162 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



SO troublesome and dangerous a plant that its planting 

 for forage is never justifiable. Those planters who, 

 however, are unfortunate enough to have it find 

 that it makes a fairly good though coarse hay, and 



f the abandoned fields before men- 

 tioned have been converted into 

 hay farms. The yield of hay is 

 large at each cutting, and it gives 

 a number of cuttings in the 

 season. 



As a pasture grass it is not 

 desirable. Cattle and horses do 

 not relish it when green, but 

 learn to eat it in the absence of 

 better grasses. It does not stand 

 tramping well and if heavily pas- 

 tured will soon run out, though 

 unfortunately it can never be 

 exterminated in this way. On 

 plowing the field it springs up 

 again, as strong and rank as ever. 

 This grass occurs as a great 

 pest in most tropical countries. 

 Guinea Grass (^Panicum maxi- 

 mum^. — This is the best of the 

 tropical forage grasses. It grows 

 as rapidly and is as rank and 

 coarse as Johnson grass, but is 

 very nutritious, and stock of all kinds eat it 

 greedily. It requires a rich and rather heavy but 

 well-drained soil. Under these favorable condi- 

 tions it grows six or eight feet high and yields an 



Guinea Grass. 



