REPORT ON GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 157 
REPORT OF THE BOTANIST AND CHEMIST ON 
GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 
The importance of the grasses in all systems of agriculture can hardly 
be overestimated. Indeed, the proportion of meadow and pasture lands 
in any region is a good criterion cf the agricultural wealth of that region. 
In some portions of our country the importance of the grass crops has 
been overlooked in the desire to realize immediate results from special 
crops. The result has generally been impoverished land and too fre- 
quently an impoverished people. The farmer who has an abundance of 
pasturage and meadow land has the elements of wealth in his hands. 
Cattle and stock can be raised on the grass, and they return to the land 
those fertilizing materials which, judiciously employed, keep the land 
always in good condition and give sure and reliable returns. 
Intelligent and enterprising agriculturists in all parts of the country 
are now awake to the importance of this subject, and are anxiously in- 
quiring into the value and adaptation of different kinds of grasses for 
their use. 
The difference of soil and climate in different portions of our extensive 
country are such as to require the cultivation of a large variety of grasses. 
In some sections the rigor of climate is such that it is necessary to 
stable and feed cattle for six months of the year. In other sections, and | 
particularly in the Gulf States, stock can obtain their living in the field 
not only in summer, but during the winter season also, provided they 
have access to grasses which make their growth at that season. There 
is a class of grasses which in the Southern and Southwestern States 
seem adapted to this purpose, and which are commonly known as winter 
grasses. These are mostly grasses of a rather coarse structure, and are 
chiefly valuable before they send up their flowering stalks, which are 
usually harsh and innutritious. Mr. C. W. Howard, in his treatise ‘On 
the Cultivation of the Grasses and Forage Plants at the South,” says: 
One of the most marked and singular advantages of the South is its ability to grow 
rasses which may be pastured in the winter. It is a blessing of climate which we 
hae not yet appreciated. * * * By the aid of the winter grasses it is perfectly 
practicable to raise colts, cattle, and sheep throughout a large portion of the. South 
without other cost than the interest on land and the value of thesalt. * * * There 
is no adequate substitute for winter-grass pastures. Oats, barley, and rye may be 
grazed, but the stock must be taken from them at a season when the necessity is most 
pinching, and, besides, they must be sowed annually, whichis expensive. * * * In 
this connectien it will not be amiss to make some remarks on winter pastures gener- 
ally. They must not be pastured when the ground is wet; at such times all stock 
must be removed from them. They must not at any time be grazed too closely. Every- 
body knows how to treat a rye or barley lot. It is well known that if stock bite into 
the crown of the plant it will be killed. Winter-grass pastures must be treated in 
the same way as grain pasture. The temptation to transgress in this particular is 
very great. When all other vegetable matter is dead, live stock become almost crazy 
for green food, and they are suffered by the sympathizing owner to remain while a 
particle of green food is visible. As a consequence of this practice persisted in, the 
grass is killed. It will be better to buy fodder if it be necessary, rather than allow a 
practice so ruinous to the farmer. 
Another class of grasses are those which begin to grow late in the 
season and flourish through the dry and hot summer and autumn. Some 
of these grasses furnish an abundant yield, which may be cut several 
times during the season. 
In order to test the value of the principal grasses and forage plants 
