136 CROP GROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



rather than drive them back to a distant pasture or keep them in the yards 

 all night, which last was not to be thought of. About that time I noticed 

 that all along the railroad coming from the South, the Lespedeza, or Japan 

 clover, was creeping in. It had not reached us, but I found that it had 

 reached the top of the gap through which we passed the Ragged Mountains 

 to the Southern Eailway. Seeing it growing on waste places by the hard 

 roadside and among the rocks, I concluded that a plant that could thus spread 

 itself was a good thing for my waste land. I sent to Louisiana, where there 

 were parties saving the seed, and bought some. This was sown in the early 

 spring, all among the broomsedge on the rocky hillside. Only this and 

 nothing more. The land was fenced and the cows went there at night only 

 after being pastured, and fed in the stable at milking time. By the next 

 winter there was no more broomsedge on that hillside. The Japan clover 

 had complete possession and I had a pasture for the summer worth far more. 

 And not only this, but with the droppings of the cows which were scattered 

 over the land, and the cows really ate very little there during the night, the 

 white clover made its appearance, and the mountain blue grass (Poa Com- 

 pressa) came in, and by the next year I had a pasture without broomsedge 

 and composed of far better plants. Not being too closely pastured the herb- 

 age increased and today that hillside is as good a permanent pasture as one 

 will find anywhere in a similar situation. It could have been improved by 

 an annual topdressing of raw bone, and I know of no dressing for the perma- 

 nent pasture that so completely fills the bill as raw bone meal. The slow- 

 ness with which its phosphoric acid becomes available is an advantage in such 

 a situation, and the nitrogen to be found in a good sample will encourage 

 at once the growth of the herbage. On one occasion, on a visit to the Mis- 

 sissippi Agricultural College, I was shown a field distant from the barn, 

 where there were fifty fat beeves. The land was the thin, worn-out, red-clay 

 hill land to be seen all over the South, and there was absolutely no growth 

 on it except the Japan clover an inch or two high. The cattle were in fine 

 order, and I was told that they were not fed anything besides the Japan 

 clover they were grazing upon. Evidently here was the plant to cover the 

 waste lands of the South. Not a plant that can be profitably taken into a 

 rotation on cultivated land, but a plant to make a pasture where none was 

 before, and which would reproduce itself year after year and grow better 

 while doing it. While not to be advised on lands that can be plowed and 

 prepared for grasses it is evident that for lands where nothing else can grow, 

 the Japan clover will prove a valuable pasture plant. If the hills are then 

 pastured with sheep there will gradually be an incoming of better herbage, 

 till these washed and gullied hills become clothed with grass and flocks. 



