406 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



the ones that constitute the class called annuals — coming 

 yearly. They come from the seed in spring, but by fall they 

 have withered and died. There are several varieties of them, 

 prominent among which are millet, and the Hungarian and 

 rescue grasses. The last of these is simply the cheat that is 

 so troublesome in the farmers wheat-fields. "When cultivated, 

 it grows very thickly and finely, and for both pasture and 

 hay is the most valuable among the annuals. It possesses 

 more substance than any of the others, and previous to 1860, 

 at least, was cultivated very extensively throughout the cot- 

 ton States, to whose climate and soil it seems particularly 

 adapted. 



The perennial grasses do not thrive below the latitude of 

 thirty-five, or the Southern border of Tennessee. ^None of 

 the clovers succeed in the cotton States. The soil is gener- 

 ally sandy, and as it rains but seldom from June to I^ovem- 

 ber, the long summer drouths kill out the roots in most 

 localities. All the perennials, in fact, that have been tried 

 in those regions have proved to be failures, except on low, 

 damp grounds. The winter grasses can not be made to 

 flourish there. The only kind of grass that we have known 

 to really succeed in the cotton States was the herd^s-grass, 

 of which we have repeatedly seen some fine fields, although 

 rarely, if ever, except upon moist bottom lands, seeded when 

 first cleared. 



ITorth of the thirty-fifth degree, the different perennials 

 are all grown and flourish, modified somewhat by latitude 

 and soil. 



We will here enumerate the various kinds of grasses ordi- 

 narily cultivated throughout the West and South, specifying 

 the relative value of each for grazing purposes, as also the 

 latitude and soil best suited to them. 



First among the many, and having a pre-eminence over 

 all others for pasturing, is the hlue-grass of Kentucky and 

 Tennessee. It is a small, fine grass, growing about a foot 

 high, with an abundance of small leaves at the bottom. The 

 top, or seed, resembles that of the herd's-grass, but it is 



