 12 and 18 inches, and is much branched.- Here is Mr. Collier's Proximate Analysis of Lespedeza Striata. Oil, 3.30 Anylaceous cellulose, 14.67 Wax, 1.10 Alkali extracts, 16.22 Sugars, 14.74 Albuminoids, 15.11 Gum and dextrin, 6.76 Ash, 4.33 Cellulose, 23.77 100.00 Analysis of ash. Potassium, 4.67 Sulphuric acid, 7.82 Potassium oxide, 34.78 Phosphoric acid, 7.54 Calcium oxide, 29.60 Silicic acid, 6.61 Magnesium oxide, 4.75 Chlorine, 4.23 100.00 There is a good plate of this plant in the report referred to above. In the report, Mr. Samuel McB-amsey of Warren coun- ty, Tennessee is quoted and says of L. striata: "It supplies much grazing from the first of August till frost." From this statement it seems that this plant "supplies much grazing" at least four months longer in south west Mississippi than in Tennessee. It is extremely hardy, readily takes hold of the soil, holds it against other intruding plants and conquers it from many others. By many it is said to eradicate the broom grasses (Andropogons). One serious objection to it is that it kills out Bermuda grass. This however, will commend it to some. It grows well on and completely hides any soil ; in washes, which it arrests ; and in pine thickets, where nothing else will grow. It compares very favorably with red clover as a fertilizer, the above analysis of the ashes showing nearly 40 per cent of potas- 12 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES sium and its oxide besides a large quantity of phosphoric and sulphuric acids brought up from the subsoil in addition to the large per cent-age of plant food which it condenses from the at- mosphere. We have so many genuine clovers, which belong to the Lotus tribe, that it is to be regretted that the Lespcdezas which belong to v the Tickseed tribe, should ever be called a clover. The hop clovers are often mistaken for Lespedeza. The former however, have yellow blooms in conspicuous heads and die down in June; while L. striata continues through the summer, produ- cing very small purple, rose, or perhaps more properly pink col- ored blooms in the axils of the leaves in September. Some years a few precocious blooms are seen early in eJune. The plant pro- duces many seeds, only one, however, in each little pod. Where it grows well, it has much root and is difficult to plow under and to kill. It is also difficult to burn after being cut, and may become troublesome to careless farmers. How this plant some thirty years ago came from Japan is un- known. But for 15 years it has been rapidly spreading over the southern States east of the Mississippi river. When the old ge- nus Hedysarum was divided, to those plants having a one joint- ed one seeded pod or akene was assigned the generic name- in honor of Lespedez, a governor of Florida while under the Span- ish rule. The other plants of the old genus having flat legumes with two to six joints breaking at maturity into as many akciies each with one seed were assigned to the genus Desmodium. Within a few years the L. bicolor has been introduced from the Amoor river region, northern Asia, as a late summer and au- tumnal ornamental plant. But this two-colored lespedeza can never become a useful forage plant. DESMODIUM. Tick-seed, Beggar Lice. We have about twenty native species of Desmodium. Many are Jiard, woody and nearly worthless. Several however, have long been known as supplying rich food for deer as well as do- mestic animals. These plants contain a large per centage of nu- tritive matters as shown by Mr. Collier's Proximate Analysis of Desmodium from South Carolina. Oil, 2.35 Anylaceous cellulose, 14.39 Wax, .44 Alkali extracts, 7.04 Sugars, 13.46 Albuminoids, 21.22 Gum and dextrin, 8.15 Ash, 7.56 Cellulose, 25.39 - 100.00 Analysis of Ash. Potassium, 6.33 Sulphuric acid, 5.10 Potassium oxide, 27.81 Phosphoric acid, 11.87 Sodium, .56 Silicic acid, 11.19 Sodium oxide, Chlorine, 6.61 Calcium oxide, 23.42 OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 13 Mr. Collier does not name the species analyzed. He calls spe- cial attention to this analysis, adding: "By reference to the anal- ysis it will be at once seen how large an amount of albuminoids is present; and for the purpose of comparison the analysis of red clover is placed below with that of this plant. Desmodium, per c. Red clover, per c. Carbohydrates, 45.83 41 .00 Albuminoids, 21.22 16.01 Cellulose, 25.39 35.01 Ash, 7.50 7.08 100.00 100.00 "For convenience of comparison, the carbohydrates are group- ed together. It will be seen that the albuminoids of the Desmo- dium are to those in red clover as 132 to 100, while the amount of ash varies but slightly in the two plants. The immense value of clover as a crop preparatory to other crops, especially wheat, is well known, and there is perhaps no way by which exhausted lands may be more readily restored to fertility, and maintained in such condition, than by the use of clover; certainly there is no method which compares with it in expense. Now, although clover requires an amount of plant food, both mineral and at- mospheric, far in excess of a wheat crop, nevertheless it is a fact- very' well established that the former crop may be successfully grown upon a rield where wheat would invariably fail of a crop. "The reasons for this are to be seen in a comparison of the two plants; and, although it is a 'thice-told' tale, the subject especial- ly in connection with this plant under consideration, is such that every farmer should practically understand the matter. "Clover and wheat, then, belong to two families of plants, which in nearly every respect are in the strongest contrast. "Clover is one of the dicotyledonous, or those of which the seed is divided into halves, as with -the pea, bean etc. These plants are characterized also by a strong tap-root, which, descending in- to the subsoil, enables the plant to secure nourishment from be- yond the reach of plants of the other sort. "Wheat, on the contrary, belongs to the monocotyledonous plants, the seeds of which are not so divided in halves, as Indian corn for example. The roots of this family of plants are surface or crown roots, and are destitute of the tap-root already spoken of. "Again, if we consider the habits of growth of the two plants, we have in clover a plant of continuous growth through out the season until cut down by frost or the scythe of the mower, and an enormous leaf development, as compared with wheat with its scant leafage and its short life. We have, then, in clover a plant with a tap-root and an enormous root development, ena- bling it to seek out and assimilate mineral food, with a great ex- tent of leaf surface, fitting it to take in and assimilate atmospher- 14 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES ic food; along period of growth, which causes it to appropriate the greatest amount of both kinds of food and store them up in root and stem. In wheat, on the other hand, we have a surface rooted plant, a scanty leafage, and a short period of growth. What wonder, then, that so coarse a feeder as clover should thrive, even where so dainty a plant as wheat should utterly fail, as is so often the case? But, as will be remembered, all this atmospher- ic and mineral food, which has been assimilated and stored up in the roots and stems of clover remains to furnish an abundant supply, by its decay, to the crop which shall succeed it, and thus clover or similar plants have always played a most important part in all systems of rotation, as in the wheat growing region of the Genesee valley of New York. In this Desmodium we have a plant which appears to be a substitute for clover and to possess this great advantage, viz : that it will flourish vigorsusly upon certain lands upon which a crop of clover can not be secured. This seems to be especially true of the sand barrens of the At- lantic seaboard. Certainly if the statements made concerning it are to be credited, it is destined to effect a revolution in agricul- ture throughout this section, and to restore to fertility lands which have been partially abandoned by the former." Dept. Ag., Report for 1878, pp., 182, 183. Mr. Collier's reasoning is just. But the Desmodiums are so light and so diffuse in growth that I think the quantity per acre would be small. In soils mentioned they would act as de- scribed, but the plant food they could bring from the subsoil and store from the atmosphere would be comparatively little. On the same kinds of soil, I opine, the Lespedeza striata would grow well and obtain and store plant food in the ways mention- ed by Mr. Collier, and in larger quantity than the Desmodi- ums could. The Lespedeza possesses other properties which would give it preference on the soils and for the purposes con- templated. The growth is so dense as to completely blanket the earth for the hot months, protecting from washing and by the dense shade preventing evaporation of fertilizers and promoting absorption from the atmosphere. A great objection to the Des- modium too is the fact that the hispid jointed pods adhere to the cosfts of animals and people. RICHARDSONIA SCABRA. Mexican Clover. This is a native of Mexico and South America. It has be- come naturalized in Florida and the southern parts of other southern States. It is called Mexican Clover, Spanish Clover, Florida Clover, water pursley, bellfountain, poor Joe, pigeon- weed etc. The analysis of this plant, made in 1874 by Mr. Me- AND OTHER FOKAGE PLANTS. 15 Murtrie, shows it to be oqual to clover as green food, or hay. It is as follows, being thoroughly air dried : Oil, 1.50 Gum. 1 f 13.80 Sugar, dextrin etc. ^carbohydrates, < 12.80 Starch, J L 11.00 Chlorophyl, ") f 5.20 Gluten, S nitrogenous compounds, < 0.90 Albuminoids, [ 9 - 60 Cellulose, 33.30 Inorganic matter, 11.90 100.00 The reader may compare with the analysis of red clover. The analysis of the ash gave Insoluble silica, 22.740 Soluble silica, 2.740 Lime, 29.456 Magnesia, 1.605 Phosphoric acid, 7.457 Peroxide of iron, trace- Sulphuric acid, 2.617 Chlorine, 2.840 Potassa, 23.824 Soda, 6.860 99.639 This plant grows luxuriantly on our southern, sandy pine lands as well as red clover does on rich land and yields as much green or dry food. It attains a length of three to six feet and may be mowed and fed green, or dried in the same manner as clover in order to save the leaves. When the land is once set with it, it springs up from seed early in spring. Crops may be cultivated on the land ; and if laid by before July, this plant springs up and soon covers the ground. It is relished by horses and mules, cows and sheep. Penetrating the earth deeply with its roots, it bears drought well and brings up from the subsoil and prepares in roots and stems most valuable fertilizers; being rich in lime, phosphoric acid, and remarkably so in potassa. By its dense shade in the heat of summer the soil is protected, evaporation of volatile fertil- izers prevented and plant food absorbed from the atmosphere. The physical condition of the soil and subsoil also is improved by its roots. In all these particulars its action is very similar to that of red clover. It is not known how far north it will flourish; but it is prob- able that on all the sandy pine lands of the States bordering the gulf, it will prove a very profitable crop for feed, fertilizing and soil-ameliorating our noses. 16 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES Medicinal] v it is said to be used in + TO. /->*-> ,nV lonrl On rknnr sanrlv land 54 KAUJMUK'S BOOK OF G HAWSES Perennial and bearing cold and drought well, it furnishes grazing a large part of the year. It is specially valuable as a winter and spring grass for the south. To secure the best win- ter results, it should be allowed a good growth in early fall, so. that the ends of the leaves being killed by frost afford "an ample covering for the under parts which continue to grow all winter and Afford a good bite whenever required by sheep, cattle, hogs and horses. In prolonged summer drought it dries completely, so that if fired, it would burn o/f clean. But this occurs in Ken- tucky, where indeed it has seemed without fire to disappear ut- terly ; yet when rain came, the bright green spears promptly re- carpeted the earth. * With its underground stems and many roots it sustains the heat and drought of the southern States as well as those of Ken- tucky; where indeed it is subjected to^severer trials of this kind than in the more southern States. In fact it bears the vicissi- tudes of our climate about as well as Bermuda grass and is near- ly as nutritious. Mr. Collier's proximate ANALYSIS OF PO'A PRATENSIS : \ l ', T '> . c ' . ; /" Oil, 1.82 Amylaceous cellulose, 22.53 Wax, 1.04 Alkali extract, 17.20 Sugars, 9.61 Albuminoids, 11.54 Gum and dextrin, 3.14 Ash, 5.18 Cellulose, 27.94 100.00 ANALYSIS OF ASH. Potassium, 6.96 Sulphuric acid, 4.76 Potassium oxide, 33.81 Phosphoric acid, 9.89 Sodium, Silicic acid, 30.25 Sodium oxide, Chlorine, 6.30 Calcium oxide, 4.81 Magnesium oxide, 3.23 100.00 Blue grass grows well on hill tops, slopes, or bottom lands if not too wet and too poor. It may be sown any time from Sep- tember till April, preferably perhaps in the latter half of Febru- ary or early in March. The best catch I ever had was sown the 20th. of March, on unbroken land, from which trash, leaves etc. had just been burned. The surface of the land should be clean- ed of trash of all kinds, smooth, even; and if recently plowed and harrowed, it should be rolled also. This last proceeding is for compacting the surface in order to prevent the seed from sinking too deep in the ground. Without harrowing or brush- ing in, many of them get in too deep to come up, even when the surface of the land has had the roller over it. The first rain af- ter seeding will put them in deep enough, as the seeds are very A:ND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 55 minute and the spears of grass small as fine needles and there- fore unable to get out from under heavy cover. These spears are so small as to be invisible except to close examination and in higher latitudes this condition continues through the first year. Thus some who have sown the blue grass seed, seeing the first year no grass imagine they have been cheated, plant some other crop and probably lose what close inspection would have shown to be a good catch. This, however, is not apt to occur in the southern tier of States as the growth here is more rapid. The sowing mentioned above, made on the 20th. of March, came up promptly and in three months the grass was from six to ten in- ches high. One year here gives a finer growth and show than two in Kentucky or any other State so far north. Sown alone 20 to 26 points, that is two bushels, should be used; in mixtures, four to six pounds. 2. P. ANNUA, Annual Meadow Grass. In many parts of the southern States this grass has become naturalized. It is a tender plant, with linear leaves three to six inches long and stems six to ten inches high, blooming in February and March, and through the summer if moist. It is a beautiful grass, but so small that the yield is not large. But it is exceedingly relished by all kinds of cattle and is supposed to have a specially good effect in improving the quality of but- ter. It does not resist the effects of drought as well as other species of this genus. It is so very like blue grass (P. pratense) as to be easily mistaken for it. In some places it is called goose grass. 3. P. CRIST AT A, six to ten inches high, and 4. P. FLEXTJOSA, Southern spear grass, with slender stems twelve to eighteen inches high, are southern species growing in dry wooded lands. They have not been tested to ascertain their agricultural value. They bloom respectively in April and May. 5. P. COMPJIESSA. This is the Blue or Wire grass of the north. It has priority of claim to the name blue grass and justly too as the leaves have a deep bluish green tint. It differs from the Kentuckey blue grass in the deeper tint of the foliage and flattened stems. The stems are decumbent at the base, the middle portion ascending and the upper erect, with panicle dense, contracted at first, but later expanding. It grows one or two feet long and is very hardy, and thrives on poo*r, hard, trodden soils, sandy knolls and rocky places. It is very nutri- tious and greatly relished by all kinds of cattle. Cows fed on it produce very rich milk and finely-flavored butter. Its thick rich turf renders it specially agreeable to sheep and deer and it imparts a delicate flavor to their flesh. Its stems retain the deep bluish green color after maturing the seeds. Shrinking less than most other grasses in drying, it makes a very heavy hay in proportion to bulk. Both in Eng- 56 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES land and our northern States it is very highly esteemed as a pasture grass. It is found naturalized or native in nearly all the southern States. In cultivated lauds it is difficult to eradicate ; and how to de- stroy it has caused more discussion at the north, than how to eradicate coco and Bermuda grasses at the south. 6. P. TRIVIAIJS, Rough -stalked Meadow Grass. This also much resembles the Kentucky blue grass. But it may be readily distinguished by noting that it has rough sheaths, with long, pointed ligules, the marginal ribs of the five-ribbed outer palet not hairy, and the roots fibrous. In blue grass, the sheaths are smooth, ligules obtuse, marginal ribs of outer palet hairy, and roots creeping. The stems are two or three feet high. According to Way's analysft, it contains, albuminoids, 9.80 ; fatty matters, 3.67; heat producing principles, 40.17 ; woody fibre, 38.03 ; ash, 8.33, in 100 parts of the dry grass. This is a jmtritious grass, greatly relished by cattle, horses and sheep. Although perennial and yielding a large quantity of good hay, it is liable to be killed, in the south, by cutting un- less succeeded by cloudy wet weather. In England and on the continent this is a favorite grass, being very small on poor soils; but on rich, moist loams tall, yielding a large quantity of herb- age. In a meadow peculiarly well adapted to it near Salisbury Plain it is said to have been found eight feet long. It is specially adapted to wood pastures, as if delights in shade, banks of streams and moist grounds generally. It bears tramp- ing and is an excellent pasture grass. It makes a good mixture with red top and orchard grass, or red top and tall oat grass, and with other pasture grasses. Eight to ten pounds seed may be sown to the acre ; a bushel weighing fifteen pounds. P. NEMORALIS, Wood Meadow Grass, as the name implies, prefers wooded lands; and it luxuriates in moist shaded grounds or watery swamps. It has a perennial, creeping root ; erect, slender, smooth stem, one and a half to two feet high, with long, finely arched panicle ; and blooms in May and June. It is of rank growth, succulent, nutritious, and cattle are fpnd of it. It may be planted in September, October and February, four pounds seed per acre. 8. P. BREVIFOLIA, Short-leaved Spear Grass, with stem leaves short, radical leaves nearly as long as the stems, is found in rocky, hilly woodlands. 9. P. ALSODES, Wood Spear Grass, with narrow, acute leaves, the upper ones often sheathing the lower part of the panicle, the slender branches of which are generally in threes or fours, is found in hilly woods flowering in April or May. 10. P. DEBILIS, Weak Meadow Grass, is perennial, growing in rocky woodlands, flowering in April and May, with panicle small, loose, few flowered, and branches slender, flexuous, in Dairs o rt riDlets. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 57 11. P. SYLVESTRIS, Sylvan Meadow or Spear Grass, has a flat, erect stem and short pyramidal panicle with numerous branches in fives or more. It is a light, tender grass and found in rocky woods. All these last named grasses grow so scattering as to be of little value. A few other species of Poa are found in our northern States, of no value there and not worth introducing any where, except the following one : 12. P. SEROTINA, Fowl Meadow Grass. This* grass belongs to the same genus that the Kentucky blue grass does. Being taller, (culms 2 to 3 feet) it is spec- ially adapted to moist or even wet lands. It makes a large quantity of excellent hay; but it has not been sufficiently culti- vated in in the southern States, so far as I am aware, to know how long a meadow set with it may remain profitable. It is however, worthy of extended trial ; and that its comparative nutritive value may be known, Mr. Collier's analysis is annexed : ANALYSIS OF POA SEROTINA. Oil, 1.95 Amylaceous cellulose, 25.24 Wax, 1.53 Alkali extract, 15.19 Sugars, 9.33 Albuminoids, 8.91 Gum and dextrin, 7.49 Ash, 7.47 Cellulose, 25.62 100.00 ANALYSIS OF ASH. Potassium, 2*79 Sulphuric acid, 3.35 Potassium oxide, 31.71 Phosphoric acid, 10.80 Sodium, .83 Silicic acid, 37.10 Sodium oxide, Chlorine, 3.80 Calcium oxide, 6.70 Magnesium oxide, 2.92 100.00 In portions of the western States this grass has for some years been very highly recommended. In the eastern States it has been cultivated for 150 years or longer and valued highly. Jarcd Eliot in 1749, spoke of it as growing tall and thick, ma- king a more soft and pliable hay than timothy and better adapted for pressing and shipping for use of horses on ship- board. He says it makes a thick, abundant growth on land more moist than is adapted to common upland grasses and may be mowed any time from July to October, as it never becomes so coarse and hard but the stalk is sweet and tender and eaten without waste. It is a nutritious grass and easily made into valuable hay. It is superior to other grasses in its property of remaining tender and good for so long a time after first bloom- 5& FARMER'S Book OF GRASSES ing. As it constantly sends up flowering stems from the joints, the lattermath contains more nutrition than the first crop at the time of blooming. The more I see and know of its growth in the southern States the more am I pleased with it. TRICUSPIS. T. SESLEROIDES, Tall red-top Grass. This is a perennial grass with long rigid leaves and culms, from three to five feet high, crowned with large diffuse panicles. The scatterered, pediceled, purple spikelets give the grass 9, fine appearance. It grows on dry, sterile soils. Although not very nutritious nor desirable in cultivation, yet where it grows nat- urally and one has nothing better, it may be worth cutting and curing for feeding cattle in conjunction with concentrated food in winter. Its comparative value will be seen from Mr. Col- lier's subjoined analysis : ANALYSIS OF TRICUSPIS SESLEROIDES. Oil, 1.81 Amylaceous cellulose, 26.45 Wax, .24 Alkali extract, 12.63 Sugars, 6.98 Albuminoids, 6.32 Gum and dextrin, 3.16 Ash, 4.55 Cellulose, 37.86 100.00 ANALYSIS OF ASH. Potassium, 8.13 Sulphuric acid, 4.04 Potassium oxide, 38.49 Phosphoric acid, 1.58 Sodium, Silicic acid, 37.52 Sodium oxide, Chlorine, 7.39 Calcium oxide, 2.32 Magnesium oxide, .53 100.00 ERAGROSTIS. E. REPTANS, Creeping Meadow Grass, is a beatiful annual, with long creeping roots, stems six to eighteen inches high, pan- icles one or two inches long, spikelets ten- to thirty-flowered, leaves nearly awl-shaped one or two inches long, flowers in Ju- ly, whole plant pale green, and found in low, sandy places, gravelly banks of streams, fence corners and open pastures. It is relished by cattle, but not of much value in agriculture. 2. E. PO..EOIDES, Strong-scented Meadow Grass, is handsome also. The variety E. megastachia, Pungent Meadow Grass is very pretty, but emits a disagreeable odor. The stems are pros- trate, geniculate at the base, ascending ; panicles contracted ob- OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 59 long, or later pyramidal spreading ; spikelets oblong or later linear, three to five lines long, ten to thirty flowered, often lead colored ; leaves linear ; sheaths smooth ; flowers in July and Au- gust ; found in waste or cultivated lands. Stock do not relish it. 3. E. PILOSA, Slender Meadow Grass, is a pretty annual, six to .twelve inches high, with loose pyramidal panicle ; spikelets five- to twelve-flowered, of purplish lead color. It is found in sandy gravelly barrens and old fields, affording some accepta- ble, nutritious food for cattle. 4. E. PURSHII, Southern Spear Grass, has stems six to twelve inches long, slender, geniculate near the base, ascending ; pani- cle three to six inches long, loose, widely spreading, the lower branches whorled ; spikelets five- to ten-flowered, pale or pur- ple ; blooms from June to September. It is found in cultivated grounds and waste lands, and is of little value for stock. 5. E. CONFERTA, with stems two or three feet high and pan- icles one or two feet long, whitish, found on river banks, bloom- ing in August and September. 6. E. TENUIS, Branching Spear Grass, with panicle one to two and a half feet long and spreading branches ; leaves one to two feet long ; flowering from August till frost and found on river banks and rich sandy soils. 7. E. CAPILLARIS, Hair-panicled Meadow Grass, with loose, delicate, widely expanding panicle, one or two feet long ; spike- lets very small, mostly purple, on long diverging capillary ped- icels ; flowering in August and September ; and found in sandy y dry, waste places. 8. E. PECTINACEA, Meadow Comb Grass, with panicle one to one foot and a half long, widely diffuse, or the branches finally reflexed ; spikelets purple, flat ; flowering in August and September ; and growing on dry, sterile soils ; the dry panicles wafted about by the winds ; and 9. E. NITIDA, Shining Eragrostis, growing along the coast with panicles one and a half to three feet long ; blooming in Au- gust and September ; the leaves and sheaths shining ; are all of little agricultural value. Some of the species of this genus are beautiful in bouquets and vases ; and for those uses they have been cultivated in lawns and gardens. That etymology may be correct which derives Eragrostis from Eros (of whom the unfortunate Er of Genesis may be the original,) and there- fore calls it Love Grass. Though it may be named from era, earth, from some of the species having stems partly prostrate on the earth. DACTYLIS. D. GLOMERATA, Orchard Grass, Rough Cock's-foot. Leaves broadly linear, very long, rough, bluish green ; pani- cle with few scattered branches below, more dense at top ; spike- 60 KAKAIKK'H BOOK OF GRASSES lets about three- or four-flowered, in densely crowded, one-sided clusters; both glumes and lower palet awn-pointed; stamens three ; seed oblong, acute, free ; roots perennial, fibrous, long, penetrating the soil deeply ; stem three feet high and on good soil often five feet; flowering in the southern States from the last of April till July first, according to latitude, character of season and treatment. Of all grasses, this is one of the most widely diffused, grow- ing in Africa, Asia, every country of Europe and all our States. It is more highly esteemed and commended than any other grass, by a larger number of farmers in most countries a most decided proof of its great value and wonderful adaptations to many soils, climates and treatments. Yet, strange to say, though growing in England for many centuries, it was not appreciated in that country till carried there from Virginia in 1764. But, as in the case of timothy, soon after its. introduction from Amer- ica, it came into high favor among farmers and still retains its hold on their estimation as a grazing and hay crop. Nor is this strange when its many advantages and points of excellence are considered. It will grow well on any soil con- taining sufficient clay and not holding too much water. If the land be too tenaceous, drainage will remedy the soil; if worn out, a top dressing of stable manure will give it a good send off and it will furnish several good mowings the first year. It grows well between 29 and 48 latitude. It maybe mowed from two to four times a year according to latitude, season and treatment ; yielding from one to three tons of excellent hay per acre on poor to medium land. In grazing and as hay most an- imals select it in preference among mixtures with other grasses. In lower latitudes it furnishes good winter grazing, as well as for spring, summer|and fall. After grazing or mowing, lew grasses grow so rapidly, (three or six inches per week), and are so soon ready again for tooth or blade. It is easily cured and handled. It is readily seeded and catches with certainty. Its long, deeply penetrating, fibrous roots enable it to sustain it- self and grow vigorously during droughts, that dry up other grasses, except tall oat grass, which has similar roots and char- acters. It grows well in open lands and in forests of large trees, the under brush being all cleared off. I have had it grow lux- uriantly even in beech woods where the roots are superficial, in the crotches of roots and close to the trunks of trees. The hay is of high quality, and the young grass contains a larger per cent of nutritive digestible matter than any other grass. It thrives well without renewal on the same ground for thirty-five, nay forty years ; how much longer I am not able to say. It is easi- ly exterminated when the land is desired for other crops. Is there any other grass for which so much can be said ? AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 61 I know but one objection to it. Like tall oat grass, it is dis- posed to grow in clumps and leave much of the ground uncov- ered. This may be obviated by thick seeding, using t^o and a half or better three bushels of seed per acre.' It will not do to seed thinly with the hope that seeds grown on the plants will -fall, germinate and fill the gaps. They will not germinate when so falling, although when properly sown on prepared soil, it is one of the most certain grasses to make a good catch. The gaps may be prevented by sowing with it a few pounds of red top seed. But as the latter multiplies annually from seeds dropping, it .would in a few years root out the orchard grass. In common with others, I prefer red clover with orchard grass. It fills the gaps and matures at the same time with orchard grass ; the mixture makes good pasture and good hay. But if mowed more than twice a year, or grazed too soon after the second mowing the clover will rapidly fail. One peck of red clover seed and six pecks of orchard grass seed is a good proportion per acre. Whether it is more profitable to mow orchard grass but twice a year and thus have earlier, better and more prolonged winter pasture ; or to mow three or four times and have later, inferior and for a shorter time, winter pasture, is a question affected by so many contingencies and permutations that the satisfactory discussion would be so complex and occupy so many pages that it is deemed proper not to entertain it here ; but leave it for each reader to decide from his own stand-point in view of his own purposes, objects and surroundings. I decidedly prefer for my o\vn purposes and with my own experience but two mow- ings a year of the mixed clover and orchard grass and not more than three of orchard grass alone and this only if the season be very favorable. It should not be grazed soon after mowing if good, early winter pasture be expected. "This valuable grass is indigenous to the soil of America, and from its adaptability to various soils, its early and late growth, luxuriant foliage and nutritive qualities, is well entitled to an equality with any grass either native or foreign." (Henderson.) I therefore give several analyses. Taken green from the field and in bloom, 100 parts gave : According to Way. Schevan and Ritthausen. Water, 70.00 65.00 Albuminoids, 4.06 3.-00 Fatty matter, .94 .80 Carbohydrates, 13.30 12.60 Woody fibre, 10.11 16.10 Ash, 1.59 2.40 100.00 99.90 62 KAKMEK'S Book OF G 100 parts bf the dried grass gave according to analysis of Way. Wolff AKnop. Albuminoids^ 13.53 . 11.60 Fatty matter, 3.14 2.70 Carbohydrates^ 44.32 40.70 Woody fibre, 33.70 28.90 Ash. ' 5.31 4.60 100.00 88.50 These apparent discrepancies are what must be expected of any other grass grown under different conditions and cut at dif- ferent stages of maturity. Mr. Sinclair's Woburn experiments well illustrate this. Grown on rich sandy soil, he cut of this grass immaturej 10,209 pounds per acre containing 1,190 pounds nutritive matter. Cut in flower, an acre gave 27,905 poands green, or 11,859 pounds dry hay containing 1,089 pounds nu- tritive matter. Cut in seed it weighed per acre 26,544 pounds fresh, or 13,272 dry;, containing 1,451 pounds nutritive matter. Cut in this last mature stage j it is much more difficult to masti- cate and digest^ and a less proportion of the nutritive matter is assimilated, It should, therefore;, be cut at an earlier stage to secure the healthiest relish and most nutriment for green soiling or hay. Altogether and from every stand point, I am compelled to say still as I did many years ago that I prefer orchard to any other grass. Nor am I alone in this preference. I could fill volumes with testimonials more strongly expressed than my own in favor of this grass over all others, by the most distinguished live stock growers of Europe and America* After being cut,, it has been found to grow four inches in less than three days. Sheep leave all other grasses, if they can find this ; and acre for acre it will sustain twice as many sheep or other stock as timothy or other esteemed pasture grasses. Cut at the proper stage it makes a much better hay than timothy and is greatly preferred by animals, being easier to masticate, digest and assimilate ; in fact more like green grass in flavor, tenderness and solubility. It grows on any soil not too wet or too salty ; on hill and vale, mountain and plain. It produces seeds freely and they germinate with certainty. A bushel of cleaned seeds weighs from twelve to fifteen pounds. It may be be improved by selecteng seeds from choice plants. Probably all the cereals, certainly all that I have tried, may be greatly improved by careful selection and judicious culture. FESTTJCA. Fescue Grasses. Native and introduced, eight species of this genus are found growing in the southern States. These range from two inches OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 63 to four feet high. Two or three of the species are worth little or nothing ; but others are among the most valuable grasses we have. 1. F. PRATENSIS, known generally as meadow fescue, locally in Virginia as Randall grass, is a perennial, with round smooth stems two to three feet high, in mountain lands in Virginia six feet high, panicle nearly erect, branched, slightly inclined to one side. The radical leaves ^re broader than those of the stem; but in other species this is reversed. The numerous fibrous roots pierce a good soil to a depth of 12 or 15 inches. It is there- fore better fortified against drought than most grasses, and it is in vigorous growth when other grasses are dried up. It is one of our best winter grasses and is much prized as far north as Virginia, where it furnishes cattle good grazing in mid- winter, as they can push their muzzles under the snow to crop it. They are very fond of the long tender leaves, which are enjoyed by horses and sheep also. It grows well in nearly all situations, wet or dry, on hill or bottom land, even though subject to overflow, and matures an extraordinary quantity of seed. The seeds germinate readily, and it is easy to set a piece of land with this grass. Seeded alone, 28 pounds (about two bushels seed should be sown broadcast in August, September, October or from the middle of February to first of April. From remaining green through winter it is sometimes called evergreen grass. Mowed and dried it makes a good hay much relished by stock. It may therefore be used for pasture, green soiling or hay as desired. Sinclair found more nutritive matter in the fescue grass when in bloom than when in seed. In this fact there is great advan- tage in favor of these grasses ; for being cut when in bloom they are more easily and completely digested than when cut later, and hence a larger production of the contained nutritive matters can be assimilated by the animal eating them. 2. F. ELATIOR, Tall Fescue grass. Some consider this iden- tical with the meadow fescue ; but it is about twice as large, has similar perennial roots, stems 3 to 4 or 5 feet high, panicle a lit- tle drooping or erect, w T ith short branches spreading in all direc- tions. According to the Woburn experiments it furnished a much larger quantity of nutritive material than any of the other fescues and a larger quantity than a number of other forage plants , timothy making the nearest approach to it, and blue grass rating extremely low in the scale. The gross weight of grass was so great, the loss in drying so much less than in others and the, nutritive matter so extraordinary in quantity that the reader will be interested in a comparative table which I have constructed from Sinclair's report of the Woburn experiments, which he conducted for ten years. 64 FARMER'S BOOK OF G. When cut. weight Weight green. dry. Nutritive matter. Festuca elatior, 1 n flower, 51,046 17 *66 3.988 Festuca duriuscula, 18,376 -S269 1,004 Festuca pratensis, 13,612 6,465 957 Festuca loliacea, 16,335 7,146 765 Holcus lanatus, 19,057 6,661 1,191 Holcus odoratus, 1 n >ed, 27,225 9,52S 2,2:i3 Pactylis glomerate, 26,544 13,272 1,451 Trifolium pratense, 49,0('5 12,2">1 1 ,914 Phleum pratense, 40,H37 19,397 3,669 Poa pratense, In flower, 10,200 2,871 279 Tall fescue grass. Hard fescue grass. Meadow feseue grass. Spiked fescue grass. Meadow soft grass. Sweet M. soft grass. Orchard grass. Red clover. Timothy. Kentucky blue grass. Sinclair's experiments show : 1st. that meadow fescue between the times of blooming and maturing seed, loses | of its nutritive value ; or that it has three times as much nutritive materials when in bloom as when 7 the seed are ripe : 2nd. that the produce of tall fescue was to that of meadow fescue as 3 to 1 ; and 3rd. that the percentage of nutritive matter in the former to that in the latter was as 8 to 6 ; and finally that the nutritive value of an acre of tall fescue was four times greater than that of an acre of meadow fescue, more than twice that of red clover, and e- qualled by that of lucerne alone. In preparing the above table I have taken each plant at that stage in which it contains the largest quantity of nutrition. The fescue grasses cut in bloom are more digestible and their nutritive value enhanced no little as compared with the other plants named in the table out at a stage when less digestible. Of all the nutritive matter contained in fescue grass, 20 per cent forms flesh and 9 per cent bone nerve etc., just the thing for the rapid development of young animals. Weight for weight, however, red clover furnishes much more of flesh and bone form- ing materials than the grasses. The table will enable the read- er to make other useful comparisons and deductions. Although tall fescue is coarser than meadow fescue, stock seem to like it as well, and it is equally good for pasture, green soiling or hay. It may be planted at the same times and in the same quantity as the meadow fescue. While the latter matures very large crops of seed, and is hence called fertile fescue, the former in some localities matures so few that it has j been called infertile fescue. It may be multiplied by parting and setting out the roots. It grows well wherever meadow fescue does, and on wetter lands and in shade also. Both are useful in stop- ping washes. 3. F. DURIUSCULA, Hard Fescue, contains according to Way's analysis : In 100 parts taken from the field, green. dried Water, 69.33 Albuminous or flesh forming principles, 3.70 12.10 Fatty matters, 1.02 3.34 Heat producing principles, starch, sugar, gum etc., 12.46 40.43 Woody fibre, i 11.83 38.71 Mineral matter or ash, 1.66 5.42 AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 65 This grass, though much smaller than the two preceding, is also perennial, green through winter, withstands summer droughts, thrives on various soils, grows a foot or two high, and is a good pasture grass. 4. F. RTJBRA, Ked Fescue, one of the largest of the genus, is probably only a variety of the preceding ; and though grow- ing naturally on sandy and dry soils is said to be a better grass than some of the other species. 5. F. OVINA, Sheep's Fescue is also regarded by some as a smaller variety of the Hard, and grows from 6 to 12 inches high with many very narrow radical leaves and tufts of perennial roots. This also is a good pasture grass specially for sheep, and on dry sandy lands. 6. F. TENELLA, Small Fescue grows on dry, sandy soil from 2 to 12 inches high and is of little value. 7. F. MYURUS, grows on the same soil as the preceding 6 to 12 inches high and is about equally valuable. 8. F. LOLIACEA, Spiked Fescue, Darnel Fescue, like tall fes- cue, to which it is closely allied, matures few seeds. In appear- ance it resembles rye grass, to which, Loudon says, "it is con- sidered superior either for hay or permanent pasture, and it im- proves in proportion to its age, which is the reverse of what takes place with the rye grass." On rich, moist meadow it is a good pasture grass. 9. F. NUTANS, Nodding Fescue grows two to four feet high in rich as well as rocky woods and banks, with a one-sided pan- icle nodding when ripe. This and some others of this genus are well suited for woods pastures, where they could be mixed with Kentucky blue grass, tall oat grass, Terrell grass etc. In some localities in the southern States, meadow fescue is now begin- ning very improperly to be called English blue grass. BROMTJS. 1. B. UNIOLOIDES, Rescue grass. This grass is called also, B. SCHRADERI, B. WILLDENOWII, CERATOCHLOA UNIOLOIDES, and FESTTJCA UNIOLOIDES. It IS an annual winter grass. It varies in the time of starting growth. I have seen it ready for mowing the first of October and furnish frequent cuttings till April. Again ; it may not start before January, nor be ready to cut till February. This depends up- on the moisture and depression of temperature of the fall, the seeds germinating only at a low temperature. When once start- ed, its growth after the successive cuttings or grazings is very rapid. It is tender, very sweet and stock eat it greedily. It makes also a good hay. It produces an immense quantity of 66 I^AKAI ..EU'S BOOK OF The quantity of sugar and oil it contains, as shown by the fol- lowing analysis of Mr. Collier, specially commends it" for win- ter feeding. Oil, 2.99 Amylaceous cellulose, 23.74 Wax, .24 Alkali extract, 13.13 Sugars, 14.36 Albuminoids, 12.45 Gum and dextrin, 1.00 Ash, 7 78 Cellulose, 24.31 100.00 ANALYSIS OF ASH. Potassium, 16.38 Sulphuric acid, 5.61 Potassium oxide, 37.20 Phosphoric acid, 8.79 Sodium, 1.27 Silicic acid, 4.84 Sodium oxide, Chlorine, 16.84 Calcium oxide, 4.43 Magnesium oxide, 4.64 100.00 The large quantity of Potassium and its oxide and chlorine in the ash is very remarkable. A writer in the Rural Carolinian, (vol. I. p. 604 C ), says Mr. Iverson introduced this grass into Georgia many years ago, ad- ding: "I sowed it on a peach orchard, contiguous to my barn- yard, a pretty rich clay soil and kept in good heart by the drop- pings of animals. Here for many years, it has furnished fine grazing in winter, for hogs, horses, calves etc. In the spring the stock has been taken off, and the grass allowed to drop its seed. Occasionally I have plowed it up, and I believe the bet- ter plan would be to plow it up every spring after the seeds drop, and sow down in peas. It might be made to answer a valuable purpose/' In the Department of Agriculture, Report for 1878, p. 170, Mr. Williams of Texas writes : "Inasmuch as western Texas is the great stock producing section of the South-west, and consid- ering the fact that pasturage is scanty, particularly in Februa- ry, stunting the growth of young cattle, this seems wonderfully adapted to supply just what is greatly wanted, both for milch cows, calves, colts, and ewes just dropping lambs ; and besides, this grass grows well on the thinnest soil and crowds out weeds, maturing in March and early April, while not interfering with the native mesquite. I therefore regard this grass as a wonder- ful and most important discovery." For the reasons named by Mr. Williams this grass is valua- ble in portions of Louisana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. It is specially valuable for fall colts and their dams. I have seen it bloom as early as November when the season has favored and no grazing or cutting permitted. Oftener it makes little start till January. But whether late or early start- ing, it may be grazed or mowed frequently, until April. It AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 67 will still mature seed. It has become naturalized in limited portions of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and perhaps other States. It is a very pretty grass in all its stages ; but es- pecially when the culms two or three feet high are gracefully bending with the weight of the diffuse panicle with its many pedicelled, flattened spikelets, each an inch or more long and with twelve to sixteen flowers. I would not, however, advise sowing this grass on poor land with the expectation of getting a remunerative return. It til- lers abundantly under favorable conditions. 2. B. CABIN ATUS, California Brome Grass, according to Mr. Collier's analyses annexed, is much less nutritious than the pre- ceding species : oil, 2.46 ; wax, .24 ; sugars, 9.38 ; gum and dex- trin, 4.56 ; cellulose, 26.90 ; amylaceous cellulose, 17.02 ; alkali extract, 19.15 ; albuminoids, 9.88 ; ash, 10.31, in 100 parts. Lit- tle is yet known of it. 3. B. SECALINUS, Cheat or Chess. This well known pest in grain fields had some thirty years ago an infamous notoriety under the name of Willard's grass. With lip and pen the vir- tues of this grass were so adroitly inculcated that the bold Cheat succeeded in selling at fabulous prices his maddeniiig chess, at the same time exacting a pledge from purchasers that it should not be allowed to go to seed ; thus hoping to escape exposure of the fraud, and to reap alone the rewards of his ingenuity. Though not desirable on a farm, it has considerable value as a winter grass. 4. B. RACEMOSUS, Upright Chess, or Smooth Brome Grass, and 5. B. MOLLIS, Soft Chess or Soft Brome, also are found in grain fields. The seeds of these three species have been a source of great annoyance to farmers, by getting among the wheat and being ground to the serious damage of the flour. In our lower latitudes, sown alone on good soils, they make a large quantity of very inferior forage. If covered some depth in the ground, the seeds remain sound for years, and, when brought near the surface by the plow, promptly germinate and mature another crop. The growth of these species therefore should not be encouraged on our lands. 6. B. CILIATUS, Fringed Brome Grass and the variety pur- gans are found in old fields and along rich river banks and wooded hills, with stems from two to four feet high. It is one of the least valuable. 7. B. KALMII, Wild Chess, indigenous to some of our States, and growing two or three feet high, in dry woods, may offer some promise to intelligent experiment. Other species common in Europe are not known here. 68 FAIIMHU'S BOOK OF UNIOLA. 1. U. LATIFOLIA, Wild Fescue Grass, Broad-leaved Spiked Grass. This beautiful grass is found on the banks of streams The culms, two or three feet high, bear loose drooping panicles, with large, broad, flat compressed spikelets often to fifteen flowers. It blooms from May till August. It is perennial and in some localities is sufficiently abundant to be cut for hay. I have seen it cultivated in but one place ; with what result I am not informed. As it was sown on poor hills, it certainly could not yield much hay. And on lands where it might be profita- ble to cultivate it, many other grasses would be more profitable. A local name for it in Mississippi is, I believe, 'wild oats. 7 Mr. Collier's ANALYSIS OF UNIOLA LATIFOLIA. Oil, f o 90 Amylaceous cellulose, 10.23 Wax, \ Alkali extract, 14.40 Sugars, 6.78 Albuminoids, 11.29 Gurn and dextrin, 4.02 Ash, 11.38 Cellulose, 38.67 100.00 ANALYSIS OF ASH. Potassium, 5.19 Sulphuric acid, 2.62 Potassium oxide, 5.52 Chlorine, 4.71 Magnesium oxide, 3.02 Silica, 66.87 Calcium oxide, 7.15 Phosphoric acid, 4.92 100.00 A clump of this native grass set in the flower garden would be much more attractive than hundreds of other plants imported and sold at high prices. 2. U. PANICULATA, Spike Grass, growing from two to eight feet high among the sands along the coast, has, like the prece- ding, long-pedicelled, drooping spikelets. It is a pretty but worthless plant for forage, 3. U. GKACILIS, Slender Spike Grass, found in rich, damp soils, with slender stems two to four feet long, flowering in July and August; and 4. U. NITIDA, Shining Spike Grass, found in swamps, with slender stems one or two feet high, have stemless or nearly ses- sile spikelets and are of little feeding value apparently. PHRAGMITES. P. COMMUNIS, Common Keed Grass. This is one of the largest grasses in the United States, grow- ing from five to twelve feet high with numerous leaves one or AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 69 two inches wide. The stems dying down in the fall, the peren- nial roots send up in the spring a large growth of stems and leaves. These while tender, the cattle eat, but quit as the plants become harder ; leaving them to perfect their large ter- minal panicles and load them with the large seeds for feeding tlu i winter swarms of geese, ducks and other birds. This grass is found in swamps, along marshy streams and bor- ders of ponds. It is found in both hemispheres. In Great Britain it is used for thatch, and is preferred to slate; being warmer in winter and cooler in summer. It might be used for the same purpose in this country ; but owing to difference of climatic influences, it would not probably last here as in Eng- land for eighty years. A RUN DIN ARIA. I. A. GIGANTEA, or MACROSPERMA. Large Cane. This largest of our grasses has a hard, woody stem from one half to three inches in diameter, and ten to forty feet high, erect rounded, tapering from near the base, jointed every eight to twelve inches for one half the length or more, then joints be- coming shorter and smaller to the top ; leaves one to two inches wide, persistent, on clustered spreading branches, which also are jointed and appear the second year. On rich land, in the spring, the young stems shoot up full size, ten or twenty feet high and are crisp as asparagus ; and by some persons as much relished. The stems would probably make nice pickles also and various kinds of preserves by adding suitable flavors to the syrup. Hogs, cattle and other animals are fond of the young plants and seeds. Turkies and other birds and many other animals fat- ten on the seeds where abundant. The age at which this large cane blooms has not been definitely decided. It probably va- ries with the latitude, soil and surroundings, from ten to thirty years. When the seeds mature the cane dies. Grazing animals feed greedily on the leaves in winter, and find protection from the driving rains and piercing " r inds under the dense roof of the cane-brake or thicket. The stems are used for fishing rods, scaffolds for drying cotton, with the joints punched out for blow- guns and water pipes, pieces for pipe-stems and pipes, and splits for baskets, mats and other purposes. 2. A. TECTA, Small Cane. Some hold that this is the switch cane and that it is a seedling of the preceding. Its habits are different, however, from those of the large cane. It blooms sometimes two or more consecutive years without dying down to the root. Live stock like it as well as the large cane. Both grow best on rich lands, hills or bottoms ; but they will grow on thin clay soil, improve it and, if protected from stock rapid- ly extend by sending out long roots with buds. 70 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES TRITTCUM. T. VUL.GARE, Wheat. This is little used for grazing, or hay. The straw, however, is used for foddering stock and contains 2 per cent albuminoids, 30.2 carbohydrates and 1.5 fat. The chaff contains of albumin- oids 4.5, carbohydrates 33.2, fat 1.4. Wheat straw, therefore, contains considerable nourishment ; but less than oat straw. All know the value of wheat bran, shorts etc., as stock feed. For a number of years I sowed wheat for winter pasture with mode- rately remunerative results. For that purpose, I found oats, rye and barley better. Bread grains as such do not come in the plan of this work, and I therefore add in this connection only that the wheats used for human foods are annuals. Many per- sons believe that pigs are killed by grazing on wheat. 2. T. REPENS, Couch, Quitch, Twitch, Chandler, Dog Grass and many other names. This is perennial with stem two or two and a half feet high, so much like w r heat as to be called al- so wheat grass. Cattle eat it heartily when green ; and cut ear- ly it makes a good hay. But it fills the ground with roots, is as difficult to cultivate amongst and exterminate as coco or nut grass ; and hogs are as fond of, and root up the ground as indus- triously to obtain the roots. Cows and horses also are fond of them. It should be destroyed as soon as found in cultivated grounds, but it is very valuable in permanent pastures. 3. T. CANINUM, Bearded Wheat Grass, of our northern States is comparatively harmless and not likely to trouble southern farmers. And 4. T. COMPOSITUM, Egyptian Wheat, is only a cultivated garden curiosity. SEC ALE. 5. CEREALE, Rye. Of the four prominent species of rye, this is the only one cultivated in this country. It occupies a place intermediate between barley and wheat ; and it is not al- ways readily distinguished by the inexperienced from them, es- pecially from wheat. But the barley spikelet has but one per- fect flower, that of rye two, and that of wheat three or more : and there are other differences. Rye has a long, slender stem, bearing a terminal, erect long-bearded spike from two to four inches long. Two varieties of rye have been produced by cultivation, win- ter and spring rye. The former may be be planted in fall or spring, indeed in almost any month of the year. It may be planted in late corn and plowed in laying by the corn ; or it may be sown in cotton and plowed in the last working, thus cheaply AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 71 preparing winter and spring pasture ; or the ground may be prepared as for wheat, or oats, the rye planted from August to December. But as it is sown in the south almost exclusively for winter pasture, the earlier it can be put in the better, provi- ded it is not so early as to joint before it can be pastured. A bushel and a half per acre should give a good catch : if planted early and the ground in good condition a bushel may do. It grows well on any good, well drained soil, but requires less clay and moisture than wheat or barley, and more sand and pot- ash. My objections to it as a grazing plant are stated in treat- ing of barley. Rye yields a light crop of grain but it is very nutritious. The straw is hard and almost worthless for fodder. But it is worth ten or fifteen dollars a ton to the manufacturers of hats, bonnets, paper, mats and many other articles. To be very val- uable, however, for most manufactures, a special machine, in- vented for the purpose, must be used in threshing it so as to keep the straw straight and unbroken. In Europe, rye and wheat are often sown together, producing the mixture called meslin, from which the most wholesome of all breads is made. Rye may be grown longer on the same land than most other crops. When seeding, if the season be wet, it is very liable to a fun- goid disease, producing what is called ergot, the grain assu- ming somewhat the shape of a cock's spur and hence called spur- red rye. These spurs are filled with a dark mass having the odor of spoiled fish. It is very dangerous to people and ani- mals eating it, causing gangrene and death. Yet it contains several valuable medicinal principles ; by the use of which, separated from the poisonous elements, many valuable lives are daily saved. HORDEUM. 1. H. PRATENSE, Wild Barley, Squirrel-tail Grass. Only a few years ago, I noticed an occasional specimen 'of this plant in several parts of Mississippi. Next year many acres were densely covered with it. It appears in the latter part of winter and spring, growing from six to ten inches high, sometimes eighteen, with few leaves. Cured for hay it contains according to Knop : water 14.3, albuminoids 9.6, carbohydrates 42.0 and fat 2.0; a fair quantity of nutritive matter. But the plant is so small and light as to be unworthy of attention as a cultivated crop. Stock relish it. 2. H. PusiLLUM, Barley Grass also is small, growing six to twelve inches high. Cattle relish this grass and it is nutritious ; but the product is too small to justify cultivation. 3. H. JUBATUM, another Squirrel-tail Grass, widely diffused through our northern States in marshes and moist sands near 72 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES seas and lakes, and in moist prairies, has not yet found its \vu\ to the more southern States. These three grasses all look much like the cultivated barley. 4. H. VULGARE, Common Barley, is one of the first grains used for human food, being mentioned in the oldest records ex- tant. It adapts itself \vith wonderful facility to all climates, maturing equally in the heat of the torrid, and cold of the frig- id zones. It is to be treated here only as a forage plant, and two varieties only need be mentioned. The common six-rowed variety is largely planted in this country, both in the latter part of summer, early fall and spring. Originally a spring bar- ley., it became inured to winter. The rows are not perfectly regular, the alternate rows being less prominent. This, howev- er, is not what is called the true winter barley, square barley, or Hordeum hexastichum. The common barley produces more grain, but the grains are not quite so large as those of the Two- rowed barley, Hordeum distichwn. The difference in the yield of the two, however, is not very great, and both may be sown in our more southern States either in fall or spring. There is no four-rowed barley as sometimes stated and as might be supposed by not examining carefully. The ear or head of barley is what is called a spike. At each joint of the spike are three spikelets, each with a fertile flower, in the com- mon barley. As these triple spikelets alternate, when the seeds mature, the head becomes rounded and there appear six, more or less pefect, rows of grain. In the two-rowed kind, only one spikelet at each joint of the rachis has a perfect flower : the other two spikelets being reduced to sterile rudiments. The spike is longer, however, and the grain having more room is a little larger than the six-rowed kind. I have planted barley almost solely for winter pasture-, the grain being a secondary consideration ; and I cannot say that any thing has given me more satisfaction. I have tried it re- peatedly, in the same fields and under all the same conditions as nearly as possible, with all the other small grains; and it inva- riably -gave far better results. I think that on my lands one acre of barley affords as much green food during the winter as the combined product of one acre each of wheat, oats and rye. When grazed down, it grows again very soot,, so that it may be grazed two or three times to once with the others. It makes larger and more dense foliage and is greatly preferred by ani- mals to the others. I think the barley decidedly more whole- some also than the others. This is not due probably to the chemical composition of the barley, but to its being cleaner. The foliage stands up and hence does not become BO bespattered with clay, sand and other injurious matters as that of other small grains. With the latter much filth is eaten, especially with rye. The leaf of this lies so closely on the ground, that in AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 73 grazing it, animals receive so much sand and other dirt that their teeth and stomachs are damaged many times and the nu- tritive function seriously obstructed. Barley seems not to be damaged, but rather benefitted by winter grazing ; and with me it has never shown any sign of rust or other diseases, while all the other grains around it have been utterly destroyed by rust. - Possibly my lands may be specially adapted to it. Preferably I plant in September ; but everything favoring, a few days earlier would not be objectionable. The quantity of seed per acre should be two and a half or three bushels. It suc- ^ceeds well on almost any well drained land that has not been exhausted. On good land the crop should be forty to sixty bushels of seed per acre. The proportions of nutritive principles in barley straw are as nearly identical with those in wheat straw, as would probably be found in two samples of the latter taken from the same mow. Now 100 pounds of barley, clean grain, contains twelve ounces more nutritive matter than 100 of clean corn. But the nutri- tive matters are differently proportioned and combined in the two kinds of grain. The barley I think more wholesome for aiv- imals, especially growing animals. Arab horses in their native country are fed almost wholly on barley. Many pages might be quoted to show how highly it is prized in foreign countries as a forage plant and the most gratifying results from its use in that way. I think it has given as good results in this country whenever tried. I prefer it to corn not only for young stock, but for working animals, especially in warm weather. When harvesting barley, a portion should be left standing in the field for the hogs. It carries them through the hot months in most admirable condition. It is, indeed, a most wholesome food for them at all times, and the flesh of pigs fed with it has a peculiar tenderness, delicacy and sweetness, that induce the con- noisseur to pay an extra price for it. It is said that barley-fed meat increases also in bulk when boiled. But because barley is used for raising bread and beer, it must not be supposed to have the same effect on boiling meat. The improvement must be made in the live meat. Barley is a good food for all farm stock, including poultry ; but specially as part feed for milk cows. It can be grown cheaper than corn, heavier crops are made per acre, the crop is less liable to accidents in growth, and when harvested worth more for home consumption or as a money crop. But it requires nice care in harvesting. It should be cut as soon as fully ripe, tied in small bundles and dried thor- oughly and as soon as practicable. The long beards and abun- dant chaff catch and hold much water from dew and rains and thus the grain is very liable to be injured. It should be thresh- 74 KAKMKR'S BOOK OF GEASSES ed as soon as may be, spread in airy rooms and frequently stir- red till fully dry. In threshing the machine should be run slow and the pins not so close as for wheat. This is to avoid breaking off the germ, (which is very easily done,) as this would render the grain worthless either for seed or for brewing. It is altogether safer for these purposes to thresh by hand. Seed wheat also should be threshed by hand as the machine breaks a large per centage of the grains, destroying the germs. ' ' '' " rro.t* twr wi n- ; : ;,, ? tpqixfb 1. F. VIRGINICUS, Wild. Eye, Terrell Grass, Virginia Lymv Grass. This perennial grass is a native of the southern States. As all farm stock except hogs are fond of it and it is green through the winter and spring, it has been destroyed when grazing ani- mals have access to it at all times. It is, however, found in many of our States along the banks of wooded streams, of ditch- es, and in fence corners, among briers and thickets. It is read- ily propagated by sowing the seed, (two bushels per acre,) or by separating and setting out the plants from November till April. It will grow on thin clay, gravelly, or sandy soil ; but much better on rich lands hills, bottoms or alluvials dry or rather mo ist on a great variety of soils; in open or wooded land, and will thrive ten, twenty or more years on the same land. It grows two to four feet high and matures seeds in July and Au- gust, the spikes being erect, rigid, dense, three inches long. 2. E. STRIATUS, Dennett Grass, Slender Hairy Lyrne Grass. This also is perennial and a native of the southern States. Every thing said of the preceding applies with equal force to this, except the spikes of this are three to seven inches long and often slightly nodding. In the eastern States it is small and of little value.. But in the extreme south it is larger and more valuable. During the last month I have found it in seed in its native haunts in many localities nowhere less than three or four feet high. Cultivation improves both this and the prece- ding so that they sometimes grow five feet high. The spike of the Dennett grass is raised by its long peduncle far above the sheath of the upper leaf, while the spike of the Terrell grass is partly included in the upper sheath. The latter is the better of the tAvo. They may be graced or mown repeatedly during spring and ear- ly summer, and grow rapidly after each mowing. Where culti- vated if not mowed or grazed, they bloom and mature seed ear- lier, than in the wild state. Many acres have been planted in the last few years; generally those who have tried a little have been encouraged to extend it to a few acres and some to many acres. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 75 As hay it is rather hard unless cut while young. It should be cut as soon as the blooms appear or earlier. It would be preferable to have these grasses for grazing or green soiling, and to sow better grasses for hay. By setting the plants in the spring two feet each way on pre- pared land and cultivating ; in the fall, the seed that drop and germinate and the tillers will cover the ground with a good winter pasture. If it .shows any sign of exhaustion manure and scarify, or plow solid in fall or winter and harrow. It will soon be in full growth. 3. E. CANADENSIS, Canada Lyme Grass. This perennial is probably not found native in any of the southern tier of States. It is about equal in value to either of the two preceding. Siberian Lyme Grass and Soft Lyme Grass are not found in the southern States. 4. E. ARENARIUS, Upright Sea Lyme Grass belongs to Eu- rope. Sir Humphrey Davy analysing the soluble matter afford- ed by this grass found that it contained a large proportion of sugar, besides other nutritious matters. But it is too hard to make a desirable grass for stock ; though much used mixed with other grasses chopped for winter feed for cattle, in Hol- land and other places. It was introduced into this country by the Patent Office many years ago and planted at a number of places. But jts principle use in this as in other countries is the same as that of beach grass, to bind drifting sands and prevent encroachments of the waves. Its long, creeping, perennial roots well fit it for this purpose. GYMNOSTICHTJM. G. HYSTRIX. Bottle-brush grass differs little from the Lyme Grasses, except in the absence of glumes. It is a native, peren- nial, and a good forage plant. The spike, three to six inches long, when ripe resembles a bottle brush. The grass makes a stem two to four feet high and is found along the shaded banks of streams and moist rocky woodlands. LOLIUM. 1. L. PERENNE, English, or Perennial Rye Grass. This is the first grass cultivated in England, over two centu- ries ago, and at a still more remote period in France. It was long more widely known and cultivated than any other grass, became adapted to a great variety of soils and conditions, and a vast number (seventy or more) varieties produced ; some: of which were greatly improved, while others were inferior and be- came annuals. Introduced into the United States in the first 76 FARMER'S BOOK OF GrR ASSES quarter of the current century, it has never become very popu- lar, although shown by the subjoined analyses of Way not to be deficient in nutritive matter. . In 100 parts of the dried grass cut in bloom were albuminoids 11.85, fatty matters 3.17, heat producing principles 42.24, woody fibre 35.20, ash 7.54. The more recent analysis of Wolff and Knop, allowing for water, gives rather more nutritive matter than this. It grows rapidly and yields heavy crops of seed, makes good grazing and good hay. But as with all the Rye grasses, to make good hay it must be cut before passing the blossom stage, as after that it deteriorates rapidly. The roots being short, it does not bear drought well and exhausts the soil, dying out in a few years. In these respects it is liable to the same objections as timothy. The stem one to two feet high, has four to six pur- plish joints and as many dark green leaves. The flexuous spiked panicle bearing the distant spikelets, one in each bend. It should be sown in August or September, at the rate of twenty-five or thirty pounds or one bushel seed per acre. 2. L. ITALICTJM, Italian Rye Grass. This grass grows two or three feet high and has a broader leaf than the preceding. The spikelets are arranged on the main stem as in the preceding ; but differ in the florets having slender awns, giving each spikelet the appearance of a small brush. The leaves are very dark green with a metalic glint ; and a field, well set with this grass undulating under wind and sun, presents the most delightfully beautiful appearance I have ever seen in the way of grasses and green fields. All the grass eating animals are very fond of it green or cured. It is highly esteemed and cultivated in European countries and is becoming better known in America. Like the preceding, it is adapted to many latitudes, soils and conditions. Sown from August to October, twenty or thirty pounds of seed per acre, it affords good winter and spring pasture. But being an annual it must be reseeded every year, unless seed are allowed to ma- ture and fall. It may be mowed very early in the spring, some- times in the winter as early as December, and from five to ten times between April and November. On rich lands no other grass will probably bear so many mowings, nor is any other better adapted to green soiling. It is a ravenous feeder and thrives on the richest soils and many applications per year of rich fertilizers. But the enormous yield of delicious forage amply repays the expense of such feed- ing, in the sleek coats and distended sides of the happy colts, horses, sheep and cattle, the improved health of the animals, the big pails brimming with rich delicious milk and the well- filled tubs of beautiful, fine flavored butter. In the darying districts of Europe, where irrigation is em- ployed, the quantity of forage afforded by this grass is simply AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 77 enormous. But to obtain the best results, it must be abundant- ly fertilized. This grass stands drought well and grows most luxuriantly in our southern States. If not kept grazed or mow- ed, however, the leaves cover the ground so deeply and densely, that an excess of rain in very hot weather in the extreme south causes it to rot suddenly, destroying even the roots. This I have never seen or heard mentioned by any other person. But it occurred on my own farm one season where I was reserving a lot for seed. Way's analysis of this grass taken green from the field shows 100 parts to contain : water 75.61, albuminoids 2.45, fatty mat- ters .80, heat producing principles 14.11, woody fibre 4.82, ash 2.21 ; or about 17.36 nutritive matters. This at first blush looks little it is true, and less when compared as is usually done with timothy cut* and analysed in the same condition, the latter containing 29.21 of nutritive matters and 57.21 water; or 18.40 per cent less water and 11.85 more nutritive matters. In the dried state, Way's analyses show that the Italian Rye grass con- tained 71.19 per cent of nutritive matter and timothy only 68.26. Animals are very fond of it for grazing, green soiling, or as hay ; selecting it among other grasses. They are usually the best judges of what is adapted to their own conditions and the needs of their systems. And the effects this grass produces on their general condition and upon the products of the dairy con- firm the judgement of the cows. Now it is true that cut and fed green Italian Rye grass contains much more water than tim- othy. The cow decides that this is no disadvantage, as in con- sequence she has to go seldomer to and take less water from the pool. It is mixed intimately in the grass ready for her use. The grass is tenderer, more easily masticated and digested and the nutrition more completely assimilated, thus reducing waste of muscular and nerve tissue and heat producing principles. The total crop of timothy for the year is besides small compar- ed with that of the Italian rye grass to the acre ; and but two cuttings at most of timothy may be had, while the latter may be cut many times. 3. L. ANNUTJM, Annual Rye Grass, according to Way's anal- ysis, contains in 100 parts, green : water 69.00, albuminoids 2.96, fatty matters .69, heat producing principles 12.89, woody fibre 12.47, ash 1.99. Some have fancied this variety because it pro- duces taller stems and more of them than some of the others. But the proportion of foliage is less and the hay inferior. 4. L. ARVENSE found in the south is a worthless species with small stems only from six to twelve inches high. 5. L. TEMULENTUM, Poison Rye Grass. This pernicious weed is sometimes found in grain fields growing two feet high with the characteristic flexuous spikelet bearing stem about a foot long. It is very injurious to people or animals eating it 78 I 1 ' Alt A! Jili'fi BOOK OF GltAHSKM with grain or in bread made from flour contaminated with it. Hence -the wisdom in selecting this weed in constructing the parable in Matthew XIII, 25 36 ; it being the darnel or tares there mentioned and almost the only cereal possessing, when sound, injurious properties. It may be distinguised from other species by the very long glumes equalling the spikelets in length. k ^i < It is the Zizania of the parable, transferred into the Latin Vulgate, the Italian, Spanish and some other verso ns ; transla- ted Ivraie in the French and Darnel in most English versions, but unfortunately 'tares' in King James' version. The tare, vetch, or any other bean could, as soon as sprouted, be recog- nized as not at all like wheat. But this plant, even in the spike, resembles wheat, and hence the force of the parable. It is probably the infelix loiium of Virgil. 6. L. MULTIFLORUM, Many flowered Darnel is very hand- some and showy, but not much cultivated or esteemed any where. AIEA . 1. A. FLEXTJOSA, Wood Hair Grass. This perennial plant grows one or two feet high on rocky hills and mountains and sandy soils, but not on clays. Cattle and sheep eat it, but it produces very little nourishment to the acre. It is really not worth cultivating for feed, but affords a pretty addition to bouquets. 2. A. CJESPITOSA, Tufted Hair Grass. Grows in clumps or tufts in tough marshy lands, preferably where water stands much of the time, but is occasionally found in pastures or meadows. It is worthless. The other species are not found in the southern States. DANTHONIA. 1. D. SPICATA, Wild Oat Grass, Old Fog, White Top. This is a native perennial growing on dry, barren soils with a slender stem ten to eighteen inches high bearing a few spike- lets. 2. D. SERICEA, Taller Wild Oat Grass, also a native, grows on dry or moist sandy soils, with stem two feet high bearing many spikelets. These are grasses of little value. TKISETUM. 1. T. PALUSTRE, Marsh Oat Grass. This is found in swamps, and has a feeble stem one or two feet high with a long narrow panicle. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS* 79 2. T. MOLLE, Downy Persoon, with a stern six or eight in- ches long is found on rocky banks and mountains. Both these grasses are perennial, but have no agricultural value. 3. T. PUBESCENS, Downy Oat ,:Grass is a valuable forage plant, but has not been introduced in the south. A VENA. 1. A. PRATENSIS, Meadow Oat Grass. This is a perennial native of Great Britain, where it grows about eighteen inches high in pastures. It flourishes best on dry soils and yields a medium quality of hay. As some of our. recent writers have evidently confounded this with the lall Meadow Oat Grass (described on another page) and have given it qualities that belong to the latter, it is well to give a rather minute description. "Spikelets three to many flowered, with an open, large, diffused panicle ; lower pale seven to eleven nerved, with a long, usually twisted awn on the back; stamens three ; grain oblong, grooved on the side, usually hairy and free." Flint. Any, who purchase and plant seeds of this grass with the expectation of obtaining the large winter grazing, soil- ing, hay and seed crops of which they may have read, will as- suredly reap a large harvest of disappointment and vexation. Mr. Howard, in his pamphlet, gives an excellent account of Tall Meadow Oat Grass, but unfortunately calling it Meadow Oat Grass, has no doubt inadvertently misled other writers into some singular errors. 2. A. FLAVESCENS, Yellow Oat Grass, This perennial is a native of France and grows naturally on light, dry soils. By some farmers in many parts of the world, it is regarded, as a hay and pasture grass, the most useful of this genus. It has been tried in this country to only a limited extent. Way's analysis of it shows in 100 parts of the dried grass : al- buminoids 7.48, fatty matters 2.61, heat producers 47.08, woody fibre 35.95, ash 6.88. It is much better mixed for pasture than for other purposes, its unusually large quantity of bitter extract- ive matter rendering it specially grateful to cattle. 3. A. STRIATA, The Purple Wild Oat of our northern States is of little worth ; and 4. A. PR^COX, Early Wild Oat, found in the northern tier of the southern States is a dwarf, three s or four inches high and merits no further attention. 5. A. SATIVA, Common Oat. This is well known every where and has always been a favor- ite crop with me, both for winter pasture, hay and grain. The 'red rust proof ' variety is preferred to all others, the potato oat being my second choice. The former has never rusted with me. The latter has not been sufficiently tested to be assured against 80 KAKMKK'S BOOK OF GRASSES \ rust. The oat is so well known that no discussion of it is need- ed here. It is much superior to Indian corn for feeding hor- ses and mules. I could not be induced to feed my own stock mainly on Indian corn. The horse fed with oats has more elasticity, spirit and bottom, lasts much longer and is capable of more prolonged exertion. I consider three bushels (96 pounds) of oats equivalent to two bushels (112 pounds) corn for horse food, with many advantages over the latter. ARRHENATHERUM. A. AVENACETJM, Tall Oat Grass. This is called also Tall meadow oat grass, Evergreen grass in Virginia and other southern States, and it is the Tall oat (A ve- na elatior) of Linnaeus. It is closely related to the common oats and has a beautiful open panicle, leaning slightly to one side. "Spikelets two-flowered and a rudiment of a third, open ; lowest flower staminate or sterile, with a long bent awn below the middle of the back." Flint. It is widely naturalized and well adapted to a great variety of soils. On sandy, or gravelly soils it succeeds admirably, growing two or three feet high. On rich dry upland it grows from five to seven feet high. It has an abundance of perennial, long fibrous roots penetrating deeply in the soil, being therefore less affected by drought or cold, and enabled to yield a large quantity of foliage, winter and summer. These advantages ren- der it one of the very best grasses for the south both for grazing, being evergreen, and for hay, admitting of being cut twice a year. It is probably the best winter grass that can be obtained. It stands high in nutritive principles as will be seen by WAY'S ANALYSIS. Green. Dry. Water, 72.65 Albuminoids or flesh forming principles, 3.54 12.95 Fatty matter, .87 3.19 Heat producing principles, 11.21 38. .03 Woody fibre, 9.37 34.24 Mineral matter, or ash, 2.36 11.59 100.00 100.00 It will make twice as much hay as timothy and containing a greater quantity albuminoids, and less of heat producing prin- ciples, it is better adapted to the uses of the southern farmer, while it exhausts the surface soil less and may be grazed indef- initely except after mowing. To make good hay it must be cut the instant it blooms and, after cut, must not be wet by dew or rain which damages it greatly in quality and appearance. AND OTHER FOE AGE PLANTS. 81 For green soiling it may be cut four or five times with favor- able seasons. In from six to ten days after blooming the seeds begin to ripen and fall, the upper ones first. It is therefore a little troublesome to save the seed. As soon as those at the top of the panicle ripen sufficiently to begin to drop, the heads should be cut off and dried, when the seeds will all thresh out readily and be matured. After the seeds are riye and taken off the long abundant leaves and stems are still green and, being mowed make good hay. It may be sown in March or April and mowed the same season ; but for heavier yield it is better to sow in September or Octo- ber. Along the more southerly belt from the^ 31 parallel southward it may be sown in November and onward till the middle of December. Whenever sown it is one of the most cer- tain grasses to have a good catch. ISfot less than 2 bushels (14 pounds) per acre should be sown. Like timothy, on inhospi- table soils, the root may sometimes become bulbous. The aver- age annual nutrition yielded by this grass in the southern belt is probably twice as great as in Pennsylvania and other north- ern States. HOLCTJS. 1. H. LANATUS, Velvet Grass, Meadow Soft Grass. In the eastefn States this grass is called Salem Grass and White Timothy ; in the south Velvet Lawn Grass and Velvet Mesquit Grass; in England Woolly Soft Grass and Yorkshire White; on the continent it has three French, two German, one each Dutch, Danish and Sweedish names. Yet it has been sent to me for name, from many places in many States and more fre- quently than any other grass. Having found its way to Texas, how long ago would perhaps be difficult to ascertain, people go- ing there from the older States have sent back seeds to their friends calling it Texas Velvet Mesquit Grass, supposing that it is a native of that State. So far as has come to my knowledge nine-tenths of all the so called Mesquit grass planted in the southern States is this same European Velvet Grass. This grass is so beautiful and different from all others as to arrest the prompt attention of the most listless person. It grows much larger in some of the southern States than in the eastern or in England; and it seems too, to be more valuable here. It grows two to four feet high here with compound pani- cle variously tinted-frosty, pale, greenish, pinkish, reddish etc. The leaves, sheaths and joints are covered with soft downy hairs, giving the plant the touch and appearance of the softest velvet. With a moderate magnifying power it will be seen that the stem, sheaths, leaves and branches of the panicle are marked by longitudinal striae, green and white, the latter being 82 FAKMJEK'S BOOK OF GRASSES the narrower. It is the mingled tints of these stripes that give the peculiar shade to this grass. Velvet grass may be readily propagated by sowing the seed or by dividing and setting the roots ; and it will grow on almost any land however poor. It luxuriates in moist peaty lands, but will grow on poor sandy or clay hill lands and produce remuner- ative crops where few other plants will make any thing. It has been cultivated in North Carolina on such land and, after cut- ting and allowed to grow again, plowed under with so much ad- vantage that other crops were subsequently produced. Hon. H. W. L. Lewis of Louisiana has cultivated this grass many years with great satisfaction. He tried it various ways. One, which he approves, is to prepare the ground well and sow turnips in rows two and a half feet apart in July or August. When up thin to six or eight inches, cultivate once or twice and sow the grass seed broadcast and brush in. Little or nothing is seen of the grass till the turnip crop is taken off; then the first warm days in January and February give the grass a rapid growth. From that time a part is cut daily for the cattle and work hor- ses, one acre affording an abundant daily feed for six horses till oats are ready to cut. Then, ceasing to cut, it matures five or six bushels of seed. According to Way's analysis 100 parts of velvet grass dried at 212 F. yielded : albuminoids 11.52, fatty matters 3.56, heat- ing principles 39.25, woody fibre 39.30, ash 6.37 ; showing that in flesh and fat forming principles it surpasses timothy skghtly, though not equaling it in heat producers. Yet some of our northern as well as English farmers tell us it is an inferior grass, not relished by cattle etc. This cannot be because of any lack in quantity of nutritive matters as shown by Way's analysis. This will be still further manifest by considering Sinclair's Wo- burn experiments. Let us use one of the best, orchard grass, for the comparison. Cut in bloom from rich sandy soil it yield- ed green per acre, 27,905 pounds which dried gave 11,859 pounds, containing 1,089 pounds nutritive matters. Velvet grass, cut in bloom from stiff clay loam, yielded 19,057 pounds, which dried gave 6,661 pounds, containing 1,191 pounds nu- tritive matter. Of the orchard grass 64 drams gave 122 grains nutritive matter, while 64 drams of velvet grass gave 240 grains nutritive matter. The advantage seems to be all the way through in favor of velvet grass. The reason then why cattle do not prefer it, is not because of its deficiency in nutrition, but of its combination. It is deficient simply in saline and bitter extractive matters, which cattle rel- ish in grasses. It is by no means the best of our grasses ; but best for some lands and on such lands more profitable than other grasses. Other grasses are more profitable to me. AND OTHER" FORAGE PLANTS. 83 It should be sown from August to October, fourteen pounds, equal to two bushels, per acre. Northward it is perennial; in the south not strictly so. It seems to haYe been greatly im- proved by acclimating in Texas and other southern States and this is true of some of the other grasses and forage plants. 2. H. MOLLIS, Creeping Soft Grass. This has a shorter, more open panicle than the preceding, but the same soft, woolly appearance. It grows on a great variety of soils, but its strong creeping roots render it undesirable where we have so many better grasses for all purposes. HlEROCHLOA. H. BOREALIS, Seneca, Vanilla, or Holy Grass. This fragrant grass has strong creeping roots and little foliage ; and though cattle eat it, it is not desirable for this country. 2. H. ALPINA, Alpine Holy Grass, found in the northern States is still less valuable. ANTHOXANTHTJM. A. ODORATUM, Sweet-scented Vernal Grass. This is an early spring and late fall grass, and best known of the two fragrant species. A natiYe of Europe, it is naturalized in most of our States to some extent, planted in gardens for use in bouquets, in meadows to flavor hay and in pastures to give va- riety and with a view, probably erroneous, of improving the quality of milk and butter obtained from cows feeding on it. The grass rubbed in the hands imparts its aromatic odor, as it does also to hay with which it is cured. This is due to benzoic acid found in this grass, or rather to an aromatic oil associated with the acid. Way's analysis of this grass dried at 212 F. .shows in 100 parts : albuminoids 10.43, fatty matters 3.41, heat producing principles 43.48, woody fibre 36.36, ash 6.32. The proportion of nutritive matter is very considerable, but the yield per acre is small. This and the fact that cattle do not relish it alone in- dicate that it would be profitless sown alone. Hence it is al- ways properly mixed with other grasses for pasture or meadow. It is perennial and hardy, and grows one or two feet high. The palet which encloses the ripe seed has on the back a long twisted and bent awn. This gives the seed a property similar to that possessed by the "animated oat." Place the seed in the moistened hand and the awn, absorbing the moist- ure, is thereby made to untwist and cause the seed to move like an insect. It is by this action of the awn and palet that the seed is lifted out from the other parts of the spikelet and thus prevented from germinating before matured in wet weather. 84 FARMER'S BOOK O.F GRASSES The seeds weigh six pounds to the bushel. Two pounds should be planted in mixtures. MILIUM. M. EFFUSUM, Wild Millet Grass. This foreigner has become naturalized northward, but I have not found it in the south. It grows from three to six feet high from a perennial root and has broad, flat, thin leaves, contain- ing little nutritious matter. It is not desirable on the farm. The closely allied genus AMPHICARPUM is found in the southern States where it is native. There are two species A. purshii and A. Floridanum, the latter a new species found by Mr. Chapman. Neither is of sufficient importance to require further mention here. CYNOSURTJS. C. CRISTATUS, Crested Dog's Tail. This has been introduced into this country spar- ingly ; and though nutritious it is not much esteemed, being short and soon becoming hard. According to Way 100 parts dried contained: albuminoids 11.08, fats 3.54, heat producers 52.64, Avoody fibre 26.36, ash 6.38. It is good in mixture for sheep walks and lawns, ten or twelve pounds per acre of seed being required. It grows on dry, sandy, calcareous uplands. PHALARIS. 1. P. INTERMEDIA, American, or Stewart's Canary Grass. This is a beautiful native grass of the southern States, highly esteemed, by the few who grow it, for winter and spring gra- zing, soiling, and hay. The variety, (angusta) especially is much larger and more valuable. It grows two or. three feet high, and in swamps five feet, with many leaves four to ten in- ches long and spike two to four inches long and somewhat re- sembling the head of timothy. Stock like it well especially as hay. Mr. D. Stewart of Louisiana having tested other grasses prefers this for quantity and quality for winter and spring gra- zing, and for soiling for milk cows. In some localities it is called Gilbert's Belief grass and in others California timothy. There is much testimony from many parts of the south of the same import ; and this grass is doubtless worthy of extended, careful testing. Never having been analysed, we have not at hand the means of estimating chemically its comparative nutri- tive merits. An analysis would probably, as in many other cases, verify the judgement of the intelligent farmers who have grown this grass. Being a native, it is specially desirable to AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 85 grow it with a view to improvement. As has happened with so many other plants, proper soil and culture will probably dem- onstrate much worth and improvement in this grass and partic- ularly the variety. 2. *P. ARUNDINACEA, Reed Canary Grass. This coarse, rough grass growing naturally in, and about the margins of marshes, shallow lakes and streams, possesses adapt- ability to a variety of soils, wet and dry, and varies considera- bly in the coloring of foliage and flowers. On dry lands the leaves become striped forming the garden variety known as rib- bon grass. The cylindrical stem from two to seven feet high bears five or six broad leaves, light green in wet places, various- ly striped in dry. It is a beautiful plant. Although all the analyses I have seen show considerable, and some a large proportion of nutritious matter, cattle do not relish it well. In the Woburn experiments, one acre of black, sandy loam yielded 27,225 pounds of grass, losing in drying 14,973 pounds, and giving 1,701 pounds nutritive matter. A ten- acious clay soil yielded 34,031 pounds of grass, losing in drying 17,015 pounds and giving 2,126 pounds of nutritive matter. According to Scheven and Bitthausen the dried grass showed in 100 parts: protein 6.12, fat 1.30, heat producing principles 40.63 woody fibre 43.55, and ash 8.40. Yet it does not produce as much flesh or milk as its composi- tion would warrant us to expect. But r e should remember that when in bloom, as it was in the Woburn trials, although it contains more nutritive matter than at an earlier stage, yet it has already become hard, woody and comparatively indigestible. If utilized therefore for stock-feed, it should be cut while young and tender, only a foot or two high. It may thus be cut two or three times each summer. It should never be allowed to reach full bloom, because subject to attacks of a fungous growth sim- ilar to, or perhaps identical with spurred rye, or ergot, which is considered very fatal to cattle eating it. This hard grass might be rendered tender and digestible by placing in silos or by ensilage, as now practised in France and by a few in America, with com fodder for winter forage. This grass may be propagated by dividing and transplanting the roots every square foot, or by sowing the seed at the rate of half bushel or twenty-five pounds per acre. In marshy lands it weaves such strong webs of roots that it can bear up teams of oxen and loaded wagons. It retains wash- ings, thus assisting to fill up and reclaim small marshes. It may obstruct small streams and thus produce other marshes however, which must be guarded against. In conclusion, as we have so many better grasses for agricul- tural purposes, I would not recommend to cultivate this for forage. 80 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES 3. P. OANARIENSIS, Common Canary Grass, partially natu- ralized in some localities, is pretty, and, when young, relished by cattle; but it is cultivated only for the seeds for bird-feed. P ASP ALUM. In the southern States there are twenty species of Paspaluin recognized. No trivial name has been generally adopted for any of them. The name 'water grass' has been applied to one or two of them that grow not in the water but in cultivated fields; but is only of local use and not distinctive from having been longer appropriated and more generally given to several other grasses. Paspaluin is more generally used; and there is no reason why it should not exclude all other names. The sev- eral species can then be designated by adding a word marking some characteristic of each. Except two, these paspalums are all perennials. They are all succulent, tender, nutritious, hardy, thrifty and relished by all grass-eating animals. They fill the soil with a matting of roots and cover the surface densely with luxuriant foliage from early spring till autumnal frost. In some localities from this dense, rather smooth covering where grazed, they are called as if one, 'carpet grass.' But this name, also having been previously ap- propriated, is not distinctive. Several species are often found on the same common, arriving at maturity at different periods, and some are in perfection throughout the season. The genus as a whole is one of the most valuable of all our na- tive southern pasture grasses, perhaps I should add, hay grasses. For compared with three of the best known and esteemed culti- vated grasses the nutritive matter they contain is in the follow- ing order : timothy 67.26, paspalum 65.85, orchard 60.99, blue grass 56.04. Although this shows timothy containing a little more nutritive matter, yet, being less digestible, it does not make so good a hay as paspalum. Mr. Collier's analysis shows that 1. Paspalum Iceve contains in TOO parts : oil 1.74, wax 1.0*2, sugars 8. 86, gum and dextrin 5.47, cellulose 27.72. amylaceous cellulose 26.67, alkaline extract 13.95, albuminoids 8.14, ash 6.43. The ashes were found to contain potassium oxide 25.44, sodium 1.12, sodium oxide .60, calcium oxide 9.36, magnesium oxide 5.56, sulphuric acid 5.64, phosphoric acid 6.18, silicic acid 44.65, chlorine 1.73. Another farmer and myself have spent our lives so far in the same vicinity. He has always been widely known for the good condition in which he keeps all his animals and for liberal feed- ing. For twenty-five years he has been feeding this grass ; and for many years has had a meadow of this grass alone, from which without ever having seeded, he annually mows about two tons of hay per acre. Drovers, who have been in the habit of AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 87 stopping with him every year, declare this hay to be unsurpass- ed for excellency by any hay produced in any other State. This Paspalum Iceve, Smooth Erect Paspalum is perennial, growing naturally in dry woods, margins of fields, and open meadows, two to four feet high, with three to five slender spikes three or four inches long near the top of the simple erect stem. The leaves are rather long and broad. It grows rapidly in the cotton fields, even on poor clay and sandy hills. The seeds are large and nutritious and fall easily while apparently green, though really mature, the stems and foliage remaining green long after. It should therefore be cut before the seeds get ripe enough to fall off. It is usually cut once a year. It might be cut two or three times with much more profit. 2. P. PR^COX, Early Paspalum, grows in the same localities as the preceding, erect, about the same height and having three to six spikes. Its leaves are narrower and the sheaths often purplish. The seeds are in pairs arranged in three rows on the straight flattened rachis, and the glume three nerved, often dis- colored. The preceding has the glume with five nerves and the single seeds arranged in two rows on a flexuous rachis. #. P. RACEMULOSUM, Stemmed Paspalum, grows also in same localities as the preceding, two or three teet high, bearing two or three erect, slender spikes four inches long ; seeds single or by pairs distinctly pedicelled, distant on the filiform rachis. The leaves are long linear, glaucous, sprinkled as are the sheaths with long white hairs. 4. P. CILIATIFOLIUM, Hairy Slender Paspalum. This is quite common both on dry and wet soils, with stems one or two feet long, often prostrate ; frequently two or more peduncles rise from the upper sheath, each bearing often but one spike ; leaves flat, one to three fourths of an inch wide, Vavy, fringed on the edges and with the sheaths hairy all over. 5. P. DISTICHUM, Joint Grass, Twin Paspalum. One name is from the flower stems bearing usually a pair of spikes, (which are one to one and a half inches long,) the other from its many-jointed diffuse stems creeping along the ground inserting roots at every joint. The flower bearing part of the x stem rises about a foot high. This species grows as well where partly submerged as otherwise. 6. P. DIGITARIA, Finger Shaped Paspalum, has creeping, branching stem, finally rising a foot or two high ; often having several elongated peduncles from the upper sheath, bearing fil- iform, horizontally spreading spikes three or four inches long ; sheaths compressed and leaves mostly fringed on the margins. This is found in open swamps. 7. P. VAGINATUM, Sheathed Paspalum, is found in brackish swamps. The short jointed stems are diffuse, creeping, two to four feet long ; the flowering branches erect, five to ten inches high ; the dilated sheaths persistent. 88 I< AHMEK'S BOOK OF 8. P. WALTERI, Walters Paspalum, is found in cultivates lands, prostrate, creeping, one to three feet long ; spikes three tc seven, the lowest included in the upper sheath. All the prece- ding are perennial. The next two are annuals. 9. P. FLUITANS, Floating Paspalum. This is found in swamps; culm one to three feet long, wit! creeping or floating base, from which it ascends and branches bearing numerous racemed spikes. 10. P. UNDULATUM, Purple Paspalum, grows on rich culti- vated grounds one to three feet high, bearing two to twelve spreading spikes two or three inches long; the small spikelcti crowded in three or four rows under the flat rachis; the usually deep green leaves and sheaths often become purple. Two other species are found ' in Florida. For cultivation the following are specially desirable : P. Iceve, P. undulatum an< P. ciliatifolium for dry uplands, slants and moist or dry bottoms P. prcecox flourishes in the same conditions, better perhaps wit! more water; and P. racemulomm in dry, sandy soil, but wil succeed well on better, moister land. They come in bloom ir the following order from May to September ; P. pracox, ciliati- folium, Iceve, racemulosum, undulatum; and they continue to bloon: from two to four months each, making a fine succession foi pasture ; for which I would sow a mixture of all these. There would be no objection to sowing several of them, 01 even all for mowing and the mowing should be repeated ai proper intervals, allowing some seeds to mature before each mowing to ensure a full setting next year, although all these have perennial roots. The stubble may be plowed under in the fall or in the spring or replowed and harrowed in the spring; the latter plan perhaps insuring a better crop than leaving the land unbroken from year to year. !li- '.- ' I ffl'V ; ,'- ! r > .,'!!?..< it, ,;/ PANICUM. 1. P. SANGUINALE, Crab Grass. Every planter is familiar with this widely disseminated, nat- uralized foreigner, which has won many a hard contest against man and beast with plow and hoe, forcing the man with wearied brain and exhausted muscle to gain his bread in the sweat of his face with many a Thomsonian sweat forsooth from top to toe. Yet I have seen a crop (many of them,) of this grass har- vested worth more than the corn that could be produced on the same ground. I have seen corn fields and cotton fields of a wet season so overrun with this grass that in May, June, July or August, ten days' work with mowers and horse-rakes would se- cure in choice hay two to ten fold more value, than many months 7 labor with teams and machinery and heavy expenses AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 89 could obtain from the cotton or corn. Mowing among corn ridges is indeed rough work. But I have seen a mower that worked admirably and cut the grass all perfectly by running across the ridges. It is impossible with any mower to do satis- factory work running with the rows. When the corn crop is good and early matured and the grass late, the former may be harvested ; and the mower may then be used as above, cutting stalks and grass ; or if desirable the stalks may be first cut with hoes and removed. When I had no mow- ers, I found the grass scythe a valuable implement for cutting this grass. Cutting with the hoe and pulling by hand, as many do, gather too much dftt with the hay. This grass makes an excellent hay of which live stock are very fond, preferring it to the best northern hays. Mr. Collier's analysis gives, for crab grass : Oil, 2.87 Amylaceous cellulose, 24.29 Wax, .02 Alkali extract, 3.87 Sugars, 9.88 Albuminoids, 9.99 Gum and dextrin, 5.60 Ash, 10.68 Cellulose, 32.80 100.00 FOR ASH. Potassium, 6.67 Phosphoric acid, 6.40 Potassium oxide, 33.56 Silicic acid, 30.93 Calcium oxide. 4.40 Chlorine, 6.04 Magnesium oxide, 7.98 Sulphuric acid, 4.02 100.00 This grass varies much in size and other respects according to soil and season. Stems have been measured seven feet long; but it is usually two to four feet, and may yield one to two tons of sweet delicious hay per acre. It should be cut as soon as in bloom ; and often two mowings may be made in a season. Any good piece of ground that has had this grass matured on it the preceding year may be plowed and harrowed smoothly and then rolled in May ; and it will soon be covered with a rich growth. If the season favor, two mowings should be made. For a number of years I pursued another plan also with much satisfaction. A piece of land that had matured plenty of crab grass seed was prepared and in the fall sowed with spotted me- . dick (sometimes called yellow, burr, or California clover) for winter and spring pasture, without any thought of the grass. As usual, the medick having matured seed, died in May. Im- mediately crab grass came up very thick. This mowed in July and August and again in October. This process was repeated for a number of years without reseeding, or any other work than mowing the grass. The second cutting yielded not over half as 90 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES much hay as the earlier one, but it was of the choicest quality. The medick seemed to replace the elements removed by the hay crop, the last year yielding as much hay as any preceding. The medick was never mowed, but grazed from December till April ; after which it covered the ground very densely > maturing seed promptly, which after removing the hay in the fall sprang up for winter pasture. This process was continued till the land was required for another purpose. See pages 3 and 4 for a fuller account. Crab grass is excellent for summer pasture also; and with many bad managers it comes as a God-spnd to eke out a short corn supply for work animals, saving their lives from May to August and thus saving the growing crop. 2. P. VIRGATTJM, Tall smooth Panic grass. This is called also switch grass; and in August and Septem- ber the stem attains a height of two to seven feet, being crowned with a large, diffuse, open panicle. On sandy, moist soil it thrives well, yields considerable forage and is nutritious if cut young. A number of stems rise from each clump. Its proxi- mate principles vary considerably in different localities as is manifest from the following analyses made by Mr. Collier of samples from Texas and Alabama : Texas. Alabama. Oil, 1.25 1.75 Wax, .45 .17 Sugars, 7.05 9.61 Gum and dextrin, 3.37 3.02 Cellulose, 37.38 28.87 Amylaceous cellulose 27.59 25.94 Alkali extract, 13.06 22.50 Albuminoids, 5.01 4.58 Ash, 4.84 3.56 100.00 100.00 ASH ANALYSIS. Potassium, 3.36 1.54 Potassium oxide, 18.76 22.53 Sodium, 1.22 1.74 Calcium oxide, 7.87 7.39 Magnesium oxide, 3.63 7.98 Sulphuric acid, 3.56 5.29 Phosphoric acid, 5.50 4.37 Silicic acid, 51.17 45.10 Chlorine, 4.93 4.06 100.00 100.00 AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 91 This grass is valuable on the soil mentioned above and is per- ennial. 3. P. FILIFORME, Slender Crab Grass. This plant grows well on dry sandy soil, is about two feet high, very slender, has little foliage and is consequently of no great agricultural value although very common. Still Mr. Col- lier's analysis is appended : Oil, 1.29 Amylaceous cellulose, 29.96 Wax, .25 Alkali extract, 23.19 Sugars, 5.89 Albuminoids, 3.32 Gum ahd dextrin, 4.67 Ash, 4.65 Cellulose, 26.78 . 100.00 ASH. Potassium, 13.41 Phosphoric acid, 6.37 Potassium oxide, 12.98 Silicic acid, 40.36 Calcium oxide, 4.69 Chlorine, 12.17 Magnesium oxide, 5.18 Sulphuric acid, 4.84 100.00 4. P. ANCEPS, Double-headed, Variable Panic Grass. This perennial is very common on tenacious, damp, sterile soils, the flat stems rising from one to four feet high ; the radi- cal leaves abundant, soon tough, eaten by cattle and horses, but not when they can get better, tenderer forage. It forms strong- ly rooted, spreading clumps, often completely carpeting the ground with very pretty, glossy, light green, assurgent foliage. 5. P. AMARUM, Bitter Panic Grass. This perennial is very common on sandy lands, and especially about streams. It is too bitter and otherwise unpleasant to be relished by cattle and is eaten by them only when they can do no better. 6. P. CAPILLARE, Hair-stalked panic, or Old Witch Grass. This annual grows preferably on sandy lands, but is found in old fields and poor cultivated lands all over the United States. The culms rise one or two feet high, bearing a few scattered seed on capillary wide spreading branches. The stems are frag- ile when dry, and the panicles are often seen floating high up in the air, landing in trees, houses, streams, ponds etc. Often the wind breaking them off where a field is covered with them, rolls them along and piles up against fences and hedges to a height of several feet ; and sometimes they fill up gullies and cuts in roads. But the branches although so slender are rigid and rough, so that they pack so loosely that one might pass through a pile of them at night almost without being aware of 92 K Alt Al .Eli'S BOOK OF GRASSES its presence. This grass, especially the hairy varieties is utter- ly useless for cattle. 7. P. DIVERGENS, Autumn Pan ie grass. This perennial is very common on dry sandy lands and old fields,, growing about a foot high. Cattle eat it when they can find nothing better ; but it is worth little. 8. P. VERUCCOSUM, Warty Panic Grass. This perennial is found in swamps. The culms are from two to four feet long, very slender, smooth and branched. The glumes are rough with minute warts. This grass is worth little. 9. P. LATIFOLIUM, Broad-leaved Panic Grass. This perennial grows twelve to eighteen inches high in moist or dry, rich wooded lands; with leaves an inch or more wide and three or four inches long. It bears repeated grazing from May onward and cattle relish it. But it grows too scattering to be profitable in cultivation. 10. P. CLANDESTINUM, Hidden-flowered Panic Grass. This valuable perennial is similar to, and grows intermixed with the last. It is later and the stems one to three feet high, very leafy and with axillary branches; the panicles lateral and terminal, small and more or less hidden in the sheaths; the leaves one inch or more wide and three to six inches long. 11. P. PANCIFLORUM, Few-flowered Panic Grass. This grass grows one or two feet high in swamps and bogs and is of little value. 12. P. VISCIDUM, Sticky Panic Grass. This soft, densely velvety, downy grass grows one to four lect high in wet swamps and bogs ; stems very leafy and much branched, varies very much. It is of little value. 14. P. DICHOTOMUM, Polymorphous Panic Grass. This perennial growing in swamps, woods, fields, every sort of place from a half foot to three feet high is very variable in stems, panicles, branches, leaves, down, hairs etc. Stock eat it; but it is not very valuable. 14. P. GLABRUM, Smooth Panic Grass. This is common in pastures and .along road-sides, resembles P. sanguinale in general appearance, but is smaller and not hairy, nor so much relished by cattle. 15o P. OBTUSUM, Obtuse flowered Panic Grass. This grass, found in Texas, New Mexico aud South Amer- ica, is described as "similar in appearance to the P. Texanum, but lower and less vigorous in growth, with narrower panicles, and narrower, smoother leaves/' Ag. Dept., II. 1878. Mr. Collier's analysis annexed shows its nutritive value about equal to that of Texas millet. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 93 Oil, 1.77 Amylaceous cellulose, 24.21 Wax, .50 Alkali extract, 8.75 Sugars, 9.68 Albuminoids, 7.28 Gum and dextrin, 5.74 Ash, 8.75 Cellulose, 33.32 100.00 ASH. Potassium, 4.62 Phosphoric acid, 5.18 Potassium oxide, 21.65 Silicic acid, 48.60 Calcium oxide, 5.91 Chlorine, 4.20 Magnesium oxide, 3.13 .. ... ^ Sulphuric acid. 6.71 100.00 16. P. PROLIFERTJM, Prolific, or Sprouting Crab Grass, in favorable, moist situations, with many creepir ^sterns rooting at the joints, throws up a large number of thick; "succulent, ten- der, sweet, geniculate, much branched stems from three to sev- en feet high, with lateral and terminal, diffuse panicles. The broad leases and panicles vary in length from six inches to two feet. It grows vigorously from mid-summer till frost; admit- ting several mowings and yielding a large quantity of excellent, but somewhat coarse hay, requiring, as alLsucculent large plants, care and time to cure well. Horses and cattle eat it ravenously at all times, green or dry. I esteem it as a very valuable grass and worthy of much attention. Although naturally pre- ferring river and creek bottoms and even brackish marshes, yet it grows luxuriantly on hill sides and tops, and late in the fall in moist cultivated fields. Where cattle have free access to it at all times, they keep it eaten so closely as not to allow seeds to mature. It should not only be protected, but cultivated as more valuable and much more promising than many other forage plants of inferior worth now receiving great attention and care. It delights in and needs rich land, as do all very valuable for- age grasses. 17. P. TEXANUM, Texas Panic Grass is perhaps the most beautiful of all the many species of Panicum. In habit it is much like crab grass, more branched, with more abundant and broader leaves the latter |- to 1 inch wide and six to eight inches long. The whole plant is tender, nutritious and highly relished in both green and dry state by live stock. Its growth is luxuriant and rapid, the stems attaining a length of three to five feet and the yield of forage is very large. The analysis made by Mr. Collier as published in the Agricultural Depart- ment Report for 1878 is as follows : Oil, 1.98 Amylaceous cellulose, 20.64 Wax, .56 Alkali extract, 18.43 Sugars, 12.49 Albuminoids, 5.61 Gum and dextrin, 5.98 Ash, 6.63 Cellulose, 27.68 1DOJOO 94 FAKMEK'S BOOK OF GRASSES ANALYSIS OF ASH. \ Potassium, 4.54 Sulphuric acid, 4.63 Potassium oxide, 27.95 Phosphoric acid, 8.48 Sodium, 1.58 Silicic acid, 34.31 Calcium oxide, 7.39 Chlorine, 6.55 Magnesium oxide, 4.57 100.00 In the same report, Mr. Pryor Lea of Goliad, Texas, is quoted: "I consider it far superior to any grass that I ever saw for hay. It is a much more certain crop than millet, and cultivated with less labor, and all kinds of stock prefer it. I expect to report a good second crop on the same ground this year. In this re- gion this gras^'j in the condition of well-cultured hay, is regard- ed as more nutritious than any other grass. It grows only in cultivated land ; it prospers best in the warmest fourth of the year; its luxurious growth subdues other grasses and some weeds, with the result of leaving the ground in an ameliorated condi- tion." The experiments of the present writer and others in Missis- sippi confirm the above statements substantially of Mr. Lea, ex- cept* that it is subdued by some other grasses. Our hardy crab grass (Panicum sanguinale) especially resists successfully the permanent establishment of its Texan relative. Where the seeds are sown on well prepared ground free from other grass seeds, the plant comes well up to Mr. Lea's statement. But we, with others, have had to abandon it, reluctantly it is true, where other grasses overpower it, in districts noted for fine forage in great variety and perfection of growth. In some of our prairie country, however, and some other portions free from other gras- ses, it must be a very valuable crop. Since the foregoing was written, I find that Prof. S. B. Buck- ley first published a description of this grass in his Preliminary Report of the Geographical and Agricultural Survey of Texas in 1866. I think this grass so important that I quote his de- scription : "Culms erect or subdecumbent, terete, smooth ; sheaths shorter than the internodes, subpubescent, and at their mouths hairy ; upper portion of the internodes and joints pubes- cent ; leaves six to ten inches long and eight to ten lines broad, long acuminate, under surface subpubescent; panicle compress- ed, five to eight inches long and five to seven Cinches broad; rays alternate, erect, lower glume ovate, acute, one-half shorter than the floret, five nerved ; upper one seven nerved, acute, hy- aline, between the nerves subpubescent, longer than and cover- ing the floret. Several stems often grow from the same root, steins sparingly branched, seed numerous and aggregated. "Common in the vjcinitv of Austin, Texas, where it is often cut for hay, for which it is highly esteemed, because it is relish- AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS* 95 ed and eaten eagerly by both horses and cattle. It grows thick and very rapidly, one or two months being sufficient to bring it to maturity enough for hay. It should be cut before the seed is fully ripe. It is said that it will yield sometimes two tons to the acre. Here it is generally permitted to grow in the corn fields, where it springs up in June after the corn is laid by. It is of sufficient maturity to be cut from the middle to the last of August. The corn is often gathered, the stalks pulled, and then the grass is cut with a machine. It thrives best on the Colorado bottom lands, yet I have seen it growing on poor up- land soil, but it was dwarfed at least one-hal "It spreads very rapidly. Those who have a suitable soil can easily propagate it by scattering a few of its seeds in a corn field. It is an annual, hence I do not think it will be hard for those to eradicate who do not wish to continue its cultivation. 77 This is no doubt the same grass mentioned in the Tallahassee Floridian as quoted in the Southern Cultivator for 1879 page 415, thus: "We have been shown a specimen of the Concho grass, grown by R. C. Long, Esq., of this place, from seed brought by him from Texas, which certainly comes nearer offer- ing* all the desired qualities of pasture and forage plants than any we have ever seen. 77 He adds that on the Colorado bot- toms, many of the farmers "have devoted their farms entirely to its production, finding it more profitable than corn or cotton. * * * We understand that in Texas, this grass is cut twice, and some- times three times a year, yielding about oine and a half tons per acre at a cutting. The stubble is very heavy, and improves land almost equally with clover." Further experience will no doubt show that the last statement is erroneous ; and this will the sooner appear on hill or other lands not subject to overflow. 18. P. AGROSTIS, Agrostis-like Panic Grass, Munro Grass. For a few years this grass has been experimented with by a number of planters in most of the southern States. Never hav- ing grown it, I give from the Southern Cultivator for 1879, pages 425, 426, Mr. Geo. C. W. Munro 7 s account of it. "The grass I discovered in 1875, has been experimented with more than ever before ; and from every State I receive favora- ble reports of it. G. W. Brown, Mineola, Texas, writes, Sep- tember 1st., that it is seven feet high, still growing luxuriantly. W. F. Rowell, Lodi, Miss., writes, September 16th., that all the seed I sent him germinated, and grew oft finely, but that it was so late he feared he would not be able to save seed, as they had just begun to make their appearance. His grass was six feet high. Himself and neighbors were well pleased with it. 96 FARMER'S BOOK OF Dr. J. H. Watkins, Palmetto^ Ga., writes that it is four feet high, and began seeding September 12, had stood a five weeks' drought without wilting, while crab grass and corn were badly parched up "In order that the public may have all the benefit of my ex- perience with this grass, I have concluded to tell what I know about it in your columns. I have, this year, set one and one- half acres in the plants on land badly worn and cleared about seventy-five years ; but a portion of it has been used as a cow- pen, and planted in potatoes, sugar cane, wheat, oats and, last year, in cotton, producing at the rate of one-half bale per acre. This year it was broken deeply, and manured with compost of cotton [seed?] and stable manure, two pounds each to one of Merry man's ammoniated guano, at the rate of 1,000 Ibs. per acre, put in the drill and bedded on with long narrow scooter plough, run very deep, rows nearly three feet apart. The plants were set about eighteen inches apart, about the first of April; received two plo wings and two hoeings; was cut 18th. July. One row thoroughly dried and weighed by several of my neighbors and land measured ; yield ascertained in that way 15,842 Ibs. per acre. The test row was under an average, if any thing. Although there had been no rain since July 29th., the grass began putting out and, in four weeks, it was about four feet high, and should have been cut again in five weeks, but I let it stand eight ; and although I made good hay I had much trouble with it, as the weather was cloudy and occasionally a light shower. "Yield the last cutting 7,928 Ibs using two rows instead of one as test rows. One was the row used in first cutting. It had several pounds less than the other, and the other was far inferior to some both upon the whole about an average. To- tal yield per acre, 23,870 Ibs. I should have broadcasted the manure instead of putting it in the drill. I should have had the rows 2 feet apart instead of 3, and the plants 12 instead ot 18 inches. It ^should have been cut at least 10 days or two weeks earlier the first time and 3 weeks earlier the second. I would, m the same space of time that I got two cuttings, have gotten three, and fourth full of seed 1st. of November, the yield of hay would have been greater, the quality better, and the time required in curing lessened. For grazing purposes for cows, and work oxen I do not think it has an equal at the sea- son of year it is on hand. Cattle are more fond of it than any other grass so are hogs. Horses and mules prefer crab grass, but will eat the other when they can not get the crab. A patch can be continued indefinitely, by taking stock off in time for it to ripen its seeds. "The seed should be planted in our latitude in January, and if set out, it should be done as soon as the plants get 3 or 4 inch- es high. AND OTHEE FOEAGE PLANTS. 97 "To sum up, the grass is an anntial begins to seed in Sep- tember. Can be cut and fed green or cured for hay. Stock are as fond of the hay as they are of corn fodder. It can be used for grazing, soiling, or any other way that any other grass can. It begins to come up in latitude 32J about the 1st. of March, or a few days earlier if weather is moderate. Makes fine feed for cattle and horses, stands drought well, and has made with a 3 weeks' drought in May and 5 weeks 7 drought in July and Au- gust, nearly 12 tons of well cured hay. Seed are difficult to save, but the grass will seed the land wherever it grows, as crab grass does. It requires very rich land and abhors the shade." In August, 1880, I received from Mr. Munro, a letter fully reaffirming the above statements. He now says that horses pre- fer the hay to corn fodder. On rich land it will bear cutting four or five times for soiling if weather favors, or three times for hay. He thinks he can produce 30,000 pounds of hay per acre by heavy manuring. He sows the seed in January or Feb- ruary on a rich garden bed and transplants when the plants are four' inches high, the ground being sufficiently moist. He dis- covered a single bunch of this grass in his garden in 1875, and started with the seed saved from it. A letter received^at the same time from Mr. Rowell confirms the statements of Mr. Munro. He u had last year nine rows for- ty steps long, which was cut the last of July, cured three days, and made two wagon loads, all that a good yoke of oxen could pull, at least 3,000 pounds. It will seed as soon with as with- out cutting." This is not a new grass. It grows naturally on wet lands, two or three feet high ; but in cultivation grows much larger on rich land suited to corn. The stems are flattened, erect ; leaves long with smooth sheaths ; the purplish spikelets crowded, one-sided, on the spreading branches. The resemblance of red top in color and general appearance of the panicle gives the specific name. By saving sufficient seed, one need not have the trouble of transplanting ; and by broadcasting, no doubt, a better hay could be produced not so coarse. This grass is perennial further north ; but it is not the only one that has changed in this regard in lower latitudes. Nor is it the only one that has shown like astonishing development under cultiva- tion. 19. P. CEUS-GALLI, (Oplismenus of Beauvois,) CockVfoot Grass. This grass is called also barn-yard grass, and other names. It is very widely distributed in Asia, Europe and A- merica and varies very much in size, in leaves, stems, sheaths and panicles, even in localities not very remote one from anoth- er. It is found perfect in all its characteristic parts in speci- mens that never exceed three inches in height as well as those of seven feet. The spikes range from a few lines to four inches 98 FARMER'S BOOK OF G in length, with or without abundant stiff hairs ; the sheaths may be smooth or covered with hairs ; and the palets with long awns, or with none. The panicle too varies much in color. The plant is annual with many stems, arising from a common base, each bearing a long panicle with a large quantity of seed which readily fall off even before fully matured. It luxuriates in rich, moist soils. In Louisiana, Mississippi, and some other States it is mowed annually. Some farmers assure me that they harvest four or fi ve tons of hay per acre. It may be cut twice each season by making the first mowing as soon as it begins to bloom. I know no one who plants it; but it annually reseeds the ground and requires no cultivation, or other care, save protection from live stock and the labor of harvesting. Being a coarse grass, with long leaves and large succulent stems, it requires care to cure well. In one county in Missis- sippi, hundreds of acres are annually mowed on single farms. Cows and horses are very fond of it whether green or dry. Farmers who have tested it most thoroughly for many years, prefer it to the best corn-fodder. I have been assured by some that on substituting this hay for corn-fodder, their work ani- mals immediately show decided improvement and require less corn. To make the best hay, it must be cut when in bloom. Cut later the awns and woody fibre become unpalatable and less digestible ; and much of the nutritive matter is lost by shat- tering off the seeds. The Ag. Dept. Report for 1878 gives Mr. Collier's analysis of the plant and ash. ANALYSIS OF PLANT. Oil, Wax, Sugars, Gum and dextrin, Cellulose, Potassium, Potassium oxide, Sodium, Sodium oxide, Calcium oxide, Magnesium oxide, 1.54 .57 13.87 5.07 32.27 Amylaceous cellulose, Alkali extracts, Albuminoids, Ash, 21.37 11.03 4.14 10.14 ASH ANALYSIS. Sulphuric acid, Phosphoric acid, Silicic acid, Chlorine, 100.00 3.69 4.27 42.18 11.48 100.00 Cultivation and well prepared land would greatly improve this grass. 20. P. JUMENTOEUM, Guinea Grass. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 99 The name Guinea grass has often been applied to Johnson Grass, (Sorghum halapense) which see on a subsequent page. The latter matures seed in the United States, virile the former seldom does even in Florida. The Guinea grass therefore must be propagated by dividing the clumps or from seed imported from tropical climates, usually from Jamaica. The tussocks may be divided and set out any time of year when the ground is moist enough and the temperature of the air not lower than 40 F. But the best time to set is late in March and through April. If set in April after the ground becomes warm, the plants are up in a few days and by the last of May ready for the first mowing ; which with favorable weather may be repeat- ed about every six weeks till frost kills it down. The roots are very easily killed by cold and must be protect- ed like sugar cane roots in winter. This cannot well be done by throwing earth on, unless it is kept like sugar cane in rows. On hill Ian d I have succeeded best in preserving sugar cane ratoons by covering with the cane tops and fodder. It is prob- able that the Guinea grass roots might be protected in a similar manner by taking off no grass later than August and then mow- ing just before frost, or in October and leaving the grass as it falls on the ground. It is too tender to grow at any great dis- tance from the gulf shore ; but by protection might be cultiva- ted successfully in the southern portion of all the gulf States. The subjoined analysis of Mr. Collier shows this grass to be more nutritious than many others, so that with its immense product of hay it is very valuable, especially near the sea shore and on the sandy lands where other good grasses do not thrive. ANALYSIS OF PANICUM JUMENTORUM. Oil, 1.27 Amylaceous cellulose, 16.30 Wax, .31 Alkali extract, 22.60 Sugars, 5.93 Albuminoids, 8.95 Gum and dextrin, 4.51 Ash, 8.37 Cellulose, 31.76 100.00 ANALYSIS OF ASH. * Potassium, 8.57 Phosphoric acid, 4.37 Potassium oxide, 35.93 Silicic acid, 16.51 Calcium oxide, 10.18 Chlorine, . 7.77 Magnesium oxide, 14.16 Sulphuric acid, 2.51 100.00 Although this grass will do well on rather poor sandy land, it does much better on richer or fertilized land. Wherever it has had proper care the crop is enormous and satisfactory. A 100 I'AKMKK'H BOOK OF Git ASSES tropical grass originally from Africa, it is now grown largely in the East and West Indies. In Jamaica it is held next to su- gar in value of crop, a single farmer producing five thousand dollars worth per annum of the hay. Propagated to any de- sired extent by rapid increase of tillers it is esteemed in Florida and other parts of the south as a first class forage plant. Cat- tle eat it with avidity, green or dry. Mr. C. Codrington, a former resident of the island of Jamai- ca, settled some ten years ago in Florida. Finding the condi- tions adapted to the growth of Guinea grass, he ordered seeds from Jamaica and planted in 1872. Other persons also in oth- er States had obtained seeds and roots from the same source at various times for fifty years previous to his coming to Florida. But the earlier plantings had finally disappeared. Others since Mr. C. have also imported seed. Mr. C. says he never saw working mules get grain of any kind in Jamaica; and if offered to them they refused to eat it although hard worked, and fed on Guinea grass only. Mr. James Johnson of Mullet Creek, Florida, received seed from Jamaica and says : "It is a coarse grass, and very sweet. My cattle and horses feed upon it with great avidity, preferring it to all and every other grass, and it certainly makes a rich and nutritious pasture. With this grass I believe Florida, with its mild and pleasant climate, might be made one of the finest grazing States in the union." Much more testimony ot the same character could be adduced. This grass revolutionized farming^ in Jamaica; districts, barren and not susceptible of cultivation previous to the accidental introduction of this grass, because the most profitable parts of the island, producing as- tonishing numbers of fine live stock for home use and for export. This grass need cause no anxiety in regard to its introduction. It has not the cane-like roots of the Johnson grass and is easily exterminated. In fact it requires some care to a^oid losing it outside the tropics, as the experience of many persons has proved in our southern States. Yet it is worthy of trial on a large scale on our poorer sandy lands in the southern districts of the gulf States. It tillers so rapidly and abundantly that each plant may be separated into many parts a number of times each year sometimes a single root will supply over fifty new plants at one time. 21. P. MILJ.ACEUM, Common Millet. This is the 'common millet/ 'cultivated millet/ 'millet com- mun ? of authors. The genus, as shown under the head The Millets, has been cultivated from very early times, (being the dochan of Ezekiel,) in all the countries from Southern India to Central Europe : and later in Western Europe. It was brought from India .to England in 1596, and has been long known to a AND OTHER FORAGE- Fi^TOsS' '>>'' J X J >/>\ \ , VlOl limited extent in the United States. There are several varie- ties of it, founded on difference of color of the panicle or seed. On good land, it attains a height of three to six feet, resembles dwarf broom corn, produces much foliage and a panicle of which the branches heavily loaded with seed all incline to the same side. For feeding stock it should be cut, like the setaria, when in bloom. It is then tender, digestible and very nutritious, and may reach seventy bushels per acre if well cultivated. In order to show something of German industry, methods and careful^ culture, we make a few extracts from the celebra- ted Thaer's great work, "Principles of Agriculture." Though of humble birth, his fame became so great that his friendship was sought by the most celebrated agriculturists of England, France, Denmark, Germany ; almost all the great sovereigns of Europe complimented him on his great success; those of Prus- sia, Russia, Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria and Wurtemburg sent him their orders of knighthood ; and noblemen from all parts of the world came to visit him, especially from England. He writes : "The common millet is preferred as having the largest grain ; and the German millet as being least liable to shed its grain, as ripening more quickly, and as not being so much robbed by birds. The cultivation required by both is the same or nearly so. "Millet requires a warm, rich, sandy, well pulverized soil. It succeeds better when sown after some crop which has been abundantly manured than it does when sown after an amelior- ation of undecomposed manure. "A soil must be tilled to a great depth for its reception, and plowed three times, besides being harrowed, rolled and thor- oughly freed from weeds. Many farmers dig their ground to a great depth previously to sowing it with this plant ; but a good plowing answers the purpose equally well. Millet is in gener- al very successful on newly drained land, provided that it is in good condition, and also land which has been left in repose for several years. In the latter case a single plowing is sufficient, if the soil is subsequently harrowed and well broken up with a roller before the seed is put into it. "Millet should be sown in May ; about three metzen of seed is the quantity usually used per acre ; a harrow then is lightly passed over the soil, and where the ground is dry, a roller also must be used. The seed must be thoroughly ripe, perfect and free from disease. "As soon as weeds make their appearance among the millet which is just shooting above ground, they must be eradicated by weeding. This is absolutely necessary, if we would not en- danger the success of the crop ; and can only be dispensed with where the land has only lately been drained and brought into 1.02 ;KARfcrlE&'s BOOK OF GRASSES cultivation, and consequently has few or no indigenous weeds. It is on this account that millet can seldom be cultivated to any great extent. One weeding is rarely sufficient for it ; for, if the soil is at all disposed to produce weeds, it will require a second, if not a third each one following about a fort-night or three weeks after the other. "The best way is to tear up the weeds with hand rakes con- structed for the purpose ; this mode of proceeding answers far better than hand weeding, as by its means not only all the weeds may be eradicated, but the supernumerary plants may be thin- ned off. The effect of this cultivation on the success and vege- tation of the crop is wonderful; after it the millet shoots up so rapidly that the weeds seldom have time to grow again, or, if they do, it is in small numbers, and they may easily be pulled up. "Great attention is requisite to seize on the exact moment at which the plant attains maturity, especially with common mil- let, which ripens very unequally, and is very liable to shed its seed. This evil is, however, much less to be feared where the crop has been cultivated, and thinned in the way we have men- tioned. Those who cultivate millet only in patches, cut off the spikes as they ripen, and carry them home in sacks; but as this can be done only where the plant is cultivated but little, the reaping must be commenced as soon as the greater part of the plants are ripe, and performed with great care with a sickle. "This plant must not be left on the ground in swaths, be- cause if rain comes on, and it gets wetted, it sheds its grain. It should, on the contrary, be immediately carried to the barns and there threshed, and freed fk>m all impurities and foreign substances as much as possible. The grain should then be spread in very thin layers over the floor and stirred about ev- ery day with a rake until perfectly dry, otherwise it will become heated and bitter. The straw is tied up even though moist, and carried into the air to be dried ; if not properly dried it will become mouldy on being stacked. This straw is much es- teemed as provender for cattle. "Although when cultivated to any great extent it is not pos- sible to cut ofl the ears separately as they ripen, it is worth while to gather all those is this manner which will be required for seed. Grain which ripens thoroughly, and of which proper care has been taken, shoots up evenly, and produces perfect plants, free from disease, and especially from smut, which fre- quently manifests itself in this grain where proper precautions have not been taken. The portion of millet which is intended for seed should bejjpreserved in some place through which there is a free circulation of air, and where it can become perfectly dry ; it should be threshed when wanted. The best way of free- ing millet from its husk is by making use of mills somewhat re- AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 103 sembling fulling-mills, which beat it with sticks or hammers. "Millet is well known to be a very nutritious grain ; in most countries it forms an article of rice. Consequently its price generally bears a relative proportion to that of rice. " Millet also is cultivated as fodder; it is then sown more thickly, and mown as soon as its panicles are developed." Pp. 428-9. The three 'metzen' are equal to about three pecks, and contain about the quantity of seed to sow per acre. This common mil- let may be sown here any time from April 10th, to July, perhaps later. None of the millets, indeed no other plants, receive so much cultivation in this country as in Germany or Prussia. Thaer's remarks on maturing and saving and preserving seeds are specially valuable ; cmd if generally practiced, we should have better stands, more vigorous, healthy growth, and larger, heavier, sounder crops of all kinds. Prof. Flint says of this grass : "It is one of the best crops we have for cutting and feeding green for soiling purposes, since its yield is large, its luxuriant leaves juicy and tender, and much relished by milch cows and other stock. "The seed is rich in nutritive qualities, but it is seldom ground or used for flour, though it is said to exceed all other kinds of meal or flour in nutritive elements. An acre well cultivated will yield from sixty to seventy bushels of seed. Cut in the blossom, as it should be, for feeding to cattle, the seed is com- paratively valueless. If allowed to ripen its seed, the stalk is no more nutritious, probably, than oat straw. "Millet requires a good soil, and is rather an exhausting crop, but yields a produce valuable in proportion to the richness of the soil, and care and expense of cultivation." The seeds weigk forty pounds to the bushel. 22. P. GIBBUM, grows in low, wet lands. 23. P. DIVARICATUM, Small Cane, found in the Gulf States. Both perennial natives and perhaps one or two more of these Panic grasses possess considerable value ; but they cannot be cultivated profitably and need no special attention. THE MILLETS. Having made a caretul study of this subject, in 1877, in the New Orleans Picayune, I published an account of many of the plants that have received this name. I here present some ex- tracts from that account which run through three numbers of the Picayune. This word is so comprehensive, is applied to so many plants widely differing both in appearance and botanical characters, there is so much confusion in the use of the word, and the sub- ject is so important that it will be proper, and even necessary, 104 FAKMEH'H BOOK OF to enter into some historical investigation and details, in order, if possible, to dissipate the confusion and relieve the subject of its embarrassments. Let us see, first, what the two great American dictionaries say :Webster gives " Millet, [Fr., millet, or mil; It., miglio; Sp., mijo; L., milium; Sax., mil]. 1. A plant or the grain of a plant, of the genus Holcus, or Sorghum, having a stalk re- sembling a jointed reed, and classed by botanists among the grasses. Various species are used as food for men and animals, but the Indian millet is the most common. The species arc mostly natives' of warm climates. P. Cyc. 2. Millet grass, or millet, a hardy grass of the genus Milium, of several species. Farm encyc. Worcester tells us, Millet, [L. milium ; It. miglio ; Fr. mil, or millet A. S. mil, millet]. (Bot.) A genus of tall grasses, with succulent stems, native of the tropical parts of Asia ; Sor- ghum. Eng. Cyc. The species have been referred to Holcus, sometimes to An- dropogon. Sorghum vulgare is the largest of the small cereal grains, and may be considered the representative of the Indian corn of America, where it is usually called Guinea corn, and in some works, the great or Indian millet. Eng. Cyc. Millet grass, a genus of grasses, of several species ; milium. London. However correct these definitions may be, the two "unabrid- ged" dictionaries and the four encyclopedias quoted by them certainly aiford little mfprmation touching anything known as millet in our southern States. A number of other dictionaries and encyclopedias are equally unsatisfactory. As no one will be apt to mistake the milium, or millet grass of the last sentence of each of the definitions, for what we call millet, it may be ex- cluded from further notice in this investigation. The earliest mention of millet that I remember is found in Ezekiel, iv, 9, in the year 595 B. C. In the Hebrew it is do- khan or dochan and identical with the Arabic dukhun. It is rendered in the Greek of the LXX kegchros, Latinized cen- chrus. The Latin Vulgate has it milium ; Diodati's Italian, miglio ; MiguePs Spanish, mijo ; Luther's German, hirsen ; the French, Paris edition 180, millet. Modern botanists do not apply the names cenchrus and mil- kb>m to the same plants to which they were applied in the above and other ancient writers ; so that the common reader gains but little additional knowledge here. Pliny (XVIII, 7,) says : " As touching the millet, the head thereof bearing seed roundabout, is bent likewise and curbed, beset also with fringes (as it were) of hairy fillets." This seems best to describe what for centuries has been known in Europe as "common millet" (Panicuin miliacenm), mentioned on page 100. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 105 Herodotus (Clio, cxciii,) speaking of "the Babylonian district/ 7 400 years B. C., says : "The immense height to which millet and sesamum will grow, although I have witnessed it myself, I know not how to mention. I am well aware that they who have not visited this country will deem whatever I may say on the subject a violation of probability/' This also may refer to the "common millet" of Europe, though Herodotus may mean the holcus or sorghum of the dictionaries we have quoted. For I think it very probable that a species of the latter took its name from the locality mentioned by Herod- otus, since Daniel when a prisoner at Babylon (B. C. 580) speaks of the golden image erected on the plain oi Dura, (Dan. in, i.) Forskal applies the name dukhun to a corn grass much lar- ger than the common millet, which he first found at Rosetta; and subsequently he found it commonly cultivated in Arabia, where it attained a height of five cubits, with seeds the size of rice. He calls it holcus dochna, which, probably, is also the sorghum of the dictionaries, or dura, durra, or doura corn, and being more than twice the height of the common millet, agrees with the height of Herodotus's millet. This view is confirmed further by Watson, who says : "It has been supposed that the dochan means what is now called in the East durra, which according to Neighbor, is a sort of millet, and when made into bad bread with camel's milk, oil, butter or grease, is almost the only food which is eaten by the common people of Arabia Felix It is also used in Palestine and Syria, and it is generally agreed that it yields much more than any other kind of grain." Many more authorities might be cited, but not wishing un- necessary accumulations, we think that we have now clearly shown two genera of millets, viz: 1. Common millet, (panicum miliaceum,) and 2. Indian millet, (sorghum vulgare.) Each of these appears in many varieties, and will receive further at- tention in their appropriate places in this book. None of these however, seem to be known to our southern people as millet. A third genus, SETARIA. . The old Panicum Germanicum and P. Italicum, now classed by botanists as 1. S. ITALICA or GERMANICA ; for they seem to be only va- rieties of a single species. They are called Bengal grass, Ital- ian millet, German millet, golden millet, Hungarian millet, etc. The German millet was brought from Southern Europe to En- gland in 1548, and the Italian from India in 1816, where it is called Congue. This German millet or Hungarian grass was 106 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES introduced into France in 1545, and thence into the United States through the Patent Office. Among other seeds ordered from a house in New York were a pound each of Hungarian grass and common millet. Each package had a printed slip pasted on, disclaiming all responsi- bility for genuineness ; although I had ordered expressly for the purpose of arriving at the truth by my own personal obser- vations. Not a seed of either germinated. I ordered seeds for the same purpose from a house at Northport, L. I., also. The Italian millet and Hungarian grass prove to be the same, or so nearly so that very few persons seeing a sheaf of each together would be willing to say they are not the same plant. I sowed other samples from other States with like results. Lastly, I sowed six acres with "seeds of German millet from Missouri, a bushel per acre. It was harvested last week. Among it are fine specimens of German millet, equally good of Italian millet, very much better than that from the Northport Italian millet seed. There are also specimens of golden millet, Hungarian grass etc., all from the same seed all good. It was planted on broom grass sod during a drought, and had no rain till after ready to mow ; consequently, except on half an acre, the stand was very thin. It pays me, however, very well. Finding I would get too much 'dirt and dust by cutting and raking when it was just in bloom in the right stage to be most valuable for forage I purposed waiting a few days for rain, so as to avoid the dust. When the rain came, it was so copious that the ground became too soft to support either team or machine; so I was forced to delay mowing for two weeks, when part of the seeds were in dough. A small plot an eighth of an acre was seed- ed from the same sample by accident. The plot was poor, part with no soil. This produces a good thick stand, but not a stem of "German" or "Italian millet," according to the standard ; only the poorest possible Hungarian grass. Yet I was not disappointed in the result. It simply shows the effect of soil and other influences in producing varieties. By sowing a lot of these seeds from any of the varieties, or whatever called, in two years, by selection of heads and soils, half a dozen distinct .varieties may be established. But on soil of even quality there will be little variation. Any of these va- rieties on good soil should, if the ground be moist, be ready for moving in sixty days from seeding, and produce from two to four tons of hay per acre. It is folly to sow it on poor land. For forage it should be cut as soon as it blooms, when of course it is worth nothing for seed bqt most valuable for forage and exhausts the land much less. If left for the seed to mature they are very abundant and rich feed, but the stems are worth- less, while the soil is more damaged. The matured stems are AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 107 very hard, indigestible and very injurious, and the ripe seeds will founder more promptly than corn and sometimes produce diabetes, if mouldy and too freely used. If cut at the right stage the whole plant is a safe and very valuable forage. Most peo- ple delay cutting too long. It should be carefully and well dried. If suffered to mould, or mildew, or ferment it will become almost worthless, and may even become dangerously unwholesome for. animals. In Hun- gary it is said to be preferred to everything else for feeding horses. It is the Moha de Hongrie of France. For seed it is better sown in drills ; for forage broadcast to prevent the stems growing too large. In 1875, there was a mania for German millet seed, which run them up to $20 a bushel in some locali- ties. In "two years, as predicted, the seed in some localities fell to fifty cents a bushel ; so many, not knowing how to manage it were so sadly disappointed in their expectations of a crop and its value. The German millet grown in Tennessee seems to be the best variety ; the plant is larger and head much longer. It stands drought well, waiting for rain, has a large quantity of succulent leaves relished greatly by all farm stock, and is thought to con- tain a larger proportion of nutritive matter than any of the other so-called millets. For forage it should be sown broad- cast, one bushel per acre. Thick seedings prevent the stems from becoming too large and hard. For seed ten or twelve quarts per acre in drills will suffice. It will grow from one to seven feet high .according to the quality and condition of the land, and yield from one-half to five tons per acre, with as great differen- ces in the appearance of plants as in quantity of forage. For using alone for feeding working animals, I much prefer it to corn, oats, or anything else. I have made many experi- ments with many kinds of feed, but never found anything more satisfactory than German millet alone fed for two months to teams daily working. Another grass classed with the millets is treated on a subse- quent page under the title Penicillaria ; and a fifth under the name Panicum sanguinalej treated on page 88. This last' is the Digitaria sanguinalis of some authors, the manna grass of the Germans. It is sometimes cultivated in Poland for the grain as a substitute for rice, etc., and hence called Polish millet. It seems to thrive there under cultivation about as well as with us in spite of attempts to exterminate it. It is not red or bloody in appearance as might be inferred from its specific name and as taught in some books. The name is said to have been founded on a practice of idle, vicious boys in Germany thrusting the spikes up the nostrils and thus causing a sanguineous flow. We have in the southern States six other uncultivated grasses properly belonging with the Millets, and to the genus Setaria. 108 FAKMEK'S BOOK OF 2. S. SETOSA, Texas Millet, Pigeon grass, Bristle grass. Some years ago I received seeds of this grass from Texas and at first it was mistaken for 8. Italica, which it resembles ii general appearance, though much larger. It has broad, long light leaves and a stem from six to twelve feet or more high bearing cylindrical racemose spikes from eight to thirty inche long, tapering to each end, gracefully nodding, and altogethe making a fine, display. The spike is extremely bristly, am produces a very large quantity of seed, which maturing fro n the top of the spike downward, are constantly dropping fo many days. It is much disposed to'branch at every joint, an< sometimes the branches also send up other branches; an< all these terminate in seed bearing spikes. The whole plant i very light. Mr. Collier's analysis of it gives : oil 1 .05, wax .4i sugars 9.25, gum and dextrin 5.15, cellulose 32.76, amylaceou cellulose 26.41, alkali extract 9.60, albuminoids 8.61, ash 6.71 His analysis of the ash gives: potassium oxide 39.33, sodiun 2.47, sodium oxide 1.18, calcium oxide 2.31, magnesium oxid 1,56, sulphuric acid 3.51, phosphoric acid 3.24, silicic acid 42.5! chlorine 3.81. Although containing so much nutritive matter, none of ixn animals ean be induced to eat it. So that its utility is in th< way of ornament. 3. S. VERTICILLATA, Bristly Foxtail. This foreigner seems at home with us. The stems arc tw< feet high sparingly branched and topped with cylindrical pah green spikes two or three inches long with bristles short, sin gle or in pairs, roughened downwards. All the. following hav< bristles roughened upward. 4. S. GLATJCA, Fox-tail Grass. Stems one to three feet high, branched ; tawny-yellow, o purplish spikes two or three inches long; bristles six to ten ii two clusters, common. 5. S. VIRIDIS, Green Fox-tail, Bottle Grass. Stems one or two feet high ; spike one or two inches long gr,fien; bristles one to thjee to each spikelet. 6. S. CORRUGATA, Wrinkled Fox-tail. Stems two or three feet high ; purple spikes three to six inch es long, compound, dense ; bristles one to each spikelet. 7. S. COMPOSITA, Large Fox-tail Grass. Stems two to four feet long; spikes six to twelve inches long bristles single or in pairs, long. These grasses are widely diifused in fields, commons, alone and in roads and open forests. Some of them afford grazing none are of much value for that purpose. Poultry are fond o the seeds, and they probably serve a similar purpose as those o the German and common millets in increasing the egg crop, foi which the latter are so much esteemed. ANI> OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 109 PENICILLARIA. P. SPICATA, African Cane, Horse, Cat-tail, Egyptian, Ja- pan, East Indian, or Pearl Millet. This grass has been grown to some extent for twenty-five years in many parts of the southern States more largely since 1865. Like all the other millets it should be planted on very rich, well prepared land to obtain the best results. It may be planted in the spring as soon as the ground is sufficiently warm to bring it up promptly, one peck of seed per acre in drills two feet apart, or two pecks broadcast. No crop will pay better or- yield more forage than this on very rich, highly fertilized land. On such land it has been cut on an average every forty-five days from the time of planting till frost, with a reported pro- duct of 80 to 100 tons of green forage, or from 16 to 20 tons of dry hay. At the beginning of the season if the ground is too wet and cold, it starts slowly; but as the temperature rises and more roots are made its growth is more rapid so that it becomes marvellous, increasing from six inches a ^ r eek in the beginning to fifteen or twenty inches a week in the summer the whole number of cuttinirs in the season aggregating a total length of twenty or twenty-five feet. It tillers enormously and produces a large number of broad succulent leaves and sweet, juicy stalks with rather short joints and terminal spikes that resemble in general appearance the common cat-tail growing in southern marshes. Where it grows luxuriantly, it is impossible to cure it for hay on the ground upon which it is grown ; so that it would be im- practicable to make hay of a large field of it sown solid. Hence it must be sown in small patches or in beds with spaces be- tween upon which to spread it when cut. Another serious troub- le would occur in the attempt to cure the grass on the ground where it grew. When cut, it would cover the stubble so deep and be so long curing that much of the latter would be killed and all damaged. These difficulties would occur only on rich land to begin with and then manured with five or ten tons or more of stable manure or its equivalent per acre. But any one can have the crop as light as he chooses, even less than half a ton per acre, by sowing on poorly prepared and exhausted land. It will be readily understood however, that the best plan is to sow small patches on the strongest land on the farm ; for on most farms a small surface of good land would produce enough of the forage whether to use green or dry. To make the best hay, it should be cut before seeding ; for feeding green, it may be cut many times. It should always be cut a few inches (three, or four) above the ground, as new growth will thus be more prompt than when cut close, to the ground. 110 KAKMEK'.S HOOK OF Cattle and horses eat it greedily whether green or dry. If matured for seed before cutting, the stalks become so hard that they are worth no more than stripped, dry corn stalks. Planters, on the bottom lands of the Mississippi river and its tributaries, who buy hay, would find themselves much more cheaply, abundantly and satisfactorily supplied by sowing small lots of this or Johnson grass on their. dryest, richest lands. OENCHRUS. 1. C. TRIBUBULOIDES, Hedgehog, or Bur Grass. This grass, with prostrate stems .one or two feet long, spikes one or two inches long and having tei. or fifteen involucres arm- ed with spreading spines which become a hard burr, is found un the sands along the coasts and at some places many miles inland. 2. C. ECHINATUS, Cock-spur is found in fields and on waste lauds further inland; the stems one or two feet long; spike three or four inches ; involucre purplish, with spines and barb- ed bristles. These are worthless weeds, and the burs with their rigid spines pierce painfully the bare feet of children and have to be removed by the hands or an instrument. STENOTAFHRTJM. S. AMERICANISM, Hard Grass. This perennial evergreen grass makes excellent winter pasture; but it is limited to damp sandy soils along the coast, its culms are creeping, flattened, with erect flowering branches six to twelve inches high ; leaves two to six inches long; spikelets by pairs, one sessile the other pedicelled, sunk in excavations of the flattened rachis. RoTTBCELLIA. V R. RUGGSA, and R. COU'RUGATA. These are found in barrens, swamps and ponds, from two to four feet high, and R. cylindrica in dry sandy soil in Florida and are probably worthless for stock food. MANISURUS GRANULARLS is a foreign grass, one or two feet high, now found in fields and pastures in the southern States, of little value. ANDROPOGON. A. .VIRGIMCUS, Viiginia Beard Grass, Broom Grass. This pla-nt is often called 'broom sedge. 7 But this anomalous compound, word is properly excluded from all dictionaries and is recognized by no standard author. It should find no place AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS, 111 in any language, oral or written ; for each of its components contains a false notion, as the plant does not belong to either th'e broom or the sedge family. It is a true grass. 'Bfoom- tjraftft' is pretty widely used, but a number of other plants have the same name ; hence this is not entirely satisfactory. Besom- grass would be open to none of the objections, but contains an ex- pressive truth. The andropbgom have long rough leaves and solid woody stems. Few of them are of sufficient agricultural value to re- quire notice. The A. Virginicus, however, contains a large quantity of nutritive matters as will be. seen by Mr. Collier's analysis, which follows : t Oil, 1.24 Amylaceous cellulose, 26.32 Wax, .47 Alkali extract, 5.80 Sugars, 7.98 Albuminoids, 13.00 Gum and dextrin, 5.02 Ash, 6.44 Cellulose, 33.72 100.00 ANASYSIS OF ASH. Potassium, 7.01 Phosphoric acid, 2.97 Potassium oxide, 13.93 Silicic acid, 58.33 Calcium oxide, 6.76 Chlorine, 6.37 Magnesium oxide, 1.83 Sulphuric acid, 2.80 100.00 When this grass dries, it may be burned off in the fall; and in the spring the perennial roots send up a new crop of nutri- tious and tender herbage which cattle, horses, etc. relish and eat with much benefit. As soon as the seed stems start, stock eat no more of it. It becomes worthless for grazing or hay. If cut before the stalks start up, it is very easily cured and makes a valuable hay. It is easily damaged by moisture and therefore should not be allowed to take rain or dew after wilting. A few hours' sunshine will cure it and make a better hay than large quantities of some other^dnds sold annually in all our southern markets. It is one of the best materials for the use of nurserymen in packing their trees and plants. Excellent, durable, handsome baskets are made of it also bee-hives. Horse collars and oth- er things are stuffed with it ; and the dried culms, having the leaves and seeds hackled out, are formed into besoms, that are light, pleasant to use and sweep cleaner than the proverbial new broom from the store. The practice of burning off annually the broom grass, wheth- er in fields or forests is very reprehensible. It dissipates the val- uable organic fertilizers which the plant contains and gives op- portunity for the rains to wash away the rich mineral plant food 112 KAKMEK'S BOOK OF GRASSES in the ash, and otherwise damages the soil most seriously. Each acre of it plowed under is worth as much as many tons of home made manure that cost much time to make, haul and -dis- tribute over the land. Plowed under any time from the loth, of May till the 20th. of July, the land immediately sown broad- cast with one or two bushels per acre of southern iield peas and harrowed, a good crop of the latter may be cheaply produced. The earlier peas that make much vine may be mowed and re- moved to furnish abundant hay for winter use ; or the vines may have a heavy roller passed over them and then be plowed un- der in September and October with oats or barley. Magnifi- cent winter pastures will be obtained from December first till March ; and in May and June such harvests of barley and oats as are rarely seen. Tiie broom grass is destroyed, the land is mellow and, if not desired for other crops at once, may, if the season be favorable, soon be covered with ' volunteer 7 pea vines. But turn on the stubble no stock, except hogs to glean the re- maining grain for a few days, plow the stubble under in beds, and the ground is in the best condition for producing sweet po- tatoes. Harvest these in October, harrow and^roll the ground and it is just right for receiving red or white clover, blue, orchard, red-top, meadow oat, or other winter grass seed. Again; this grass may be plowed under any time from Au- gust first till fifteenth April; the land then planted with cotton seed from tenth to twenty -fifth of May will produce a largely increased yield of cotton. The A. Tiictcrourvs, Cluster-flowered beard grass, A. furcatm, Finger-spiked beard grass, A. Ellicttii, Silver beard grass, and A. scoparius, Purple wood grass, Broom grass, contain mucLu less than A. Virginicus of animal or valuable plant food. They would not pay for harvesting unless the stock-feeder had con- centrated food and could obtain no better food to use with it. Mi 1 . C Jollier's analysis of A. scoparius follows : oil 1.16, wax .43, sugars 5.37, gum and dextrin 3.44, cellulose 24.91, amylaceous cellulose -26.51, alkali extract 28.07, albuminoids 6.21, ash 3.90 to 100 parts of the dried grass. His analysis of the ash gave: potassium 15.70, calcium oxide 2.12, magnesium oxide .58, sul-. phuric acid trace, phosphoric acid 1.33, silicic acid 64.62, chlo- rine 15.65. Six other species not mentioned here are found in the south- ern States. A. melanocarpus is remarkable as the largest, being from four to eight feet high and probably introduced. TRIPSACUM, Sesame Grass. T. DACTYLOIDES, Gama Grass. This native perennial grass was formerly found widely dif- fused through the southern States from the seashore to the AND OTHER FOR AGUE PLANTS. 113 mountains. It is now seldom seen and but few protect it. It has been destroyed by cattle. Some forty or more years ago, many people in Mississippi and Louisiana planted patches of it; a few of which remain. All kinds of live stock eat it with a good relish when green and are fond of the sweet, nutritious^ but coarse hay. It may be cut five or six times a year under favorable conditions and yields an immense quantity of good forage. I have measured the broad leaves of this grass seven feet long and culms ten and a half feet. The latter are worth- less and the grass should be cut before the stems run up. The flowers are arranged in from one to three compact spikes at the top of the culm ; sometimes on branches also. At the top of the culm are the male flowers, consisting of the elongated orange or brownish colored anthers each set attached to a joint of the stem, one joint above another ; below these are other joints bear- ing the female flowers or stigmas consisting of long velvety, dark purple threads. The top joints soon drop off ; then as they mature from above downwards the lower joints successive- ly fall. The latter contain each, one seed, many of which seem to be imperfect as they do not germinate readily. Hence it is best propagated by setting out the large rhizomes, which are abundant on the surface of the ground and often piled in large quantities on one another. These rhizomes are half an inch to an inch thick and from the under side send down into the soil many large, strong fibrous roots. Each rhizome has one bud ; but if more it may be divided into as many parts as buds. It may be set from January to last of March. When once well set it requires a team of at least six good oxen and a very large strong plow to tear it up. It turns up in large masses of one to two feet across and these cannot be crushed or broken in pieces; and as ^he rhizomes are not killed by this process, the planter is in worse condition than if he had not plowed it and no nearer rid of it ; unless he piles it with immense labor with fuel inter- mixed or hauls it away. It is however, very easily destroyed by keeping cattle and other stock grazing it during spring and summer. It grows well in marsh, better on hills, best on rich, moist bottoms. Analysis of Gama grass by Mr. Peter Collier. Oil, 1.72 Amylaceous cellulose, 20.84 Wax, .68 Alkali extract, 23.09 Sugars, 8.84 Albuminoids, 8.62 Gum and dextrin, 3.66 Ash, 5.96 Cellulose, 26.59 100.00 114 FARMER'S BO'OK OF GRASSES ANALYSIS OF ASH. Potassium, 6.30 Sulphuric acid, 3.69 Potassium oxide, 29.06 Phosphoric acid, 2.52 Sodium, 4.77 Silicic acid, 37.87 Calcium oxide, 1.64 Chlorine, 13.08 Magnesium oxide, 1.07 100.00 ERIA NTHUS, Fox-tai i . E. ALOPECUROIDES, Woolly Beard Grass, Plume Grass. This grass grows from four to ten feet high, with panicle one or two feet long, pyramidal, woolly; sheaths of the rough leaves woolly above. The variety Contortus is smaller, smoother and has twisted awns. The variety brevibarbis is also smooth, smaller, has short hairs, and hence called short haired woolly grass. K. strictus, nearly smooth throughout and four to eight feet high, is found, like the others, on dry or wet lands and riv- er banks. They are not valuable for forage, but the first is quite ornamental with its graceful, large, plumose panicle. SORGHUM. On another page, (103) under the general head of The Millets, this grass is partly considered, forming there the second divis- ion of millets, that of the- dictionaries: SORGHUM YULGARE, Indian millet, great millet; Fr. Sorgho, gros millet; Ger. fcorgsa- mur; It. Sagina; Sp. Molce, Akandia. This is the Durra or Doura of Arabia, Persia, etc.; Jovaree of India; Xagara of North China. It was brought from India to England in 1^96, and to Cuba in 1824, and thence to Florida, etc. In our southern States, we have three native species of sor- ghum, viz: 1. S. avenaeewn, oat like sorghum; 2. 8. nutans, In- dian grass, wood grass, nodding sorghum ; 3. S. secundum. These are of little value as found in sterile woodlands ; and I am not aware that they have ever been cultivated. There has been much diversity of opinion among botanists about the foreign species ; some contending for one species and many varieties; others for several species, each presenting va- rieties. The varieties are almost numberless. In a collection of plants sent to the Museum of Natural .History, at Paris, in 1840, by M. d'Abadie, there were thirty kinds of sorghum; and in 1857 Mr. Wray arrived in the United States, bringing with him the seeds of fifteen varieties of South African sorghum, or imphee. Other varieties have since been introduced. But we cannot recount the history or even the. names of these varieties; to do so would require a large book. The most noted species or varieties besides the S. YULGARE are : 1. S. CERNUUM, Gum- AND OTHEK FORAGE PLANTS.- 115 ea corn, with densely contracted panicle, and cultivated for the grain : 2. S. HALAPENSE, Cuba grass, cultivated for soiling, grazing, and hay ; and, 3. S. SACGHARATUM, sweet sorghum, Chinese and African sugar cane, cultivated for the juices of the stems and the broom corn for brooms. The seeds of all the va- rieties are valuable food. The S. vulgare, great or Indian millet, has been much culti- vated from the earliest times in India and across to Southern Europe and Africa and thence extending to all countries suffi- ciently warm. It was and is yet used in many countries not only as food for inferior animals, but also for man. It has; been, at different times during the last sixty years, extensively advertised for sale in various parts of the United States under taking names and extravagant commendation, as chocolate corn, doura corn, Indian millet, Chinese wheat, Oregon rice, ivory wheat, upland or highland rice, pampas rice, etc. Quite a number of planters of Mississippi have cultivated it during the current and a few preceding years. All -with whom I have conversed speak very highly of its nutritive and fatten- ing properties for hogs and other animals and of the large yield of grain. They agree also that it makes a good, wholesome flour, for bread, cakes etc., while all relish it as a substitute for cracked wheat/ Some of our own family esteem it as very pal- atable and desirable food. Of course poultry and other birds devour it greedily. The only trouble I have experienced with it is, if a small quantity only be grown, the birds devour so much as it matures and before ready for harvesting. There are many varieties of S. vulgare, but for the table, that with large open panicle and pearl like grains is preferable, while it is as valuable as any other variety for animals in fact, I prefer is for them. Bearded varieties are not so much dama- ge ! by birds. After harvesting all are liable to be destroyed by the weevil. It may be planted in April and cut several times during the season. In common with other sorghums it bears drought much better than corn, or any of our small grain. When it heads, cut off the top, and immediately other heads shoot out^ from ev- ery joint and many new stems from the root, all which may be used as- needed. When thus cut it centinues to renew its growth till frost, unless prevented by drought. In all warm countries it is unanimously acknowledged to yield much more than any other grain. S. cernuum seeds are used for the same purposes as those of S. vulgare. The leaves of both are nutritious and are eaten by stock. They frequently eat the entire stalk. The grains of the S. fjaccharatum may be used also for the table but are not so nice as the two preceding. They are per- haps equally valuable for stock feed. The whole plant has 116 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES been used by some over a wide extent of our country for long- er or shorter periods since 1855, as feed for horses, Cattle and hogs. Some praise and others condemn in strong terms. All agree that the leaves stripped oil and dried like those of Indian corn make a fodder superior to the latter. They require more time to dry for obvious reasons. When the cane is ready to cut for rolling, the leaves are stripped and managed as those of, corn, and the tops or heads cared for properly. Thus, much good forage is secured for the animals, and from fifty to two hundred gallons of syrup per acre for the people. If the cutting is succeeded by rains, there will be a second growth for forage. Taking off such heavy crops must propor- tionately exhaust the land. Among the first as well as last to plant and use the sweet sorghums for soiling and fodder, . I have never, in a single instance, had any bad effect on or inju- ry of an animal. Where evil has resulted ft must be from bad management. For feeding stock, the plant may be cut several times during the season ; and the stalks should be passed through a stalk-cutter. The S. vulgar e sometimes has a very large open panicle with long nodding branches ; and it varies from this form to a very short-branched, densely compacted, rigid, erect, club shaped panicle. S. cernuum, Guinea corn, Chicken corn, recently White Egyptian corn. This has all the variety in form of panicles as the preceding, differing in having the peduncle very long and reflexed, turning the panicle so as to point directly down. This is the perfect character ; but often it is bent further and across itself; and then it varies in the other direction, so that panicles may be found inclined at all angles with the horizon. From my own study of these two so-called species, under con- ditions miles apart, where they could not possibly intermix. I am convinced that they are but one, with a natural tendency to return to the erect form of open panicle. Both are to be plant- ed and cultivated alike. Plant in rows three feet apart, drop- ping a few seed from twelve to twenty inches apart, using about four quarts clean, sound seed per acre, or drill thinly about a bushel. About two workings with a good cultivator will suffice if the ground be in good condition to begin with ; if not the hoe may be needed and other work. S. saccharatum, Imphee or African sugar cane, (S. nigrum, black or Chinese sugar cane being probably only a variety,) may be planted and treated in all respects in the same manner as a forage crop ; for which I prefer it very much to the varie- ties of Doura. The broom corn belongs to S. sa,ccharatum, but is worthless for forage, except the seed which are very nutritious. For syrup and sugar the bent-top variety is, in my locality, decidedly the best, being more easily clarified and granulated, AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 117 yielding more and waiting longer without deterioration after ready for the mill. The bent top variety produces more seed than the others, but stock do not relish them so well ; probably from the head, when fed unthreshed, making too large a mouthful for comfortable mastication and from its being more bitter than other varieties when immature or not dried. Like the bent-top Doura corn, the peduncle has a tendency to rise up, and panicles may be seen at every angle with the horizon, both above and below; and also a tendenoy to change from the short branched, close packed, to the open, long, nodding branched panicle. And in proportion as it assumes the latter characters, it becomes more a broom or Doura corn and less a sugar cane. For sugar, seeds should be carefully selected in the field. Stalks with the most compact panicle and bent peduncle should be selected and remain until the seed are perfectly ripe. After removing the panicle, the stalks will still be good for sugar or syrup. For seed, only those stalks should be taken with the kead turned down so far as to touch the stem below or even cross it. This variety requires a longer time to mature than the others, but it is very much larger. For syrup it should have more room than when planted for forage having rows at least four feet apart. * All these sorghums send roots down several feet deep and make more and better syrup on gravelly or sandy sub-soil. If the bagAse or stalks are returned and plowed under, the land is very little exhausted. I have seen them giown for years on the same thin land without fertilizers and with little sign of exhaustion. Before dismissing the sweet Sorghums, perhaps I should state that the longer they are permitted to stand after maturity, the greater tendency 1 find to generate formic acid in boiling the juice for syrup. This tendency is decidedly greater in the bent- top or goose-neck variety than in any other I have tested. This acid, so difficult to eliminate while making the syrup, be- ing offensive in odor and flavor, damages syrups otherwise most perfect, SORGHUM NUTANS, Indian grass, Wood grass. This and the two other native species, mentioned on a prece- ding page, are of little nutritive value as will be seen by Mr. Collier's ANALYSIS OF SORGHUM NUTANS. Oil, 1.57 Amylaceous cellulose, 27.25 Wax, .10 Alkali extract, 14.44 Sugars, 7.27 Albuminoids, 3.29 Gum and dextrin, 3.75 Ash, 5.63 Cellulose, 36.70 100.00 118 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES * ANALYSIS OF ASH. Potassium, 6.74 Phosphoric acid, 2.35 Potassium oxide, 16.84 Silicic acid, 61.55 Calcium oxide, 2.92 Chlorine, 6.11 Magnesium oxide, 1.36 Sulphuric acid, 2.13 300.00 This plant ranges from 3 to 6 high including the pani- cle one or two feet long. The other two species are smaller. Although Mr. Collier says: "This grass has not usually been considered of much agricultural value, but it forms an import- ant part of the native grass of the western prairies, and if cut early, forms good and nutritious hay," it can be substituted, even in the poorest sandy soils where it grows, by better grasses. It, like the andropogons or broom grasses, is remarkable rather for the small quantity of soluble nutritive matter and the ex- traordinary quantity of silicic acid it contains. SORGHUM HALAPENSE, Johnson Grass. This has been called Cuba grass, Guinea grass, Egyptian grass, Means grass, Alabama Guinea grass etc. It seems pretty well agreed now however, to call this John- son grass and leave the name Guinea grass for the Panicum jumentorum, to which it properly belongs. (See pp. 98-100). It is true that in .Mr. Howard's pamphlet, as well as in many periodicals and books and in letters and common usage this grass has been far more generally called Guinea grass\han the true Guinea grass itself, thus causing vast confusion. It is therefore assuredly time to call each by its right name. John- son grass is perennial and has cane-like roots or more properly underground stems from the size of a goose quill to that of the little finger. These roots are, tender, and hogs are fond of, and thrive on them in winter. The roots litteral- ly fill the ground near the surface and every joint is capable of developing a bud. Hence the grass is very readily propagated from root cuttings. It is also propagated from the seed, but not always so certainly ; for in some localities many faulty seeds are produced, and in other places no seed are matured. Before sowing the seed, therefore, they siiould be tested, as should all grass seeds indeed, in order to know what proportion will ger- minate, and thus what quantity per acre to sow. One bushel of a good sample of this seed is sufficient for one acre of land. The leaf, stalk and panicle of this grass resemble those of other sorghums. It grows on any land where corn will grow ; and like the latter, the better the land, the heavier the crop. On rich land the culrns attain a size of over half an ii.ch in diame- ter and a height of seven feet. It should be cut while tender ; and then all live stock are fond of it ; for a few weeks are suffi- AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 119 cient to render it so coarse and hard that animals refuse it, or eat sparingly. This plant is much more nutritious than the true Guinea grass as will be seen by comparing the analyses of the two made by Mr. Collier. ANALYSIS QF SORGHUM HALAPENSE. Oil, 2.25 Amylaceous cellulose, 25.87 Wax, .61 Alkali extract, % 15.58 Sugars, 7.37 Albuminoids, ' 13.18 Gum and dextrin, 6.14 Ash, 4.85 Cellulose, 25.15 100.00 ANALYSIS OF A*SH. Potassium, 3.68 Sulphuric acid; 2.96 Potassium oxide, 35.72 Phosphoric acid, 10.44 Sodium, .81 Silicic acid, 22.21 Calcium oxide, 12.87 Chlorine, 4.58 Magnesium oxide, 6.73 100.00 A few testimonials are here quoted to give an idea of the pro- ductiveness and value of this plant. In a letter published in the Rural Carolinian for 1874, Mr. N. B. Moore, who had for more than forty years grown only grass crops, speaks of this grass under the name of Guinea grass. He says he prefers it to all others after having faithfully tried many. "It is perennial, is as nutritious 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 Angus" a In winter I employ but four men, who are enough to work my packing press ; in summer when harvesting, double that number. In 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, comes off about the middle of May. The second yield of clover is uni- formly eaten up by grasshoppers. The tap-root remains to fer- tilize the then coming Guinea grass, which should be cut from two to three feet high. . . . On such land as mine, it will afford three or four cuttings if the season is propitious. I use an av- erage of five tons of gypsum soon after the first cutting, and about the same quantity of the best commercial fertilizers in March or April The grass which is cut before noon, is put up with horse sulky rakes, in cocks, before sundown." * Mr. Moore's income from this field was from seven thousand to ten thousand dollars a year. Mr. Goelzel of Mobile says, "It is undoubtedly the most prof- 120 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES ftable soiling plant yet introduced, and also promises to be the plant for our southern hay stacks, provided it can be cut every three or four ^ r eeks." In the Rural Carolinian for 1874, Mr. John J. Delchampes furnishes the following facts and figures : "I herewith make out a resume of the several cuttings of Guinea grass made by me last year. . . . The cuttings were made from one square yard of land accurately measured, and it was a fair average of the entire plot in grass. 1st cutting May 16th, weight of dry hay 19th., 2 Ibs. 8 oz. 2nd cutting June 16th, weight of dry hay 23rd., 1 1J 3rd cutting July 17th, weight of dry hay 20th., 1 7} 4th cutting August 18th, weight of dry hay 30th, (ruined by rain), 8 1st September, cut by a friend through mistake without weighing. 5th cutting October 1st, weight of dry hay 8th., 10 Total , 6 3 J "Reckoning the acre at 4,840 square yards, for convenience, the result is over fifteen tons of dry hay per acre, twelve days' growth being lost by an accident, and the season not a favora- ble one. "I dug the roots from the same square yard of ground in Jan- uary and the weight was 2 Ibs., 10 oz., equal to 6.45 tons per acre. Hogs devour these roots as eagerly as they do sweet po- tatoes. Six and a half tons of hog feed and fifteen tons of good hay I should regard as a very good result from one acre of land. It may be well to add that on the square yard of ground from which I dug the roots, the grass is as thick now as on any other part of the plot." Two pounds aad a half of dry hay per square yard shows Mr. Delchampes 7 first cutting to have given him 12,000 pounds. Well may another writer exclaim : "If you want grass -a grass the grass and have rich land this is just the thing to fill the bill." If a farmer want his land for other crops, he should not plant this grass. But if he want a grass field to continue, indefinitely and to yield heavy crops year after year without resetting this is the best thing he can plant. With the ground rich and in good condition and warm, a bushel of good seed broadcast in April will take possession and keep down other plants. Without these conditions, the seed should be sown in drills sufficiently far apart to admit of culti- vation once or twice. Or if roots be used, the pieces should be placed one or two feet apart in the rows, and the latter two feet apart, so as to allow cultivation. In either case the plants will soon have and hold possession. The seed may be sown also in August r September, 9 AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 121 In south-west Mississippi where this grass was planted more than fifty years ago, where the fields were vacated during and after the civil war, it disappeared, except in spots inac- cessible to stock. It shows little tendency to spread much, and some planters of longest experience, consider it not "very troublesome in cultivated fields. Poor cultivation, however, only spreads and multiplies it. Since writing this account of Johnson Grass, the following letter has been received : .. ALABAMA HAY FARMS, } MARION JUNCTION, DALLIS Go. ALA., v July 20th, 1880. j D. L. PHARES, ESQ., MY DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 2d inst., asking me to write you my experience with, and knowledge of the Johnson Grass, came duly to hand. It gives me pleasure to respond to your wishes, and through your proposed work on Grasses, to give the farmers of the United States, a knowledge of this grass which I consider stands at the head of the list of grasses for this country, especially the southern part of it. After an experience of five years in raising it and shipping the hay made from it, my earliest opinion of it is more than confirmed, its value as both a grazing and hay grass not being equaled by any. other in this country. It belongs to the Sorghum family, bearing a close re- semblance to chicken corn in its stalk and seed. It is perennial, of rapid growth, containing much saccharine matter, very nutri- tious and eagerly sought after by stock of all kinds. It is not a new grass as supposed by many, but only of late years made available as a grass for hay. It has been upon this farm, (the Johnson place) for nearly forty years. The most re- liable history I can obtain of it is this : Gov. Means of South Carolina obtained some of the seed from Turkey as early as 1835 where it was called Guinea grass. He planted it on his planta- tion, where it is still called Means grass. In 1840 or 45, Wm. Johnson of this place being in South Carolina, brought some of the seed with him and sowed upon his farm here, whence it de- rived the name of Johnson grass, by which it is now most com- monly known. The botanical name is Sorghum halapense, while the Guinea grass grown in Jamaica is known as Panicum jumentorum. The Johnson grass is of rapid growth, springs up early in the spring, and continues growing until frost, being less affected by drought than other grasses. It is propa'gated by both roots and seed, the foi mer penetrating to the depth of three or four feet, reaching the moisture, which is so essential for grass culture. On good soil the yield is from one to two tons to the acre and can be cut three times during the summer. With fertilizing, the yield could be largely increased, and one more cutting per 122 FARMER'S BOOK OF GEASSES / ' annum. On this place I sowed this season a crop of oats, which but for the rust could have been cut in June. I have already cut from a portion two crops of hay and will cut another in Sept., making four crops from same ground in one summer. The proper time for cutting for hay is just as the grass comes into bloom, when 24 to 30 inches high. If left to grow larger it becomes woody, and not so good for hay. The usual quantity sown to the acre, is one bushel sown in September or October, or early spring, when sown in the early fall, it gets good root and will give two good cuttings the first season. The richer the soil the greater the yield. While grass may be enemy to cotton raising, it has proved to be much 'more profitable than cotton. It is not as hard to get rid of as many suppose. A neighbor here in August and September, 1878, broke up some 15 acres which he has for two years successfully planted in cotton, with no trouble from the grass. Thousands of acres of land are yearly lying idle, which are worn out for cotton and corn, containing all the essentials for a crop of grass or graiii. A field often acres of this grass would keep the work stock in excellent condition, and save largely in the consumption of corn. If one half of the land now in cotton were in grass, more money could be made than is now made in cotton. The value of grass culture is well stated in the old English proverb, "no frass, no cattle ; no cattle, no manure ; no manure, no grass." o better stock country than the south can be found, taking all things into consideration; where one kind of grass may fail, there are others which will succeed. _ In this Johnson grass, a kind Providence has given the south a mine of wealth, which conld easily be made a foundation for wealth and prosperity such as the south has never seen. It may not be out of place here to call attention to the man- ner of putting in grasses. Frequently the seeds are sown too deeply, thereby losing the seed and blaming the seedsman. Ex- perience shows the necessity of plowing the ground thoroughly. Then with a good harrow pulverize the soil, making a good seed bed. Sow one bushel of Johnson grass seed per acre, and brush it in, covering lightly. If -preferable use a roller which will not cover as deeply perhaps, as a brush. The roller also prepares the ground for the mower. Experience tells me that I cannot too highly reccommend the Johnson grass. * * * Lain truly yours, HERBERT POST. Mr. Post does not overdraw the yield or value of this grass. AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 123 By scarifying and applying fertilizers his crops would be very much heavier, but perhaps not so choice from being coarser. EUOHLCENA LUXURIANS, Teosinte, or Guatemala Grass. Within a few years this large and very beautiful tropical grass has been introduced into the south of France, the Royal Gardens, Kew, England, and thence into the East and West Indies, Australia, Tropical and South Africa, Cyprus, the Ba- hamas etc., and later into various parts of the United States. It is specially interesting as allied to, and in some respects closely resembling Indian corn. It has the male flowers in a tassel at the top of the stalk, and pistillate at the joints like corn, the latter, or the seed inclosed in a loose involucre and ar- ranged on a slendei spike, as wa sometimes see also in the In- dian corn ; though the now recognized normal arrangement of the latter seems to be in lines on a cob as though the many single slender spikes were consolidated into a large compound one; yet so often found variously forked or branched and many spiked (and we have seen one variety with every grain enclosed in its own separate shuck or husk), as to suggest a tendency to return to an earlier arrangement more in harmony with teosinte. It tillers enormously ; and in one or more varieties of Indian corn we find a decidedly singular tendency, though not so strongly manifested. It has many large blades and the stalks grow from six to fif- teen feet high. Experiments made by the chemist of the Dept. of Agriculture show that the stalks contain a large quantity of sugar. Prof. Asa Gray, in the American Agriculturist for August, 1880, speaking 'of this plant, writes : "The Director of the Bo- tanic Garden and Government Plantations at Adelaide, S. Aus- tralia, reports favorably of this strong growing, corn-like forage plant, the EuchlcEna luxurians ; that the prevailing dryness did not injure the plants, which preserved their healthy green, vrhile the blades of the other grasses suffered materially. The habit of throwing out young shoots is remarkable, 60 or 80 ri- sing to a height of 5 or 6 feet. Further north, at Palmerston, (nearer the equator), in th'e course of 5 or 6 months, the plant reached the height of twelve to fourteen feet, and the stems on one plant numbered 56. The plants, after mowing down, grew again several feet in a few days. The cattle delight in it in a fresh state ; also when dry. Undoubtedly there is not a more prolific forage plant known ; but, as it is essentially tropical in its habits, this luxuriant growth is found, in tropical or subtrop- ical climates. The chief drawback to its culture with us will be that the ripening of the seed crop will be problematical, as early frosts will kill the plant. To make the Teosinte a most useful plant in Texas and along our whole south-western bor- 124 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES der, the one thing needful is to develop early flowering varie- ties, so as to get seed before frost. And thi could be done without doubt, if some one in Texas or Florida would set about it. What it has taken ages to do in the case of Indian corn, in an unconcious way, might be mainly done in a human life-time by rightly directed care and vigorous selection. Who is the man .who is going to make millions of blades of grass grow where none of any account ever grew before ? " In the southern cultivator for October, 1879, a writer from Milledgeville,- Ga., under date of Sept. 7th., 1879, says that from a few seeds planted March 20th. he saved one plant, which "from a small, almost triangular seed has developed a plant now 9 feet high and 4 feet in diameter, with something over 80 stalks, and which no cow in the State could consume at a sin- gle meal. It tillers from the very start, spreading horizontally for some weeks before beginning a perpendicular growth/' It showed ito signs of blooming; and six plants obtained from seed planted in June would not attain one-third the size of this by frost. On 16th. July, 1880, Mr. A. Wikas at the Menelas farm, Brookhaven, Miss., writes me: "We planted in March, April and May, 2 and 3 feet apart each way in hills, and it grows equally well, The. leaves resemble very much those of corn, and while at first it comes only a stalk, it shoots afterwards and multiplies from 25 to 50. We think it can be cut 3 or 4 times when 2J to 3 feet high. We planted the first on the 5th. of March and although it is now about 6 feet high, yet there is no sign of blooming." A part of this crop was not cut ; but after blooming, when 12 to 15 feet high, was killed by frost. It was in this condition when I saw it. The stems were as large as those nf maize, blades and tassel all so like those of latter that the one plant might be easily mistaken for the other. I am convinced that seeds of the teosinte can be matured in parts of Texas and Flor- ida and also with little protection, in south Mississippi, Louisi- ana and Alabama. It has a large number of large, long, strong fibrous roots penetrating the soil deeply, On land well adapted to it, I. think it would not be difficult to produce one hundred tons per acre. And as it contains a large per centage of sugar besides other nutrients, it may be made one of the very best, most profitable and desirable crops in the southern States for ensilage. ZEA. Z. MAYS. Indian Corn, Maize. Well may this plant be call- ed zea, LIFE; since it has become so essential and so large an element in sustaining the lives of men, beasts and birds, domes- AND OTHER .FORAGE PLANTS. 125 tieated and wild, besides hosts of insects feeding on the roots, stem, pith, leaves, blossoms and seed green and ripe. Where can another plant be found feeding and keeping alive such a number of genera, species, tribes and hosts of living creatures? Annually it is adapting itself to other localities and seems destined to become almost cosmopolitan and thus the u staif of life" to numerous other tribes of living beings ! ! Yet what countless millions of dollars are annually sent from Europe and from our own southern States for the purchase of this cheap sup- porter of life !!! What the depth of dependence and poverty in- to which the southern States are voluntarily plunging them- selves, by skimming away the essence of the soil and pouring their hard earnings in golden streams into the coffers of the western corn growers ! The varieties of corn almost numberless adapting it to all soils and many climates and to many special purposes, and the modes of culture are so varied by differences of soil, climate and objects, that our space will not admit of their discussion. Nor can we consider in detail the valuable medicines furnished by this plant, nor the virulent poisons developed upon and from the grain. Whether corn be planted for the grain or for fodder, in rows, drilled, checks or broadcast, th* 1 land should first be broken very deeply, but without turning up much clay. It should have repeated plowings and harrowings if necessary to put the ground in a light, mellow condition. Planted on- land so pre- pared, a crop may be made almost without any rain ; each stalk, not too much crowded, throwing out innumerable fibrous roots with an aggregate length of many thousand feet, and (where un- der the well prepared soil the sub-soil can be penetrated) to a depth of several feet beyond that generally imagined. In one neighborhood this year, (1881), a crop of corn planted on very old land prepared as above described has yielded four times as much as any other in the whole region. This was planted later than other fields and never had rain to lay the dust ; w r hile others having an earlier start and some of them plenty of rain have yielded very little. Most of the labor re- quired for making a good crop of corn on old land in the south, should be expended before planting. With such preparation the plants grow rapidly and need much less work ; and often make a large yield with no labor after planting. Employing this mode of preparation, since 185], I am convinced that in most parts of the south a fair corn crop can be made every year whether there be rain or not, on clay soils. No other plant is so much and so generally used in the south- ern States for forage avast number of planters depending sole- ly upon corn, stalk, blade, husk, (or shuck), grain and even cob; .i'-iti FARMER'S, BOOK OF, GRASSES all containing much nutrition. The fodder of blades and the ears are very convenient for feeding, and the green plant is one of the best for ensilage. Coix. C. LACRYMA. Job's Tears, Corn Beads. This plant is cultivated to a limited extent ; but it has no agricultural value, notwithstanding its branching stems and broad leaves. Its fruit is interesting, consisting of a fertile spikelet enclosed in a consolidated involucre which becomes os- sified, very hard, polished and perforated so as to be used for beads. And this is about the only use found for it ; for these beads are too bone- or horn-like and indigestible to serve as food. CHAPTER X.' Miscellaneous . A few other forage plants, omitted in their regular order as little cultivated in the southern States, yet too important to ig- nore wholly, are briefly mentioned here. The several species of mustard, (Sinapis), are worthy of some care as stock-food. The several species of Brassica with its many varieties of turnips, cale, ruta-baga, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli etc. are very val- uable, as are also the various beets and magelwurtzels. The leaves of all these plants are relished by live stock as are also the fleshy roots. They are valuable at all times but especially in the winter, when succulent food is so much needed by live stock. Immense crops of these fleshy roots may be produced on a single acre of land and they are not difficult to preserve during winter. COTTON SEED. This one of the most valuable of nutrients produced on any farm, demands a paragraph. It is very valuable in the crude state as it falls from the gin-stand, for feeding cows, sheep and swine. Five or ten cents worth with a little hay or grazing will keep a large sheep in fine condition all winter. A few serve to keep hogs in good condition at all times. In feeding they should be scattered thinly on the ground or mixed with' other feed to prevent the animal taking too large quantity in the mouth and endangering choking. They may be wetted, and better boiled for hogs ; but never rotted. Mules sometimes take to them and continue in good condition. De- AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 127 corticated, they are still better for all animals. The cake after expressing the oil is not surpassed as a feed for sheep, hogs, cat- tle, horses and mules, by any thing else. Being concentrated food it must be fed with discretion and mixed with abundance of coarser foods as grasses, hays and matters containing little nutrition. It is far more valuable than Indian corn. CHAPTER XI. Flatting. It had long been believed both North and South that the "ar- tificial" or cultivated grasses and clovers could not be induced to grow here. There never was a greater mistake; for most of them grow spontaneously in the South where partially protect- ed, and some of them without any protection against stock. It has been to the interest of western farmers to teach that the grasses could not be grown here. The' ill success of many southern planters in their feeble attempts to grow them confirm- ed the opinion. Now, many of these men did not deserve suc- cess. The plow is started and the sod set up edgewise like the folds of a palm leaf. The seeds (very small, some of them al- most microscopic), are sown .and a harrow run over the ground. Most of the seed are covered too deep to ever germinate. The few that sprout, find it difficult to live among the clods and fi- nally die out ; smothered by weeds on the richer spots and starved on the poorer. PREPARATION OF THE LAND. No one should plant grasses and clovers, unless he determines to do it right. The ground must be plowed and harrowed, and the process repeated as many times as may be necessary to put the surface and sub-soil in proper condition. The subsoil should be broken and loosened ; the deeper the better, but not turned up, The surface of the ground should be finely comminuted and smoothed. If too light, the roller should be used for com- pacting. When the ground is properly prepared, it should be very lightly marked off in lands of such width as may be con- venient to sow. For an acre so laid off, take the proper quanti- ty of seed, divide into as many parcels as lands : then sub-di- vide each parcel into two equal parts. With one of the smaller parcels, proceed from one end to the other of the land, sowing ; then returning over the same land, SOAV the other half; and so on throughout the entire field. Thus an equal distribution of seed may be effected and an even stand of plants obtained. 128 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES Grass seed should never be sown while the wind blows ; but if this cannot be avoided, the next best thii;g to do, is to travel with the wind in sowing. But even this can never give an even or tolerably satisfactory distribution of seed. After sowing the seed never use harrow, or brush or other de- vice, for covering. In some cases the roller may be used ; but it is seldom needed. I have tried all the methods ; and I have had best success by leaving the seed to be beaten in sufficiently by rain. My best success with blup grass has been on unbroken ground, the leaves only raked away and leaving a rather smooth surface. Once I burned of! leaves and trash from a wooded lot and immediately sowed blue grass seed in March. They came up very promptly ; and in a few months the grass had attained a larger growth than I had ever before seen at two years old. SIZE OF SEEDS AND DEPTH OF COVERING. In order to understand clearly the danger of harrowing in grass seeds, let a few things be considered touching some of the lust known forage plants. Red clover has 256,000 seed to the pound, English blue grass or meadow fescue 400,000 and Tall oat grass 340,000 ; these small seeds germinate badly if buried deeper than a half inch in the lightest, fine soil. White clover with 500,000 seed to the pound, and Orchard grass with 640,000 find it difficult to get up when covered one-fourth of an inch. What then shall be the depth of covering for Timo- thy seed of 1,184,000 to the pound, Soft meadow, or velvet grass with 1,500,000, Red top with 6,800,000 and White top. with 8,000,000 seeds to the pound ? From these statements the utility the necessity of the roller preceding on loose soil the sowing of light, minute seeds will at once be appreciated, as also the danger of harrow or brush after sowing. With a heavy, badly prepared soil the danger from the harrow is much enhanced ; for covering these seeds one-fourth or one-half inch deeper than above mentioned the bulk of them never germin- ate. The failuies from too deep covering are frequent and lead to unjust suspicions and charges against seedsmen. THE TIME TO SOW must be determined by each one's own judgement. The or- chard, red top, blue, timothy, velvet and Italian rye grasses may be sown any time from the first of September till the middle of March with success, or again with total failure. Each must be governed as to time of sowing by telluric and at- mospheric conditions. It is worse than useless to sow on a parched ground, or during a drought. If the ground be moist AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 129 from the surface down to perpetual moisture, and there be a reasonable prospect of its continuing so by rains or otherwise long enough for the seeds to germinate and take root, sow ; the earlier the better. I have succeeded in all the months indicated. But as I expected, I had some failures not so many however, as I was prepared to expect. If one carefully observe these di- rections, he will rarely be disappointed in results. In order to have a good crop the first year, it is important to sow in the fall, if the proper conditions concur ; and especially so for the velvet and rye grasses. By autumnal sowing, too, one can have opportunity of seeding in January, February or March, any spots on which there may be a defective catch. All that I have said in regard to preparation of ground, times and mode of sowing is equally applicable to the Medicagos, Mel- ilots and Trifoliums, or the clover family ; except that lucerne succeeds better by sowing in drills twelve or fifteen inches apart, so that it can be cultivated the first year. It is difficult to suc- ceed in any other way with lucerne. All these seeds can be sown satisfactorily only when the air is motionless. For sow- ing all grass and clover seeds, small grain of all kinds, peas, etc., broadcast, Pearce's improved Cahoon hand sower is a most ad- mirable implement, very cheap, the work light and expeditious. It is fully what it professes to be. For sowing very large areas horse machines may be used. The various millets and other larger grains should be harrow- ed or rolled, or both after sowing ; the preceding paragraphs having reference only to the smaller seeds, which often sink too deep in loose land to get out even when not harrowed. FOR AN ORCHARD I know no better combination than red clover and orchard grass. Both fertilize and otherwise improve the land. The seeds of timothy or clover should NOT BE MIXED with those of grasses before sowing. While sowing, the heavy, smooth clover seeds will accumulate at the bottom of the con- tainer and the lighter grass seeds rise to the top, so that parts of the field will show only grass and other parts clover alone. If possible to keep them mixed in the bag, the same cast will scat- ter the clover seed over ten times more surface than the grass seed can be made to reach.- Seeds of different specific gravity, size or smoothness, should not be mixed together for sowing ; but first one sown, then another. TO KEEP DOWN WEEDS in an orchard use the mower as often as necessary, turn in calves and sheep whenever proper, and pigs during fruit season. Calves and sheep destroy young or small trees and must not 130 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES have access to them. These animals are about the best exter- minators of briers, cane and underbrush. Old hogs sometimes destroy small fruit trees especially the plum, by tearing the bark with their teeth in shaking off the fruit. WHAT ARE THE BEST GRASSES FOR WINTER PASTURES? This depends on whether the pasture is for one season, or to be permanent, as well as on location, soil, drainage, etc. For a single winter, the testimony, so far as known to me, is unanimous in strong commendation of our native wild brome grass, (Bromus unioloides). Many however, speak from a single experiment, and with little or no knowledge of other grasses. So that we must accept these statements with due re- serve and caution. Two winters it gave me luxuriant, tender grazing from October till April or May ; but next winter it was three months later, not coming up till November, and not ready for grazing till the middle of January. Others inform me that seed grown here do not germinate till November, and that for early fall pastures, seed must be imported annually from South- ern 'Europe, .but this I know is not necessarily so ; for it is in- digenous in our southern States, and I have seen good grazing early in October from native seed. It depends on character of the season. Several other plants furnish good winter pasture, but none are so valuable as barley. I have year after year sown wheat, oats, rye barley, etc., side by side, lor winter pasture ; and 20 years ago I reached the conclusion, that barley was 'more valuable than all others. It affords grazing earlier, more abundantly, grows sooner and more rapidly after being grazed down, is more relished by stock and more wholesome. It does not lie on the ground like rye, but stands up ; so that stock eat less sand, dirt and other unwholesome matters in grazing it. With me, when all other kinds of grain were destroyed by rust, it was never af- fected by that or any other disease, or contingency of weather. It is gratifying to see in the Southern Cultivator, from the pen of its experienced, cautious and very able editor, a like es- timate of the value of barley for winter pasture; sown in Au- gust or September, it affords good grazing from October till May. If stock are taken off in March, a good crop of seed may be harvested ; or if not all desired for seed, swine may be turn- ed on it, and for a month or two, probably nothing could bene- fit them more. Sow three bushels per acre. FOR PERMANENT PASTURES, a mixture is necessary, and a few mixtures are here given as samples ; but they may be much varied : AND OTHER FOE AGE PLANTS. 131 1. On marshy lands; Red top 6 Ibs., Tall fescue 8, Fowl meadow 10, Rough stalked meadow 7, Reed Canary 4, White clover 8, and probably our native Canary. 2. For rich dry creek bottom or cotton land ; Orchard 8, Meadow fescue 3, Hard fescue 4, Perennial rye grass 7, Italian rye grass 5, Tall oat grass 4, Yellow oat grass 3, Sweet scented vernal 3, Rough stalked meado^ 3, Red clover 3, White clover 3, Blue grass 4. 3. On hill side, and specially if sandy or gravelly ; Orchard 8, Sweet scented vernal 12, Tall oat grass 7, Downy oat grass 5, Yellow oat grass 5, Hard fescue 5, Red top 10. 4. For loamy hill top or table land ; Orchard 8, Kentucky blue grass 5, Meadow fescue 3, Perennial rye grass 5, Italian rye grass 5, Red top 2, Tall oat grass 3, Sweet scented vernal 3, Red clover 4, White clover 5. 5. For open woods with good soil ; Kentucky blue grass 5, Orchard 8, Hard fescue 5, Nodding fescue 5, Rough stalked meadow 5, Wood meadow 5, Sweet scented vernal 3, Red clover 4, White clover 4. 6. Another mixture for woodlands may consist of several species of fescue, each 4, Tall oat grass 4, Yellow oat grass 5, Terrell grass 8, Blue grass 5, Orchard grass 7 pounds. To no. 1, barn yard grass, (Panicum Crus-Galli), may be ad- ded also Panicum agrostoides and proliferum. To nos. 2, 3 and 4, native Paspalums found all over the southern States, very hardy, very nutritious, very toothsome to stock throughout summer may well be added. One of the very best of naturalized grasses, both for pasture and meadow is the Bermuda. It would do well on any good land, not marshy. I have seen Red and White clovers do well among it; and possibly some of the grasses named above might do equally as well, such as the oat grasses, red top, or wild brome. The quantities given in above mixtures are for a single acre, and may seem large, but to obtain good pastures, heavy seeding is absolutely necessary, though expensive. These mixtures, too, are arranged with a view to a variety and succession of grasses throughout the entire year for grazing. We have many very valuable natural pastures or commons well set with Eleusine, Dactyloctenium, Panicum sanguinale, anceps and others, Paspalum prsecox, Iseve, undulatum and oth- ers, Sporobolus, Cynodon, Muhlenbergias, Andropogons and other grasses, Corices, etc., aifording good natural grazing most of the year. DEFECTIVE SEEDS render heavy seeding necessary sometimes from ten to ninety per cent, of the seeds purchased failing to germinate. It is w T ell to test every lot of seed before sowing, to ascertain what per 132 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES cent-age will germinate, and to sow accordingly. And as sec ing a large farm is * T ery expensive, with bought seeds, it is a go plan to have separate lots, each with picked seed of a sing grass, for the purpose of propagating such sound seeds as may wish for mixtures or other purposes. Thus a large ai may in a few years be satisfactorily set in grasses at moden cost. Grass seeds should be carefully examined and tested t fore planting for another reason ; viz : they are often mix with seeds of undesirable and pernicious plants. Sometin they are manufactured of wood and other materials and colort or old worthless seeds are colored to resemble the fresh or n< seeds. MEADOWS. The remarks made on Bermuda grass, Johnson grass, TJ oat grass, Orchard grass and Red clover, I trust will suffice i this head. The paspalums are also good meadow grasses th re-seed the land annually. I have seen a valuable meadow these grasses alone mown for a series of years. The grass bo green and dry; is much relished by stock, and very nutritioi (See pages 86-88). CHAPTER -XII. The Silo ind JEnsila-ge. It is but a few years since the advent of these two words i] to American agricultural literature, yet to-day a work on Fo age Plants would be deemed incomplete without some men tic of them. Silo is properly a pit though now sometimes eoi structed partly, sometimes wholly above ground. Ensilage the process of preparing and preserving green forage en ^il that is by ensilaging or empitting. The word is used to desi< nate also" the forage itself so prepared. THE PROCESS. Maize, being most frequently used for making ensilage, ma be conveniently taken to illustrate the process. At a propc stage of growth the whole plants are cut near the ground, hau ed to the silo, cut into short pieces, throwned into the pit an tramped down by men as thrown in. This process is contir ued till the pit is filled and the cut forage piled and trampe far above the top of the silo. Then it is covered and heav weights placed on top 100 to 200 pounds per square foot. ] soon shrinks about one-third to one-half and if rightly manage AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 133 till all is within the silo. The covering and pit must be as near- ly air tight as practicable. This is in few words the whole pro- cess of making ensilage. THE SILO. This may be dug in the level ground, or in the side of a hill, and should be as near as possible to the stalls where the forage is to be used best under the same roof to prevent exposure of stock and men when feeding in inclement weather and to save carriage. In rock and some clays, the silo will need no lining ; but in most places, the sides and bottom should be cemented, or lined with plank, or walled up with stone or brick. Or it may be made only partly under ground, or even wholly above by raising walls sufficiently thick of brick, stone or concrete. If above ground the walls should be thick and strong, well braced and banked with earth. The size will depend upon the wishes of the farmer and may be readily calculated by any one. Well prepared ensilage will weigh about 45 pounds to the cubic foot, or about 56 pounds to the bushel ; equal to about 80 bush- els for every 100 cubic feet. So that a silo ten feet deep, 10 feet wide and 10 feet long will hold 45,000 pounds or 22 J tons or 803 bushels. Every foot of length then of such a silo will contain 80 bushels or 2J tons of matured ensilage. The num- ber of bushels any silo contains may be easily found by obtain- ing the number of cubic feet and deducting therefrom one-fifth; the remainder denotes the number of bushels. Thus, if a silo contain 1,000 cubic feet it holds 800 bushels; if 70 cubic feet 56 bushels. The silo may be constructed of logs with the spaces well chinked with clays or it may be made as the house described for sweet potatoes on page 28. But these methods are not so safe. The ensilage, when the silo is filled should be covered with a layer of straw from six to fifteen inches in thick- ness, then with planks two inches thick and of such length as to move down inside as the ensilage settles. On the plank stone or other weights should be placed. In the south it would be safer to cover the plank with ten to fifteen inches of earth well packed ; and if so covered the straw will not be required. As the forage settles, the earth on top should be trodden to close fissures and kept air tight. In this way ensilage has kept sonnd two years. VALUE OF ENSILAGE. Opinions on this subject vary considerably. But the results of many carefully conducted experiments show little or no loss of nutritive matter in changing green corn into ensilage when the corn is cut fine, or in lengths of three-eighths of an inch and closely packed so as to expel the air as perfectly as possible. 134 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES Both chemical analysis and the results of feeding confirm this statement. If the corn stalks or other plants are put in whole there is great loss ; for no amount of practicable pressure can be applied sufficient to expel the air and prevent much decompo'- sition. When the ensilage is properly prepared feeders contend for increase in its value. And it is no doubt much more valuable than the same matter would be if dried for winter and spring feeding. Jvy using it animals require veiy much less water than when fed on hay, as the latter contains only about one-sev- enth as much water as the ensilage. The water in the ensilage is warmer than that in ponds and streams and abstract little or no heat from the animal and thus much is saved ; while the heat absorbed by the cold water and out door air must be re- placed by more carbohydrates in the daily ration of the animal. Part of the material in the ensilage is rendered more digestible and easier to assimilate by the slight fermentation which takes place in the silo. If packed as above directed very little air can remain in the silo, and as soon as the oxygen in that is combined in fermentation with carbon, the fermentation must cease both for want of oxygen, from the pressure of the carbonic acid and the anti-fermentative power of the latter. To be thrifty our live stock especially the young and grow- ing require succulent food ; and by means of ensilage it is cheap- ly obtained. But corn stalks alone green or dry do not furnish all the materials needed by animals for growth and fat in win- ter and summer. Hence the necessity of some additional food. A good ration for winter is for every 500 pounds live weight 20 pounds corn ensilage and 3 pounds corn meal or cotton seed meal or oil cake per day. Wheat bran in small quantity may be used also ; but it is too poor to use to much advantage with ensilage. Shorts would be better. Corn, barley, rye or oats could be advantageously used with* it, the first two especially. ENSILAGE PLANTS. Green corn has been most generally used. Teosinte would probably be fully as valuable and vastly more productive. Both these plants, having large stems and near the bottom hard shells, should be cut in pieces not over three-eighths of inch long. When cut too long the woody parts often turning end- wise between the jaws wound the gums and tongue and cause very serious damage to the animals. All plants for ensilage are better cut when in bloom and on till the seeds begin to glaze. The southern white corn has been extensively and successfully used for ensilage. Perhaps some of the more prolific, softer shelled kinds would be better. The sugar corns are richer but smaller. The pea vine, millets, Johnson grass, sweet potato AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. 135 vines, beet tops and roots and many other things would make good ensilage. The prickly comfrey might be made very use- ful in eombinatien with pea vines or corn by facilitating a closer packing. But all should be cut short to ensure close packing. FEEDING. The silo should have movable partitions of plank. When the ensilage is to be used it should be cut from top to bottom and the partition moved up close and propped against the perpen- dicular mass. By means of these partitions a part of the silo may be filled at one time, and other parts later. Attempting to fill too great a length at once might cause great loss, for the corn or other plant must be cut rapidly and hauled as fast as cut and worked up without delay so as to prevent wilting. It seems to do better to fill only a foot or two a day than more, thus giving time to settle better. Excellent machines are now made for cutting corn and other plants into thin slices at the rate of many tons a day, the length adjustable 'fiom a quarter of an inch to one or two inches. The expense of corn ensilage is much less than that of the same quantity prepared in any other way. 136 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES TABLE I. Proximate Composition of Agricultural Products, showin the average quantity of Water, Ash, Crude Fibre, Albuminoid Carbohydrates, etc., compiled from Wolff, Knop and other; SUBSTANCE. ^ po 1 > ce y r c Q. 9" cr ? i o 5 & CD d rates, Etc. TTl r ROOTS AND TUBERS. Potato Irish 95. 0. 1. 2. 21. ( Artichoke Jerusalem 80. 0. 1. 2. 15.< Kohl Rabi 88. 1. 1. 2. 7.; Field Beets, Mangold 88.0 0. O. f 1. 9.1 Sugar Beets 81 1 3 1 15^ Ruta Bagas 870 1 1 1 1 6 9 Carrot 85.0 1.0 1.7 1.5 10.* friflnt C"^firT*of" 87 8 1 2 1 *> 9 vTldllL V_ydl 1 v/ v Turnips, (Swede) 91.5 0.8 1.0 0.8 5.9 Turnips 92.0 0,8 1.0 1.1 5.1 Parsnip 88.3 0.7 1.0 1.6 8.4 Pumpkin 94.5 1.0 1.0 1.3 2.8 SEED!*. Rice 146 05 09 75 765 Winter Wheat 14.4 2.0 3.0 13.0 67.6 Rye 14.3 2.0 3.5 11.0 69.2 Barley 14.3 2.4 8.0 9.0 5.9 Oats 14.3 3.0 10.3 2.0 0.9 Vlaize 14.4 2.1 5.5 0.0 8.0 Millet 14.0 3.0 6.4 4.5 2.1 Buckwheat 14.0 2.4 5.0 9.0 9.6 fetches 14.3 2.3 6.7 7.5 9.2 3 eas 14.3 2.5 9.2 2.4 2.3 Beans 14.5 3.5 1.5 5.5 5.5 Dentils 14.5 3.0 6.9 3.8 2.0 Duping 14.5 3.5 4.5 4.5 3.0 J*lax seed 12.3 5.0 7.2 0.5 5.0 rfcape seed 11.0 3.9 0.3 9.4 5.4 lemp seed 12.2 4.2 2.1 6.3 5.2 HAY. Meadow hay Lftermath 4.3 4,3 6.2 6.5 30.0 24.0 8.2 9.5! 1.3 45.7 AND OTHER FORAGE PLANTS. TABLE I continued. 137 SUBSTANCE. $ 1 > s- / H c Q. 3" cr ? 5 > h j ! 3 2. 5 CB * ^Q s 3 S5 1| '^ P HAY continued. Red Clover, full blossom 16.7 6. 35. 13.4 :29,9 ripe 16.7 5. 48. 9. 20.3 White Clover, full blossom 16.7 8. 25. 14. 34,3 Alsike Clover, blossom, 16.7 8.3 30. 15. 29.2 ripe 16.7 5.C 45. 10. 23.1 Lucern, young 16.7 8." 22. 19. 32.9 in blossom 16.7 6.4 40.0 14.4 22.5 Esparsette, in blossom 16.7 6.2 27. 13.3 36.7 Crimson Clover " 16.7 7.2 33.8 12.2 30.1 Yellow Medick " 16.7 6.0 26.2 14.6 36.5 Vetches " 16.7 8.3 25.5 14.2 35.3 Peas " 16.7 7.0 25.2 14.3 36.8 Italian Rye grass 14.3 7.8 16.9 8.7 51,4 /Timothy 14.3 4.5 22.7 9.7 48.8 Early meadow grass 14.3 2.4 25.9 10.1 47.2 Crested dog's-tail 14.3 5.5 22.6 9.5 48.0 Soft brome grass 14.3 5.0 31.0 14.8 35.0 Orchard grass 14.3 4.6 28.9 11.6 40.7 Barley grass 14.3 5.3 27.2 9.6 42.0 Meadow fox-tail 14.3 6.7 29.0 10.6 39.5 Tall oat grass 14.3 9.9 29.4 11.1 35.3 English Rye grass 14.3 6.5 30.2 10.2 38.9 Sweet vernal grass 14.3 5.4 31.2 8.9 40.2 Velvet grass 14.3 5.5 33.6 9.9 36.7 Kentucky blue grass 14.3 5.1 32.6 8.9 39.1 Rough meadow grass 14.3 7.1 32.6 8.4 37.6 Yellow oat grass 14.3 5.9 30.8 6.4 42.6 Quaking grass 14.3 7.4 30.3 5.2 42.8 Average of the grasses 1 4.3 5.8128.7 9.5| 41.7 138 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES Val. per ton as hay with 14. 3 per cent moisture. oc o O] > -I CM Tfi OO CO *O t CO O CM O ^f i ( OC 1>- CM lO t^ CO O CO CO CO 31 CM !> OC CO rH 'CM lO O5OCOl>-OCrflrHOOOT^THt^^O^CDCO al. per ton of dry substance. OC i i O CM CM CM Nutritive ratio. Tf iO OC CO CO CO CO CO -; O OC O CO CM CO ^! CM co o ^3 ct" CM ^ 10 co co ^ LO oc oi Nitrogen x 6.25, ! ^ ^ f- 1 ^ ^. ^ albuminoids. CM OC CM (^3 CM OC I-- t- C>! i-- O r-i i-O O Ci < 1C O T-I O iO O CO lO -O CM T i rH i I rH C Crude fibre. | CO CM CM rH CM O O CM C5 Oi CO ^ rH Ci OC CO O 1 rHG- CO CO 1C CM CO ^T TJH CO CO rH rH rH r I rH X) O iO r I rH CM CO I" Cu> CO Cft CO CO *O rH C !> O IO L CO rH r- 1 rH O O t- in O O q -f< O O CO OS O5 GO CO O5 p CO CO CM CO O <* CM O5 rH O t~ <* Oi O5 CO CO O5 CO CO -F -f -rfT T^ S^' TJH CO' ^* of CO* CN rH > O L id O t-- r^ O* O O IO T^" O id ^ ^ Hr _, r _ lrH H-rHrHHrH IT irHrHTHi IrHrHrHrHrHrH rHrHrHrHrHrHrH O X) t^- t- !> C^-l J>- 1O O CD wi O OO rH L CM_ CO Ci C5 C<1 "* H ^ ^ *O CO* 1>- -O QO !> Oi O O rH rH ^ CO Tfl O 'CO 1O CO O CO CC O 'CO Ci X rH iO id CO" t" CO* CO t^ Hp ^ CO 05 CO CO CN 05 00 O O5 t- CO iO rH t- 00 CO iq GO CO CM O p TJJ p > CO CO rH rH rH CO O C5 rH OO OO O !> *O O5 CO *O "Hr 1 t^ CC "HH t^" CO CO r-i CC rH O t~- ^ Ol C> ; 1 rH L~- CO 'O rH O 1>~ CO CM CM ""^ OO rH O5 rH 'T *q O5 CC t~ CO O t O rH rH O5 "xH l>- ^ C* O 1^-' CO* t^ ^ GO* ^ O CO CO* CO* Tf O1 rH O CO t^ rH CO rH O* rH 0-i rfi rH Ol" O1 OS O O-l O GO OO ^ O C5 T I C5 CO D^ rH ^ L^ ^ CO O O C-l Ift L^ O1 CO t ! *O -HH ^> Y}~ ^ -f iO rH 05 ^ 00 CO 05 iq O 00 01 t- r-j C5 '^H p Ol NOb-lOOTflSrHCqS O rH CO* 05* 1> CM* CO t-' !>' GO' C CM LQ t>- CO O O CO IO ^T t>- rH IO t- CO -Hri O5 ^O 1C t>- -O iO Tjn rH CO 00 05 CO O 00 q rH CO C- cz cq GO io^ t>- i>- cq t>- iq_ o oq ^ co ^ os iq oo co r-j rH co 01 CM co co *""* CO* cocococqcococo co cq co cocococqcococqcocqcocococococococococo ' ' * * " * " * * ' " * * I g rab gra *. S^ 3 ?-' tD O bJO % "^O g W S CQ S O! & $ coo oc &X SD ^ * s I. J 32^ S*.fc 'g'tf-S aij 140 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES I COCOT^CO^CNCOrHrHrHOCOCO"Ocd<^rHi^Oi-Hi liOCO CO "CO r-j 00 - C^l 00 C5 O >-O O CO-iO ^f ^f O CO CO CO O CO iQ s>< 1 O ^ CO CO CM CO CM !> O - G "H f^ Ot> <^^ c^) CO CO CT^ ^O ^^^ CT^J ^3^ GT^J r ^ CO *-O CO C^l G^ OO CO *^^ H (73 -o ^t 1 oc T i to ^oo o co ^ o i^- o o o ^r 1 o o co i>- o oo i>- KI - COCOC^lG^C^O'CiOOiOliOCiCi T^^OO Oi Oi T-H iO 1 , o 33 o o (7Qi^CIC^C^CNIC^ co id" !H ^_i Q * ' ' " o ~z CN oo oo O ^ CC' c'J T i r-i O oo- -> O co O oo co co i^ r- :Jo" O ^ CN| t^ Ol O CO CO O 'N rH O O ^ ** O r> O !>; r-i OO OO f>] Oj ^ N- 1^- !> CO CO "^ CO C^' O^ OO CO ""^ ^ C 1 "^ ("^ O ^ '-^ '-^ *-O "^ "^ 1 ' II cocococococococococococococococococooococococo ^ - 1 gl r> ^u -S be x o iJO C3 o :I2 r _ ^_oS2 -% &C ti_Qc; "'D > 82 ^ * f| Sf g- -B f.g | . g.J.^fe>^ ^^15^ ^ - H Q ^5S-5^Hffi INDEX. 141 NAME. INDEX uF SYSTEMATIC NAMES. PAGB . NAME. Achillea millefolia 20 . Agrostis vulgaris 40 alba 4Q perennans 40 elata (ciigpar) 40 sea bra 40 stoloniferera var. latifolia 41 linearis 41 Aira flexuosa 78 ctespitosa 78 Alopecurus geniculatus pratensis Ampliicarpum Purshii Fioridanum Andropogoii Virginicus macrourus 112 Elliottii 112 scoparius 112 nielanocarpus 112 Anthoxanthum odoratum Arachis hypogsea Arrbenatherum avenaccum ov Arundinaria ginantea (macrosperma) 69 Eragrostis reptans poseoides , var. megastacliia pilosa Purshii conferta tenuis capillaris" pectinacea" 4 " tecta Astragalus A vena pratenis flavesceus striata prsecox sativa elatior L. Batatus edulis Boehmeria nivea Bouteloua hirsuta Brassica Brpmus unioloides bt^raderi \V T i2denowii carinatus secalinus racemosus ciliatus var. pnrgans Kalmi, Buchloa dactyloides Calamagrostis Canadensis coarctata arenaria Carex stricta Cynosurus cristatus Centrosema Ceratochloa unioloides Cichorium intybus endivum Cladium eflu.su m Clitoria Coix lacryma Crotalaria Cyiiodoi> dactylon linearis Cenchrus tribuloides echinatua Cyperus repens esculent'us Dactylis s^lomerata Dactyloctenlum Egyptiacum Danthonia spicata sericea Desm odium Dolichos lablab Chinensis var. melanoplitlialmns multiflorus Soja Eatonia Pennsylvanica obtusata Eleusine Indica Elymus Virginicus striatus Canadensis arenarius 69 7:' 79 7, 79 80 24 29 51 126 65 67 67 67 .-,1 39 39 39 32 hi 16 65 20 21 16 126 ' i' 41 110 110 30 -.' 58 1" ^ Eriamhus alopecuroides contorfus brevibarbis strictus Euchloena luxurians Fagopyrum Festuca pratensis elatior ciuriuscula rubra ovina tenella myurus loliacea nutans unioloides Galactia Qlyceria nervata pallida fluitans rigida Canadensis Glycine hispida Gyrnnostichum hystrix Helianthus annuus tuberosus Hierochloa Seneca alpina Holcus lanatus moll is Hordeum pratense pusillum jubatum vulgarevar.hex- astichum, dis- ticliuin Ipomea batatus Lathyrus venosus myrtifolius odoratns latifolius Leers iajoryzoides Virgiiiica hexandra lenticularis Lens Leptochloa mucronata Lespedeza repens violacea 78 12 16 16 16 1!; 5! 53 IT 74 71 77 1 M nata i >i color Lolium perenne Italicum annuum arvense tumuleutum multifiorum Luplnus Manisurus granularis Medicago sativa lupuiina maculata denticulata scutellata Melica mutica cllffusa PAGE. 58 59 59 59 59 59 59 59 114 114 114 U4 123 63 64 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 16 52 52 53 53 53 19 75 20 20 83 83 81 83 71 71 71 72 24 9 9 9 9 32 33 33 33 10 49 10 10 10 10 10 10 12 75 76 77 77 77 78 1 110 3 3 4 4 52 52 142 IKDKX. Muhl ciibcrgia Me] ilotus officiiialis alba Milium effusum Muhlenbergia diffusa Mexicana Onobrychis saliva Oplismenus Oryza sativa Panicum sanguinale virgatum filiform e aiiceps amarum capillare divergens veruccosum latifolium clandestinum pauci flora m viseidum dichotomum glabrum obtusum Texaiium proliferum agrostoides Crus-Gaili jumentorum iniliaceuiii gibbum divaricatum Paspalum Iceve praecox racemulosum ciliatilblium distielmm digitaria vaginatum Walter! fiuitans undulatum Penicillaria spicata Petaiostemon Phalaris intermedia var. augusta arundinacea Canariensis Phasaolus perennis diversifolitas helvolus sinuatus vulgaris naiius lunatus muitiflorus caracalla Phleuni pra tense Phragmites communis Pisum sativvini Plantago major lanceolata Poa pratensis compressa annua cristata flexuosa trivahs nemoraiis brevifolia alsodes debilis 52 sylvestris 57 6 serotiiia 57 5 Psoralea 9 84 Richardsonia seabra 14 38 Rottboelia rngosa iio 39 corrugata HO 8 cylindrica iln 97 Secale cereale 70 34 Setaria Italica, or Ger- 88 manica 1(5 90 setosa I OS 91 verticillnta 1(18 91 glauca 108 91 viridis 108 91 corrugata loj 92 composita !(. 92 Sinanis 126 92 92 Soja hispicla Solanum tuberosum 19 29 92 Sorghum vulgare 114, 115 , ll(i 92 avenaceum 114 92 nutans H4, 117 92 secuiidum 114 92 cernuum 115, 115, ii{ 93 saccharatum 115, H 93 iiij^riim 116 95 halapeiise US, H8 97 98 100 S partin a'lpoly stach y a Sporobolus Indicus Stenotaphrura Ameri- 40 37 103 canura 110 ]03 Stylosanthes 10 86 Symphitum a s p e r r i- 87 mum 21 87 Tillandsia usncoides 3d 87 Tricuspis sesleroides 58 87 Tritblium pratense 5 87 arvense 7 87 reflexum 7 88 re pens 7 88 88 procumbens agrarium 8 8 109 Caroliniana 8 8 stoloniferum 8 medium 8 84 incarnatum 8 85 erectum 8 86 16 16 hybridum Tripsacum dactyloides Trisetum prlustre 8 112 78 16 molle 79 16 16 pubesceus Triticum vulgare 79 70 16 repeus 70 16 caninum 70 16 16 compositum .Uniola latil'olia 70 68 35 68 9 paniculata gracilis nitida ; 68 68 68 21 Urtica nivea 29 21 Viehia sativa 9 53 fab a 9 53, 55 Americana 10 55 Caroliniana 10 55 acutifolia 10 55 micrantha 10 56 hirsuta 10 56 56 56 56 Zea Mays Zizania aquatica miliacea 124 33 33 INDEX. 143 GENERAL INDEX. African cane, IK Alabama guinea grass, 11< Alcandia, 11" Alfalfa, Alpine holy grass, American canary grass, Annual rye grass 7 Artichoke, Jerusalem 2( Barley grass, wild 7" squirrel-tail 7] common 72 Barn-yard grass, 97 Beach grass, 3 Bean, Windsor horse kidney, common 16 string, pole, snap 16 dwarf, or field 16 Sieva, Lima, butter 16 scarlet runner. Spanish 16 snail-flowered Egyptian or black China black-eyed many-flowered Beard grass, Virginia cluster flowered finger spiked silver purple wood Beet, Bengal grass, Besom grass, Beehive medick, Beggar lice, Bellfoiintain, Black moss, Blue grass, Ky. true Blue joint grass, Bokhara clover, Borage family, Borden's, or Burden's Bottle brush grass, Bottle grass, Brazilian clover, Bristle grass, 53, grass 16 16 16 16 16 109 112 112 112 112 126 105 111 4 12 14 30 53 55 39 5 21 40 75 108 2 108 Broccoli, 126 Broom grass, 65, 110, 112 California 67 smooth 67 soft 67 fringed 67 Buckwheat family, 30 Buckwheat, 30 Buflalo grass, 50 Bur grass, 110 Bush clover, creeping " 10 purple 10 downy 10 hairy 10 headed 10 Japan 10 Cabbage, 126 Cale or kale, 126 California timothy, 84 Canary grass, American 84 Steward's 84 reed 85 common 85 ane, large 70 small, switch 70, 103 Carpet grass, 37, 86 Catch -fly grass, 33 Cat-tail millet, 109 Cauliflower, 126 Cheat, chess 67 upright 67 soft 67 Chiccory, 20 Chiendent, 42 hufa, 31 lover, Brazilian California, bur, yellow 3 sweet 5 tree 5 Bokhara 5 red ^ 5 sapling 6, 8 medium 6 smaller 6 rabbit-foot 7 stone buffalo 7 144 INDEX. running buffalo white 7 low hop 8 yellow hop 8 Carolina 8 zigzag 8 crimson Alsike 8 prairie 8 bush, purple 10 Japan 10 . downy 10 hairy 10 headed 10 Mexican 10 Spanish 14 Florida 14 Cock's- foot grass, 97 Cock-spur grass, 110 Coco grass, 31 Comfrey, prickly 21 Common millet, 100 Composite family, 19 Convolvulus family, 24 Corn beads, 126 Corn, Guinea 115, 116 broom 115 chocolate, Doura 115 chicken 115 white Egyptian 116 Indian ' 124 Cotton seed, 126 Crab grass, 88 slender 91 prolific, sprouting93 Creeping soft grass, 83 Crested dog's-tail grass, 84 Crop, crab grass 47 Crow-foot grass, 47, 48 Darnel, many flowered Dennett's grass, 74 Dochan, dukhun, dura 105, 114 Dog's-tail grass, crested 84 Dog's-tooth grass, 41, 47 Downy oat grass, 79 Downy persoon, 79 Dropseed grass, 38 Durva, daub, doob grass 41, 42 Early wild oat grass, 79 East Indian millet, 109 Eaton's grass, 59 Egyptian grass, 118 Egyptian millet, 109 Endive, ' 21 English blue grass, 65 Ensilage, making 132 plants 134 value 133 feeding 134 machines 134 Esparsette, ; 8 Evergreen grass, 63, 80 False rice, 32 Feather grass, 49 Fescue grass, 62 meadow 63 tall 63 fertile 64 infertile 64 hard 64 red 65 sheep 65 small 65 spiked 65 darnel 60 nodding 65 wild 68 Fiorin, faureen 41 Flat stalked meadow grass, 53 Floating fox-tail grass, 34 Florida clover, 14 Fly away grass, 43 Folle avoine, 33 Fowl meadow grass, 52, 56 Kox-tail grass, 108, 114 bristly 108 green 108 large 108 wrinkled 108 French luzerne 2 Gilbert's relief grass, 84 Goober, goora 9 INDEX. 145 Grass family, Grass nut, Grass seed, planting size, depth time to sow for orchard not mixed t Grasses for winter pasture per mane i meadows defective seed Great millet, Guatemala grass, Guinea corn, grass, Hair grass, wood tufted Hard grass, Hedge-hog grass, Herd's grass, Holy grass, alpine Horse millet, Imphee, Index, systematic general Indian corn, Indian dropseed grass. Indian grass, Indian millet, Japan clover, Japan millet, Job's tears, Johnson grass, Joint grass, Jovaree, June grass, Lentil, common Lespedeza, creeping two colored Long moss. Lotus tribe, Love grass, Lucerne, Lupine, Lyme grass, Virginia slender hairy 32 Canada 75 30 Siberian 75 127 soft 75 i 128 upright, sea 75 w 128 Maize, 1 24 d 129 Mangelwurtzel, 126 tosow!29 Manna grass, nerved 52 ture 130 pale 52 asture 130 132 common, floating 53 Manna grass, 107 d 133 Marsh grass, 40 114 Marsh oat grass, 78 123 Mat grass, 39 115 Meadow grass, smooth 53 98 annual 55 40 rough stalked 56 78 wood 56 78 weak 56 110 sylvan 57 110 fowl 57 35 creeping 58 83 strong scented 58 83 pungent 58 109 slender 59 115, 116 hair panicled 59 141 comb 59 143 Meadows, 132 124 Meadow oat grass, 79 38 soft grass, 81 117 spear grass. 52 114, 115 Means grass, 118 10 Medick, 2 109 black 3 126 spotted 3 118 beehive 4 87 snail 4 114 M'elic grass, 52 53 Melilot, white 5 10 Mesket, meskit 51 10 Meslin, 71 12 Mesquit, 50, 51 30 hairy 51 1 Mexican clover, 14 59 Milfoil, 20 2 Milk ^etch, Carolina 9 1 Tennessee 9 74 Millet, common, cultivated 98 7 74 Thaer's culture 101 146 INDEX. German, or Italian 105 Hungarian, golden 105 Indian, great 114 Polish 107 Texas 108 Pearl, east Indian "J Egyptian, Japan > 109 horse, cat- tail J Millets, the '103 Dictionaries, encyclo- pedias 104 Bible and Pliny on 104 Millet grass, wild 83 Moha de Hongrie 107 Molse, 114 Munro grass, Mustard, 126 Nagara, 114 Nettle family, 29 Nightshade family, 29 Nimble Will grass, 38 Nut grass, 31 Oat, common 79 red rust proof 79 potato 79 water 33 Oat grass, wild 78 taller wild 78 marsh 78 common 79 downy 79 yellow 79 . purple wild 79 early wild 79 tall meadow 79, 80 Old fog grass, 78 Old witch grass, 91 Orchard grass, 59 Panic grass, tall smooth 90 double-head, va- riable 91 bitter 91 hair stalked 91 autumn 92 warty 92 broad leaved 92 hidden flowered 92 few flowered 92 tfticky 92 polymorphous 92 smooth 92 obtuse flowered 92 prolific, sprouting93 Texas 93 agrostis-like 95 Paspalum, smooth erect 87 early 87 stemmed 87 hairy slender 87 twin, joint 87 finger shaped 87 sheathed 87 Waiter's 88 floating 88 purple Pea, common, English garden 9 sweet, everlasting 9 milk 16 butterfly 16 spurred butterfly 16 southern field 16 whipporwill 17 red ripper 17 black 17 cow 1 7 Japan southern relief 19 Pearl millet, 109 Pea, nut, ground Pencil flower, Persoon, downy white Pigeon weed, 14 Finder, 9 Pineapple family 30 Plantain family 21 greater 2 1 buckhorn, English 21 Plume grass 114 Poison rye grass, 77 Polish millet, 107 Poor Joe, 14 Potato, Irish 29 sweet vine hay 25 culture 25 varieties 25, 26 soil for 26 INDEX. 147 harvesting 26 time to harvest 27 seed, planting 27 product, saving 28 Preface, iii Prolific crab grass, rice Pulse family, 1 Pungent meadow grass, Purple wild oat, . wood grass, Quack, quitch grass 70. Randall grass, 63 Rattle box, 1 snake grass, 53 Red top grass, 40 tall 58 Reed canary grass, 85 grass, common 68 sea sand 39 Rescue grass, 65 Ribbon grass f 85 Rib grass 21 Rice, 34 false wild Indian prolific 33 Oregon, Pampas, high- land 115 Rye, 70 wild 74 grass, English 75 perennial 75 Italian 76 annual 77 poison 77 many flowered 78 Sagina, 114 Sainfoin, 8 Salem grass, 81 Sweet scented vernal grass, 83 Switch grass, 90 Saw grass, 32 Scutch grass, ' 41 Sesame grass, 112 Seneca grass, Shining eragrostis, 59 Silo, 132-3 Small cane, 103 Smut grass, 37 Snail medick, 4 Soft grass, woolly 81 meadow 81 creeping 83 Sorgho, Sorghum, oat like 114 nodding . 114 sweet 115 goose neck 117 Sorgsamur, 114 Southern bent grass, 40 field pea, 16 relief pea 19 Spanish clover, 14 moss, 30 trefoil, Spear grass, 53 southern 55, 59 branching 58 short leaved " 56 wood 56 sylvan 57 Spiked grass, broad leaved 68 slender 68 shining 68 Sprouting crab grass, Stewart's canary grass, Strong scented meadow grass 58 Succory, wild 20 garden 21 Sugar cane, African, Chi- nese 115-6 black 116 Sun flower, 20 Table of grasses compared, 61 of forage plants, 136, 140 Tall meadow oat grass, 80 oat grass, ' 80 Taller wild oat grass, 78 Tall red top grass, 58 Tare, 9 Teosinte, Terrell grass, 74 Texas crab grass, 81 velvet mesquit, millet, Tickle grass, Tickseed, Timothy grass, Trefoil, Spanish tick, tribe Tree clover, Tufted hair grass, 108 40 12 35 2 10 5 78 148 INNEX. Turnips, 126 Tussock grass, 32 Twitch grass, 70 Vanilla grass. 81 Velvet grass, European 81 lawn, mesquit 83 Vernal grass, sweet 82 Vetch, common 9 tribe 9 American 10 acute leaved 10 Carolina 10 hairy 10 small flowered 10 Vetchling, 9 Virginia beard grass, 110 cut grass, 33 Water grass, 86 oats, 33 pursly, 14 Way bread, 21 Wheat, 70 Egyptian 70 Chinese, ivory 115 Wheat grass, bearded 70 White grass, 32 small flowered 33 White melilot, 5 timothy, 81 top irrass, 40, 78 Wild millet grass, 84 oat grass, 78 rice, 33 rye, 74 Wire grass, 38, 41, 47. 55 Wood grass, 117 purple 112 Wood hair grass, 78 Woolly bearded grass, 114 soft grass, 81 Yard grass, 47 Yarrow, 20 Yellow oat grass, 79 Yorkshire white grass. 81 THOS. ATKINSON, President. J. T. McMAHAN, Sect'j'. Co-operatife Commission to. On the Rochdale Plan, under the name and style of the SOUTH-WESTERN CO-OPERA- TIVE ASSOCIATION, f BE III SAL! OF COTTON, SUGAR, TOBACCO AND All Products of the Soil, and the Purchase of Supplies, (The usual Commission 2% per cent, charged.) PRINCIPAL BRANCH OFFICE, NEW ORLEANS, LA. Address THOS. J. CARVER, Gen'l Manager. 60 CAEONDEKET STREET. " SOUTHERN LIVE-STOCK JOURNAL. STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI. in its ^ixth "Voln.ino. An 8 page Paper and the Best Authority upon All Subjects pertaining to Grass and Clover Culture in the South, and of all the various Breeds of Live Stock, SUBSCRIPTION: - - $2 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE. Specimen Copies Free. BY E. E> S PINKS, Surgeon Dentist Keeps a selected stock of Dentist's goods constantly on hand, such as are us ad and needed by the profession every day. Teeth, Gold, Amalgams, Forceps, Tooth powders, Mouth wash and every thing used by the profession. ' UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY