601 
and great confidence is indulged that a discovery has been made which 
will prove of great interest and value to agriculture as well as to the 
paper-making industry. 
RicE IN MARYLAND.—A farmer of Wicomico County, Maryland, 
(eastern shore,) reports that from one quart of rice, planted in deep, 
black soil, he raised twenty-four quarts, weighing twenty-eight pounds. 
It was planted about the middle of April, in rows 18 inches apart, and 
cut October 27. Single grains produced from five to twenty-five stalks, 
from 34 to 5 feet high. 
NOTES ON BERMUDA GRASS (Cynodon dactylon) IN THE SouTH.—Dr. 
St. Julian Ravenel, of South Carolina, states that by the use of nitrates 
and alkalies in solution he produced hay from Bermuda grass at the 
rate of sixteen tons to the acre. 
Planters at the South have considered this grass a pest, but in the 
present condition of affairs the old notions are being revised and the 
grass considered a blessing on some of the needy plantations. The 
great objection to it has been that it is hard to eradicate; nevertheless, 
at all times its reliability for a hay-crop and for grazing in the hot cli- 
mate of the South has been well understood. Dr. Howard, of Georgia, 
an authority on grasses at the South, thinks that where Bermuda grass 
has thoroughly taken possession of the soil it will force the owner to 
raise live stock or abandon theland; and thatif the worn soil is ever to 
be restored it will be by sheep and Bermuda grass, or grass of similar 
characteristics. In passing, it may be in place to refer to Dr. Howard’s 
opinion of Bermuda grass as expressed in one of the annual reports. 
of the then Bureau of Agriculture: 
It will live on land so poor as to be incapable of supporting other valuable grasses, 
though its value is in proportion to the fertility of the soil. It seems to be determined 
that below the mountainous parts of the Southern States, if stock be kept away from 
Bermuda grass during the summer and autumn, although the ends of the grass may 
be nipped by frost, that there will be sufficient grass underneath to feed stock during 
the winter. This being the case, it must stand unrivaled as a grazing-grass in the 
Southern States, taking into the account the whole year, both summer and winter. 
On very rich land it grows tall enough to be made into hay, and the hay is of the best 
quality. 
The same writer quite recently published the statement that there 
are thousands of acres of land well set in Bermuda grass in the middle 
counties of Georgia; that the cotton-planters, who are wholly indiffer- 
ent to stock-raising, still detest the grass because it is hard to kill, and 
interferes with their staple. He says that for spring, summer, and 
autumn grazing he has seen nothing equal to it in Old England, New 
England, or the West; if cut in August, it gives very good winter- 
grazing, horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs all being fond of it. Mr. How- 
ard has so thorough a faith in the excellencies of this grass that he asks 
the question, ‘‘ Why should men go West when they can accomplish 
such results at the South?” 
Bermuda grass is propagated by roots and not by seeds. The smallest 
fragment of root will grow with a slight covering of earth. A single 
shoot will sometimes run 10 feet or more in a single season on rich land, 
each point putting out roots. An agricultural journal of Alabama 
recommends the following mode of planting this grass: 
Break the land well and harrow up fine, then cut your Bermuda sod into small bits, 
say one inch square. Drop these bits over the ground 3 or 4 feet apart and roll down 
level with a heavy roller. If your sod is scarce, you may make your pieces much 
smaller than an inch square; every root with an eye init will grow if put into the 
ground. In cases where no roller is at hand, the dropper of the sod may make all right 
by treading upon each bit as he drops it. It is always best to start Bermuda in land 
