.FORAGE PLANTS FOR SOUTHERN STATES. 93 



tliat year the same 5 States liad increased their average yield to 1.66 

 tons per acre, wliile the average for the entire country was only 1.32 

 tons. The increase in acreage has fully kei)t pace witli the increased 

 tonnage, and in nearly all of the Southern States the importation of 

 Northern hay has practically ceased. 



The work which has been accomplished has demonstrated that a 

 large number of grasses and forage plants can be cultivated profitably 

 for hay or pasture in all the Southern States, and Southern planters are 

 now taking advantage of the facts thus gained to broaden their 

 meadows, improve their pastures, and fertilize their fields. 



The forage plants of which the success is assured having been 

 treated fully in Farmers' Bulletin No. 18, it remains to consider in this 

 article those of which the value is not yet established, or whose merits 

 do not place them among the most important forage plants for the 

 South. The plants which, according to the experiments referred to 

 above, are classed as of secondary importance are the following: 



Grasses. — Caue (Armidinaria tecta), Indian beard {Chrysopogon ser- 

 rulatus), everlasting (EriocMoa annulata), Mexican everlasting (E. 

 aristata), Para {Panicum harhinode), showy panic (P. sanguinale), Anjan 

 {Pennisetum cenchroides), and Texas blue grass {Poa arachnifera). 



Leguminous plants. — Beggar weed {Desmodium molle), flat pea [Lathy- 

 rus sylvestris), and soja bean {iSoJa hispida). 



Cane {Artmdinaria tecta). — Cane is one of the common wild grasses 

 of the whole conntry south of the Ohio Eiver, except in the sandy 

 lands of the pine woods. It has a woody, perennial stem which grows 

 from a few inches to 20 or 30 ft. in height, and, as its leaves are ever- 

 green, they furnish a valuable supplement to the winter pastures, and 

 thousands of animals have almost no other winter food. The cane is 

 seldom found except along creek banks and on swampy ground, and 

 its growth is usually so scattering and so much exertion is needed to 

 secure a sufiticient supply that it can do little more than sustain life, 

 and is of no value for fattening or milch animals. None of the many 

 attempts at its cultivation have been successful. 



Indian beard grass {Chrysopogon serrulatus). — This is a perennial 

 grass, the seed of which was imported from India in 1889, and which 

 l)romises to be a valuable species for dry uplands. Although nearly 

 related to the native broom sedge, it starts into growth much earlier 

 in the spring, produces a heavier growth of leaves, and will yield two 

 cuttings of fair hay, besides a considerable amount of late pasturage. 

 It has been entirely free from attacks of blight and other fungus dis- 

 eases, and is spreading well by self-sown seed. It grows from 4 to 5 

 ft. high, branching widely, and more than half the weight of the hay 

 is made up of the leaves, the stems being quite slender. Tlds seems 

 to be the most valuable of the many sorts received from India, but as 

 the amount of seed sent us was very small it has not yet been planted 

 on a scale sufficiently large to justify its recommendation for general 

 cultivation. 



