492 



FARMERS' RKCrSTER— MR, GARNETT'S ADDRESS- 



brought from the coast of Guinea, as food for 

 sonie birds which were presented to Mr. Ellis, 

 Chief Justice of the island. Fortunately the 

 birds did not liv^e to consume the whole stock, and 

 the remainder being carelessly thrown into a tence, 

 grew and flourished. It was not long before the 

 eagerness displayed by the cattle to reach the 

 grass, attracted Mr. Ellis' notice, and induced him 

 to collect and propagate the seeds; which now 

 thrive in some of the most rocky parts of the is- 

 land, bestowing verdure and fertility on lands 

 which otherwise would not be worth cultiva- 

 tion." 



Now— although I cannot say so much for it, in 

 our climate, as the frosts kill the blades and stems 

 in the winter, my short experience, together wilh 

 the certain information which 1 have carefully ob- 

 tained from others, fully warrant me in detailing 

 both to you, as an inducement to make full trials 

 for yourselves. If made as they ought to be, with 

 the impartiality of men whose oidy object should 

 be, to ascertain the exact truth, I have no doubt, 

 that this exotic will soon hold the first rank among 

 our cultivated grasses. Its right to do so rests 

 upon the following indisputable fiicts: that it is a 

 highland grass — that it will bear cutting nmch of- 

 tener than clover, timothy, orchard grass, red-top, 

 or even lucerne — that it will annually yield a far 

 greater quantity of green food, of which stock are 

 very fond, than either of the before mentioned 

 grasses — and that drought effects it nmch less. 

 But let me proceed to the promised details. 



Having understood, last winter, from sources on 

 which I could entirely rel}^, that two gentlemen of 

 King William had been cultivating this grass lor 

 some time, under a full conviction of its superior 

 value to any other of our cultivated grasses, I 

 wrote to one of them and procured roots enough to 

 plant in March, two rows, 51 feet long. He di- 

 rected these roots to be cut into pieces from two to 

 two and a half inches long, and planted in shallow- 

 furrows about two inches deep, eighteen inches or 

 two feet one way, and four f(?et the other; but by 

 a mistake of my gardener the latter distance was 

 made six feet. Tliese roots came up in two or 

 three weeks, and were suffered to grow until the 

 seed appeared — the height of the plants being 

 then fully seven feet by actual measurement, in 

 land that might be called, only tolerably good gar- 

 den ground, of a soil rather sandy, than stiff. This 

 suspension of cutting was mei'ely to ascertain the 

 average height in such land, before the seed stems 

 were tiilly displayed; and not to save the seed for 

 sowing, as the gentleman from whom I procured 

 the roots informed me that they were preferable to 

 the seed, which vegetated badly. On the 19th of 

 July, I cut the two rows, then more than seven 

 feet high, and although the slems had become 

 somewhat coarse and hard, every horse in my 

 stable, to which the grass was given, eat it most 

 greedily. It was again cut on the 4th of August, 

 at the full average height of three and a half feet, 

 a second time ascertained bj- actual measurement. 

 My intention then was to cut it every fifteen dajs, 

 until the frost affected it; but the drought which 

 commenced with us on the 5th of July, was in- 

 tensely felt by the end of the fortnight afler the 

 second cutting, on which account I left the grass 



duction of the g,-uinea-g;rass into Jamaica, must have 

 taken place about 84 years ago. 



untouched until the middle of October; when it 

 was again cut, at tlie average height of more than 

 four feet, and the two rows, only 51 ieet long, 

 filled a large tumbril body entuely full. During 

 the whole of the most severe part of the drought 

 this grass was the only ])lant on ihe whole farm, 

 that preserved its verdure unimpaired; andalthoiigh 

 the growth was evidently checked, no dead or dy- 

 ing leaves appeared next the ground, unless it was 

 upon one bunch that had not been cut at all; and 

 this valuable emigrant, from the jiarching climate 

 of Africa, seemed to bid defiance to a combination 

 of heat and drought, which I, allhoughnowan old 

 man, have never seen surpassed. At present the 

 I'oots appear to have spread entirely across the six 

 feet interval, altliough the sprouts from them are 

 not as thick as those in the two rows. By next 

 spring, however, I have no doubt that the whole 

 space Vv'ill be so covered as to supersede Jhe ne- 

 cessity of any working between the rows, such as 

 luceine requires at least tvvice or thrice every 

 year. Only two slight hoeings were given to this 

 guinea-grass during tlie summer. That it will re- 

 quire the annual application of some manure, I 

 think, is certain; for what plant is there which does 

 not, if the whole growth above ground be taken 

 from ihe soil ? I neither know, nor have ever 

 heard of any; it being a well established fact, that 

 every plant, cultivated by the farmer or the planter, 

 if removed entirely li-om the land, abstracts from 

 it a certain portion of its fertility, which manu e 

 alone, of some kmd or other, can restore. Guin- 

 ea-grass is one of these plants; and from its yield- 

 ing much more in bulk and weight than either of 

 our otlier cultivated grasses — all of which requite 

 the regular application of manure to render their 

 product equal in quantity each time of ingathering, 

 it cannot be expected to reward the husliandman 

 equall}- well, without similar nurture. Whether it 

 will bear grazing, or will require more manure 

 than other grasses, I have not yet been able to 

 learn, but judging fi-om the little manure, I bestow- 

 ed on the two rows with which I mademy ex])eri- 

 ment, guinea-grass does not need more than other 

 grasses which are frequently cut and carried off 

 the land. 



I obtained last spring several parcels of the seed 

 of another grass in regard to which many accounts 

 have been published, that — to say the least of 

 them — appeared very extraordinary. This is the 

 gama grass; but not one of the seed sown by my- 

 self came up; nor any that I distributed among 

 several of my acquaintances. I therefore give no 

 testimony, but hearsay, especling this recent 

 agricultural marvel. All accounts that I have 

 heard, without a solitary exception — save one 

 from a traveller through Alabama — are in direct 

 contradiction to all which I have read; for my ver- 

 bal information from Georgia, South Carolina, and 

 North Carolina planters and farmers, represent it as 

 a very coarse grass, or, as some of them call it a 

 kind of flag — so coarse that nothing will eat it, 

 until nearly starving; ^vhile our written intelligence 

 imp.oses a tax ujion my credulity somewhat hea- 

 vier than it well can bear. Thus situated, I know 

 not which to believe to the full extent that it goes; 

 nor howiar to qualify these very opposite accounts, 

 so as to come at the real character of the grass. 

 If it be really a native grass of the southern states, 

 which seems now to be agreed upon all hands, and 

 deserves fully the praises bestowed upon it, the 



