SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 365 



■uring crop. But on the sillcious grazing soila of Southern New-York, it 

 IB rarely used cxdusively as a manuring crop, and is but liltlc used, ex- 

 cepting slightly admixed with timothy, for pasture or meadows* 1 think 

 it should be used more ; but the fact stated shows that clover is not re- 

 garded by practical men, who are perfectly familiar with it, as that indis- 

 pensable crop, in all situations, which some of its more extravagant pane- 

 gyrists would lead us to suppose. The conclusions which I would have 

 you deduce from the above facts and statements are, simply, that if clover 

 is found to flourish with you without extra trouble and expense, you will 

 do well to make use of it in your rotation ; if not, it is chimerical, in my 

 judgment, to engage in an expensive struggle with natural disadvantages 

 to force Its cultivation. 



The herds-grass (red top) spoken of by the Milton Society, is a good 

 gi-ass on inoiat (but not boggy) soils, and having been found to succeed 

 with you, is worthy of trial in such siluatlons, but on dry soils, especially 

 on arid sands, it would entirely tail. Nor have 1 much confidence in 

 either timothy or spear (blue) grass, in such situations, In your latitude — 

 none at all in the former. 



It would be well, probably, to try limited experiments with all grasses, 

 domestic and foreign, which have succeeded well on soils similar to your 

 own ; as among these, some maybe found which disregard climate, or are 

 even better fitted to your climate than their indigenous one, as was the 

 case with timothy at the North. The same remark is also true in rela- 

 tion to certain other esculents which are used as substitutes for the grasses, 

 and for gieen manuring crops.t 



Notwithstanding the evident propriety of such experiments, I am 

 strongly Inclined to the opinloji that it is to your own native gi-asses ami 

 esculents, or those of some kindred climate, you must look mainly for the 

 basis of your grazing husbandry — and through this, the amelioration of 

 your poor and exhausted soils. 



I regret that I can find no list of those native grasses which sward over 

 the deserted lands of the tide-water zone, and flourish with a tropical lux- 

 uriance in ilB swamps. You allude to them as ' native " grasses, so does 

 Mr. Ruffin. Mr. Seabrook, in his Report on Cotton Culture, | speaks of 

 "crop grass," by which I suppose he means Crab grass, ( Panicum, san- 

 guinalv,) coming up spontaneously after spring-sown peas ; but farther 

 than this, neither of you speclfyvarieties.il Among these indigenous ones, 

 particularly those which spontaneously make their appearance on dry 

 lands, it would be exceedingly singular if there are not several very valua- 

 ble gi'asses for your soils and climate — grasses the seeds of which should 

 form a part, if not suitable for the whole sowing, on the same kinds of 

 soils on which they are found flourishing. 



Crab grass grows in all parts of the southern States, and is a fair, though 

 not a very superior pasture and meadow grass. 



Golden millet (Panicu)7i 7nilliaceumJ is a great producer and withstands 



I know of but very few fanners excepting; myself, in this, (Cortland,) one of tlie best of the grazinj^ 

 counties, who sow unmixed clover seed. I confess myself decidedly partial to the crop. You may ride 

 ten miles or more in many directions from my house, where half and frequently more than tbrec-fourthd 

 of the fields are in pasture or meadow, without observing five acres of unmixed clover. 



t See Appendix, A. 



t Kor this elaborate and e.'iceedingly able Report or Memoir, see Farmers' Library, 1645, October, No- 

 vember and Pecember Nos. 



II Since writing 'he above, I have rccoivcd from a South Carolina cnrrcsponde/it the fo'lowing list of 

 grasses and other esculents which flourish in the lower part of that Slate. Crab erass (Digilaria sangni- 

 nalis), earlier — the " Crowfoot" (Khiishic Indko), a little later, are. ho says, the best erasses for hay, and 

 thri%e in cultivated Grounds from llie month of June till froet. The " Wild Okra" (Viola palmata), the 

 "Partridge Berry" (MitcheUa repeim), the Wild Pcx Vine, and several other esculents, obscure and un> 

 Jcnovm by name, flourish in most natural pasttires from eai"ly spriiig till November. 

 (749) 



