94 



J. S. Newman, Director Experiment Station, Agricultural and Me- 

 chanical College, Auburn, Ala. : 



First introduced into the cotton States, as far as I know, by the late Bishop George 

 Pierce, from California, about 1867, and planted at his home in Hancock County, Ga. 

 It has since become quite popular in some localities. 



(Plate 97.) 



DESMODIUM. 



Desmodiuin is a genus belonging to the same family as the pea and 

 clover, and like them is rich in nutritious material. There are about 

 forty species native in the United States, many of them hard and 

 woody, but several of them furnishing valuable woods-pasture to wild 

 and domestic animals. These are often called beggar-tick, beggar-lice, 

 beggar- weed, or tick-weed, from the tendency of the seed-pods to cling 

 to the clothing of persons or the hair of animals. The same or similar 

 names, however, are applied to other plants. 



The. species of perhaps the most importance is Desmodium tortuosum, 

 which is confined to Florida or the vicinity of the Gulf coast. Seeds 

 of this species were distributed by the Department of Agriculture in 

 1879, under the name of Desmodium molle, and a number of favorable 

 reports have been received from those who have tried it in the southern 

 portion of the Gulf States. It is valued most as a renovating crop for 

 lands where clover can not be successfully grown, It is also of con- 

 siderable value as pasture, and has sometimes been used for hay. 



J. G. Knapp, Limona, Fla. : 



Few forage plants bear a better reputation here than Desmodium molle (lortuo8iim) T 

 commonly known as beggar- weed. Horses prefer it to any other growing plant. It 

 comes as a volunteer in fields planted with other crops. When the stalks are 30 

 or 40 inches high it may be cut for hay, and as many as 2 tons secured from an 

 acre. The stubble will put forth new shoots and mature sufficient seed to restock 

 the field. It will thrive on the poorest sandy soil, and in a few years, if turned under 

 when matured, will render them rich and productive. 



J. C. Keal, Archer, Fla. : 



It is especially valuable to Florida, as it enriches the soil beyond any other crop 

 and is not in the way of the corn crop, germinating after corn is laid by. Cattle and 

 horses fatten on this plant rapidly ; in fact, nothing is better to restore health and 

 vigor to a worn-out beast than a few weeks in a beggar-weed patch. It is of no 

 value for hay or winter forage. 



J. A. Stockford, Gary ville, Fla. : 



It is at home in middle Florida, and is being introduced in western Florida by 

 some enterprising farmers who had a chance to test its value in middle Florida while 

 farming there. Those who have condemned it have usually done so without apparent 

 reason. 



D. S. Denmark, Quitman, Brooks County, Ga.: 



We have a plant here known as beggar-weed that grows on cultivated lands, and 

 when once seeded always seeds itself. It is a fine summer and fall forage plant ; also 

 fine for hay and for renovating worn-out lands, but difficult to exterminate. Ifc 

 grows only in south Georgia and in Florida. 



