The Grasses, Fresh and Cured. 



cultivation of the cotton crop. Now that mixed farming is gain- 

 ing friends in that region, some of the many grasses which grow 

 readily there are receiving attention, only a few of which can be 

 mentioned. 



Teosinte is a giant grass, somewhat resembling the sorghum 

 plant. Stubbs, of the Louisiana Station, l reports a yield of over 

 fifty tons of green teosinte forage per acre. This plant is too 

 tropical in character to hare a forage value outside a belt border- 

 ing the gulf. 



Millo-maize is a variety of sorghum which succeeds in the south- 

 ern portion of our country. At the Louisiana Station, 2 a yield of 

 thirteen tons of cured forage and thirty-nine bushels of seed was 

 obtained from one acre. Bermuda grass is now common in the 

 South, spreading by both seed and creeping stems. Tracy, of the 

 Mississippi Station, 3 reports a yield of from two to four tons of 

 Bermuda hay per acre in two cuttings. Bermuda grass is useful 

 for forage and pasture, its sod resembling in some measure that 

 formed by Kentucky blue grass at the North. 



Numerous grasses can be grown with profit at the South. 4 With 

 a large list of true grasses and legumes available for forage pur- 

 poses, there seems no reason why the Southern states should not 

 become a favorite region for stock growing. 



274. Sorghum. The sorghum plant, being more difficult of 

 cultivation in the humid regions than Indian corn, gives way to 

 the latter in the production of green forage. At the Pennsylvania 

 Station, 5 Armsby, studying this plant for soiling purposes, con- 

 cludes that it has no special value for that state. Amber-cane 

 sorghum gave a yield of but little over ten tons of green forage 

 per acre, while dent corn under similar conditions returned from 

 ten to fifteen tons. In the semi- arid region of the Southwest, 

 sorghum grows with great vigor, withstanding drought and drying 

 winds remarkably well. Because of these characteristics and the 

 abundant nutriment contained in stems, leaves and seed heads, 

 the sorghum plant is destined to occupy a prominent place in the 



* Bui. 19. 



2 Bui. 22. 



3 Bui. 20. 



4 Farmers' Bui. 18, U. S. Dept. Agr. 



Kept. 1889. 



