1837.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



583 



dovv oat ffrass seed, (^Avena Elatior.') The lot 

 was hi<2;hly manured, and the gass came up and 

 looked o-reen and vigorous ; but ^vlicii the heats 

 ot' summer came upon it, it began to die out, and 

 by the month of September there was scarcely a 

 plant of it to be (bund. 



In February of the same year, (1834,) I sowed 

 a lot of" herds-grass, or red top (^sJrgasiis vulgaris,^ 

 on rich river bottom land, inclining to be siili'. and 

 dry enough for the culture of corn ; the grass 

 came up well, and continued green all the year, 

 but never rose six inches above the ground, and 

 in the second year had nearly disappeared. 



In February of the same 3'ear, (1834,) I sowed 

 a lot down with fiirze grass, on the same kind of 

 river bottom as tlie last. It came up well, and 

 continued green all the year, but never grew 

 more tiian six or eight inches high ; and in the 

 second year had nearly disappeared. 



In February of the same year, (1834,) I sowed 

 a lot down with the seed of green sward, (^Poa 

 viridis,') on the same kind of river bottom as the 

 two last. It came up well and flourished. It 

 keeps green all the year, and what is important, it 

 keeps its verdure and continues to grow, apparent- 

 ly, as well in the winter as in the warm season. It 

 is naturally a short grass, and with me it is not 

 more than two or three inches in length : it grows 

 very thick on the ground, and is a fine soft grass. 

 It promises to occupy the ground in a very dura- 

 ble manner, as it now has as firm a hold of the 

 lot as it had the first year. And although it 

 would not warrant the employment of valuable 

 planting lands in this grass, yet I cannot but think 

 if the waste stiff bottotn lands on our rivers were 

 put down in it, it would be found extremely valu- 

 able lor sheep pastures. It has every appearance 

 of being most peculiarly adapted to that animal, 

 and particularly for winter pasturage. I have se- 

 veral lots of Leersia Oryzoides on rich boggy 

 grounds, which some years will yield spontaneous- 

 ly heavy returns of excellent ha}:. It is an excel- 

 lent grass, and grows extremely thick and rank on 

 [wet] land, with a season exactly adapted to it ; but 

 it requires a very moist soil, which, in a wet year, 

 as the present has been, becomes too wet to make 

 the hay ; and if it should be a much' dryer soil, it 

 vvill fail entirely in a dry season. This uncertain- 

 ty, of course; detracts from its value ; neverthe- 

 less, it is still a valuable grass, and those who 

 have soils adapted to it would do well to culti- 

 vate it. 



I have reserved an account of the Gama-grass 

 for the last, although iti the order of time it was 

 one of my early experiments. I have done so, 

 because it has flattered me with a much better 

 prospect of success than any other grass, and 

 therefore I have more to say on the subject. In 

 the summer of 1832, 1 collected, with ditRcuity, as 

 much Gama-grass seed as would plant a small lot. 

 It was planted in December, (in drills eighteen 

 inches apart,) of that year, on a sandy l«t, pretty 

 highly manured. It came up in the April fbllowino;, 

 and grew ofT flourishingly, which it has continued 

 to do ever since. Being desirous of incrcasinij 

 my seed, I have reserved it to the present time for 

 that purpose, and have neither fed it down nor cut 

 it, except some small parcels, which I cut to as- 

 certain how It would be eaten by the horses and 

 mules, both by way of soiling and in the form of 

 hay ; which experiments have been fully satisliic- 



tory : as I have stood by, and have seen the horses, 

 with sweet corn blades and Gama-grass ha}' be- 

 fore them, eat of each, without discrimination or 

 preference tor either — partaking first of one, and 

 then of the other. They eat it greedily also in 

 the withered stale, by way of what is termed soil- 

 ing. The grass on this plot grows with prodi- 

 gious luxuriousness, the blades getting the length 

 (jf ten and twelve feet, and forming a sward on 

 the ground, as it bends down and settles, of the 

 depth of eighteen or twenty-four inches. I have 

 been sedulously engaged in collecting seeds from 

 this lot, and from other sources, for which I have 

 paid twenty-five cents a quart, or ten dollars per 

 bushel, until I have now a lot of three or four 

 acres on rich alluvial bottom lands. The grass 

 here is luxuriant and fine, and next year I expect 

 to reap a most abundant harvest fi-om it. It has 

 been apprehended by some, that this grass is too 

 coarse to be eaten by horses and mules ; but I am 

 fully persuaded, indeed convinced, that this is a 

 groundless apprehension. My own limited trials, 

 and authenticated trials fi-om various quarters, all 

 concur to show, that these animals not only eat it, 

 but they eat it with avidity. It is true it may be 

 left to stand without cutting, until it gets too old 

 and tough ; but there is no necessity for this. Its 

 growth is so rapid that it may be cut every monthj 

 and even at shorter intervals fi-om April until frost, 

 of a length of from twelve to twenty-four inches. 

 When in this young state, it is as succulent, ten- 

 der and nutritious, as any grass I ever saw. 



The only objection I know of to this grass, or 

 rather the only difficulty attending its culture, 

 (for, in fact, I know of no objection to it,) is the 

 difficulty and tardiness of propagating it. It yields 

 seed in abundance, but still they are scarce, and 

 what is likely to keep them so, is the singular man- 

 ner in which the seeds mature : they form in a 

 spike at the top of a tall seed stalk, and mature 

 only one seed at a time. Its maturity is readily 

 known by its dark chocolate color, but if not gath- 

 ered at once, it is apt to be lost. The seed seldom 

 adheres to the spike after maturity longer than 

 thirty-six or forty-eight hours, and when it falls, it 

 is concealed in so dense a sward that it is utterly 

 useless to look after it. Of course the collection 

 of the seeds is a most tedious process, requiring the 

 daily attendance of hands for several weeks ; and 

 although the mature seeds vegetate with sufficient 

 certainty, if planted in November or December, 

 yet from the carelessness of the collectors, and es- 

 pecially when collected for sale, many unripe seeds 

 are sure to be gathered, which renders their vege- 

 tation very precarious. This circumstance will 

 doubtless retard its extension and ra[)id propaga- 

 tion, but I feel confident, it vvill inevitably work its 

 way, and ultimately be found on every plantation, 

 and then will be esteemed as second only to the 

 richest staple production in the state. Besides its 

 abundant yield, and its nutritious qualities, it has 

 some certain habitudes peculiar to itself alone, 

 which recommend its culture. In the first place, 

 such is its special adaptations to our climate and 

 soil, it revels with luxuriance on sandy pine lands, 

 on stiff lands, and light lands, on the rich alluvial 

 soil of the river bottoms, and on the highest and 

 dryest soils, and on the moist lands of the water 

 courses. I have never seen it growing on boggy 

 lands, but I have seen it on the sides of creeks 

 where it was sufiject to be overflowed by every 



