284 Practical Farming 



an excellent mixture with red top on such lands. There 

 are others of the Poa genus of grasses, but the foregoing 

 include all that are of much value to the farmer. 



There is no grass about which there has 

 Johnson |^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^ diversity of opinion than the 



grass generally known as Johnson or Means 

 grass. It is closely aUied to the sorghums and was long 

 known as Sorghum halapense^ but of late years it has been 

 assigned to the genus Andropogon, and is Andropogon 

 halapense. It is a tall growing perennial grass that sends 

 strong underground stems in every direction and also 

 makes seed of large size freely, which are scattered by the 

 birds and the overflow of streams so that when the plant 

 once gets established in small amount in a section it 

 rapidly spreads in every direction and becomes a serious 

 pest to the hoed crops. 



Johnson grass is not hardy north of central Virginia, 

 and becomes of greater value as we go southward. Of 

 its value as a forage crop, there can be but one opinion in 

 a soil and climate that suits it, for it makes a nutritious 

 hay, though rather coarse, and can be mown three times 

 or more in a season. Its aggressive nature is the one 

 fault against it. In some sections of Mississippi and 

 Alabama, where at first it was considered a curse, the 

 general opinion now seems to be that it has been a blessing 

 to the country in compelling the farmers who formerly 

 devoted their sole attention to cotton to go into stock 

 raising. 



By a thorough plowing and raking of the stems out and 

 a careful preparation of the soil, a crop of cotton can be 

 grown and the grass comes back at once after the cotton 



