THli FARMERS* REGISTER. 



113 



LARGC HOGS. 



From the Kentucky Fanner. 



Mr. Silas Evans, of this couniy, sold lo Mr. 

 Harrison Tlionison, of Clarke, a large lot ol' 75 

 hogs, intended for the southern market ; tlie 

 average weight o(" the whole lot being 375 lbs. 

 the heaviest weighing 480 lbs. Taking the 

 number into consideration, we think this is as fine 

 a lot of hogs as any we remember to have heard 

 of. They were of the old Kentucky stock, with 

 a slight mixture of the improved breeds. 



We have also heard of another lot of about 20 

 hogs, raised and fattened by Mr. James Rainey, 

 near Coibyville, well crossed with the Berkshire 

 etock, which averaged 426 lbs. They were from 

 13 months to 2 years old, generally about 15 

 months. 



KENTUCKY BLUE-GRASS, OR GREKN-SWAUD. 



To the Editor of tlie Farmers' Register. 



Washington N. C. January 30lh, 1841. 



Dear Sir : — A lew days since I had the plea- 

 sure of receiving V^ol. viii. of Farmers' Register, 

 from your hands, for which please to accept my 

 thanks. Though I am no farmer, and have not 

 a foot of soil to cultivate. I have ever leit a warm 

 interest in the progress of anenlightened husdandry. 

 I shall rejoice in the success of the cause which 

 you advocate with so much ardor and ability, as 

 well in the due appreciation and reward of your 

 efforts. The Register does not come within my 

 proper line of reading, but whenever I have met 

 with a number, I have invariably found some 

 article to interest and instruct me. 



It was for some time a mystery why I had 

 been honored with Vol. viii. I presume, however, 

 that the solution was at length discovered in the 

 words " see page 651," written on the cover of 

 No. 1. If 1 hare correctly taken thehint. I will 

 reply, that you are heartily welcome to any aid 

 I can give in removing the difficulty alluded to by 

 Mr. Stevenson. It was but a few dHys before 1 

 received your present, that I had the pleasure 

 of learning, through Mr. Stevenson's letter, what 

 the famous Kentucky blue-grass is ; and also of 

 informing some inquirers in this place that it 

 grows on their own lands. I liave been long 

 familiar with this grass, which, with its congener, 

 poa annua, enters largely into the composition of 

 the pastures of New England. 



My attention has been forcibly drawn to this 

 grass, in the low country of this state, where lew 

 if any really good grasses are (bund besides this, 

 by its perpetual verdure. Wherever yards or 

 lawns are turfed with it, they are verdant through 

 the entire winter; thus indicating, as I supposed, 

 its adaptation to this climate as a wmfer (bod. 

 But what is more important still in this climate, 

 it is the only grass of any value, that I have no- 

 ticed, which endures the long continued heat of 

 our warm season. It is only a long severe 

 drought that parches it. So long as any moisture 

 remains in the soil it continues verdant. 1 should 

 judge, as this plant seems to aflect shade, that it 

 might be preserved through the severest drought 

 in places where there are trees enough to check 

 evaporation from the soil. Ite endurance, in long 

 continued heat, indicatCB its being more eucculent 

 Vol. IX.-8— a 



than grass which l>urn up quicker, (and conse- 

 quently more nulrilive ?) Muhlenberg says of 

 It, "optmium p^ibulun)," but I suppose the larm- 

 ers know better than the botanists about that 

 miiiter. 



The great confusion'in the vulgar synonymes of 

 the grasses is a serious inconvenience lo the farm- 

 er, and it must certainly be a great desiderntum 

 to have it cleared up. All plants which are ex- 

 tensively used are subject to the same confusion. 

 I have not been able, after long inquiry, lo settle 

 the synonymes of the oaks and pines in this slate. 

 Every neighborhood seems to have a peculiar no- 

 menclature. 



( would suggest, as the most likely method of 

 attaining Mr. Stevenson's object, that all persons 

 interested in the subject should send to you two 

 or three specimens of each kind of grass, wiih 

 all the common names written upon a label attach- 

 ed to each kind. The labels might be numbered, 

 and notes be sent, relerrinff lo the numbers on the 

 labels, communicating any valuable information 

 that can be given upon ihe several species. If 

 you can interest your correspondents in this plan, 

 so as to secure their action upon it, you will in 

 two or three seasons have the material in hand 

 for the consummation so strongly urged by you, 

 vol. viii. p. 651. 



If you have no friend more convenient, or better 

 qualified for completing the work, ader the ma- 

 terial is collected, you are at liberty to command 

 Your obedient friend and servant, 



M. A. Curtis. 



P. S. If you should approve of the plan I 

 have suggested, and be inclined to propose it to 

 your readers, will inform me thereof. I will give 

 you the mode of collecting, preserving, and trans- 

 porting the grasses. It is very simple, and will 

 cost no one any trouble. 



We take the liberty of publishing the foregoing 

 private letter, with its author's signature, though 

 not so designed to be used, and which we would not 

 have done, if the writer were not already well 

 known to the scientific and reading public, as one 

 among the first of American botanists. We shall 

 be much gratified, and the cause of agriculture aa 

 much aided, by his fund of knowledge being 

 drawn upon, to furnish light to this obscure sub- 

 ject. We will gladly receive specimens of grass- 

 es, prepared and secured, as directed above, to 

 transmit to the Rev. M. A. Curtis ; but it will be 

 much better, if as convenient, that they shall be 

 sent to him directly, (at Washington N. C.) aa 

 our ignorance of botany would forbid our forward- 

 ing the object in any other way than the very 

 humble one of serving as the channel of convey- 

 ance for the specimens. But as it is desired to 

 have the various provinceal and incorrect names, 

 as well as Ihe botanical names and descriptions, 

 of each grass, it will require lor the formation of 

 i a list of synonymes, extensive enough to be very 

 i useful, the labors of botanists m different and re- 



