112 KAKMEK'S BOOK OF GRASSES 



in the ash, and otherwise damages the soil most seriously. 

 Each acre of it plowed under is worth as much as many tons of 

 home made manure that cost much time to make, haul and -dis- 

 tribute over the land. Plowed under any time from the loth, 

 of May till the 20th. of July, the land immediately sown broad- 

 cast with one or two bushels per acre of southern iield peas and 

 harrowed, a good crop of the latter may be cheaply produced. 

 The earlier peas that make much vine may be mowed and re- 

 moved to furnish abundant hay for winter use ; or the vines may 

 have a heavy roller passed over them and then be plowed un- 

 der in September and October with oats or barley. Magnifi- 

 cent winter pastures will be obtained from December first till 

 March ; and in May and June such harvests of barley and oats 

 as are rarely seen. Tiie broom grass is destroyed, the land is 

 mellow and, if not desired for other crops at once, may, if the 

 season be favorable, soon be covered with ' volunteer 7 pea vines. 

 But turn on the stubble no stock, except hogs to glean the re- 

 maining grain for a few days, plow the stubble under in beds, 

 and the ground is in the best condition for producing sweet po- 

 tatoes. Harvest these in October, harrow and^roll the ground 

 and it is just right for receiving red or white clover, blue, orchard, 

 red-top, meadow oat, or other winter grass seed. 



Again; this grass may be plowed under any time from Au- 

 gust first till fifteenth April; the land then planted with cotton 

 seed from tenth to twenty -fifth of May will produce a largely 

 increased yield of cotton. 



The A. Tiictcrourvs, Cluster-flowered beard grass, A. furcatm, 

 Finger-spiked beard grass, A. Ellicttii, Silver beard grass, and 

 A. scoparius, Purple wood grass, Broom grass, contain mucLu 

 less than A. Virginicus of animal or valuable plant food. They 

 would not pay for harvesting unless the stock-feeder had con- 

 centrated food and could obtain no better food to use with it. 

 Mi 1 . C Jollier's analysis of A. scoparius follows : oil 1.16, wax .43, 

 sugars 5.37, gum and dextrin 3.44, cellulose 24.91, amylaceous 

 cellulose -26.51, alkali extract 28.07, albuminoids 6.21, ash 3.90 

 to 100 parts of the dried grass. His analysis of the ash gave: 

 potassium 15.70, calcium oxide 2.12, magnesium oxide .58, sul-. 

 phuric acid trace, phosphoric acid 1.33, silicic acid 64.62, chlo- 

 rine 15.65. 



Six other species not mentioned here are found in the south- 

 ern States. A. melanocarpus is remarkable as the largest, being 

 from four to eight feet high and probably introduced. 



TRIPSACUM, Sesame Grass. 



T. DACTYLOIDES, Gama Grass. 



This native perennial grass was formerly found widely dif- 

 fused through the southern States from the seashore to the 



