106 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



by Sir William Jones, and so highly prized by the Brah- 

 mins. It is by the agriculturists of the South, deemed an 

 invaluable grass, yielding four or five tons per acre on good 

 meadow. Mr. Affleck, of Mississippi, states the yield of three 



FIG 25. 



cuttings, at five to six tons per acre on common meadow, 

 that it loses only 50 per cent, of its weight in drying, and is 

 consequently the hardest grass to cut. It is one of the most 

 nutritive grasses known, and is of great value to the river 

 planter. It loves a warm and moist, but not wet soil. 



Crab Grass is considered (unjustly as I think) a pest by 

 the cotton-planters, for equally, perhaps, with the Bermuda, 

 it is a rich and nutritious grass. It comes up after the crops 

 are laid by (received their last plowing and hoeing), and 

 grows rapidly as the cotton or corn matures and dries ; and 

 by the time they are ready to remove from the field, has 

 frequently attained so large a growth, as to afford a crop of 

 hay. Even considered as a fertilizer alone, it is a valuable 

 assistant to the planter. When the com or cotton is young, 

 the ground requires working to an extent sufficient to 

 keep down this grass, solely with a reference to preserving 

 its porosity its dew-condensing, dew-absorbing proper- 

 ties. When the crop is sufficiently matured to need no fur- 

 ther care, the grass shoots forward rapidly, and absorbs 

 largely from the floating elements of the air. 



Winter Grass is known on the low, moist fertile soils of 

 Mississippi and adjoining States. It springs up in the au- 

 tumn, grows all winter, and seeds in the spring. It fattens 

 all animals that feed upon it. 



The Muskeet Grass, found growing on the plains of Mex- 

 ico and Texas, is considered one of the best of the indigenous 

 grasses. I have seen it growing on the plantations of Louisi- 

 ana, where it has been successfully transplanted. 



Grama (La Grama, or the grass of grasses) is held in 

 the highest estimation by the Mexicans. It attains a me- 

 dium height, and is deemed the most nutritious of the natural 

 grasses in our southwestern, frontier prairies, in California, 

 and parts of Mexico. It grows on dry, hard, gravelly soils, 

 on side hills, the swells of the prairies, and the gentle eleva- 



