48 



JOHNSON GRASS — {Andropognon sorghum /lalepetise.) — Meadows and 

 Pasture. 

 Space for a description of Johnson grass is given in this bulletin 

 mainly for the purpose of warning Tennessee farmers against it. While 

 it makes excellent hay and furnishes a large amount of grazing it is at 

 the same time one of the most troublesome weeds that can be introduced 



upon a farm. If one wishes 

 to raise nothing but hay; if 

 he has no regard for the rights 

 of his neighbors; if he expects 

 never again to grow tillage 

 crops on his farm, then the 

 wisdom of sowing Johnson 

 grass may be commended. 

 Otherwise it should be left 

 severely alone for no time will 

 completely eradicate it when 

 once well set upon good land. 

 It has a thick fleshy root stock 

 that penetrates the soil in 

 every direction and throws up 

 a culm from every joint. If a 

 single piece of root an inch 

 long is left in the ground it 

 will be the prolific mother of 

 a numerous progeny of stalks 

 and roots within a year. It is 

 possessed of a strange and ex- 

 traordinary vitality. A barrel 

 of salt poured upon a bed of 

 it eight feet square did not destroy the roots. Within a month the salt 

 disappeared, leaving a briny surface, but tbe invincible roots sent up an 

 army of numerous stalks that waved their flags in victory over the bed 

 that was intended to be their grave. 



The only possible way to keep Johnson grass in subjection, so far as 

 the writer knows, is to pasture it with hogs and never sufTer the grass to 

 go to seed. Frequent plowing of the land and bringing the roots to 

 the surface so that the hogs may find them readily will assist in keeping it 

 down. One of its greatest virtues is that hogs will thrive upon its succu- 

 lent roots which they seem to prefer even to artichokes. They never tire 

 in searching for them. 



SOILS — Rich, well drained, calcareous soils and especially rich allu- 

 vial soils will grow this grass most luxuriantly, but it will thrive on a 

 sandy dune, in a barren field, on a rocky ledge, wherever it can find a 

 handful of dirt, and it will even flourish in the bottom of a gully. It 

 knows not how to fail. In a southern climate it will grow on any spot 

 and will resist the severest droughts, withstand the coldest weather of 

 southern winters, and make a vigorous growth where but few other plants 



I oh lis 



-AtuilOfxIirt 



lull,-/),' 



