FARMERS' REGISTER— WEAVELS IN WHEAT. 



227 



cultural interests of the southern states. I say to 

 the interest of the southern states, because the 

 northern and western portions of our country are 

 already so well provided with a variety of valua- 

 ble grasses suited to their climate and soils that to 

 them the acquisition of one more can be of little 

 importance, if indeed the one we are now consi- 

 dering should prove to be adapted to a northern 

 climate. Whereas, in the alluvial portions of the 

 southern states, I believe that neither clover, timo- 

 thy, orchard grass, herd's grass, nor any other of 

 the grasses derived from northern climates, have 

 ever proved, or ever will prove extensively bene- 

 ficial. The consequence is, that throughout this 

 extensive and fertile portion of country no hay of 

 any kind is made* and the only native product re- 

 lied upon as provender for horses and cattle gene- 

 rally, are the dried blades of Indian corn. (Zea 

 mays.) Charleston and Savannah import northern 

 hay, and even in the interior as high up as Colum- 

 bia and Augusta you meet with it! 



During the last summer and tail, while engaged 

 in occasional investigations of the botany of this 

 neighborhood, I found upon the shore of the Neuse 

 two species of grasses belonging to the genus Trip- 

 sacum, to wit, the Tripsacum dactyloides, and the 

 T. monostachyon. At that time I had not seen the 

 " Gama grass," nor any of the publications rela- 

 ting to it, and therefore did not know, what I have 

 since ascertained, that one of these species is pro- 

 bably ths famous " Gama grass." During the last 

 winter I saw in the possession of a gentleman in 

 Florida a few of the seeds of th3 Gama grass, 

 which he had received from abroad, and he inform- 

 ed me that he had found the same grass growing 

 native in Florida. I immediately recognised them 

 as belonging to one of the species of Tripsacum, 

 apparently the T . monostachyon ; but I was held 

 in some doubt on account of a third species of this 

 genus, mentioned and described by Michaux, in 

 his North American Flora, under the title of Trip- 

 sacum cylindricum, and found by him in Florida. 

 This species, like the T. monostachyon has cylin- 

 drical spikes, while the T. dacfyloides has them flat- 

 tened on one side, and rounded on the other, but 

 differing from both in the circumstance of having 

 its flowers "hermaphrodite." On looking into 

 Loudon's " Encyclopedia of Plants" I found men- 

 tioned a species growing in the It^est Indies under 

 the title of Tripsacum hermaphroditum, which I 

 could scarcely doubt to be indentical with the T. 

 cylindricum of Michaux having hermaphrodite 

 flowers, a species which Elliott suspects to belong 

 to the genus Rotbollia, and which Nuttall, proba- 

 bly from its ambiguous character, has not men- 

 tioned at all. But the Encyclopedia of Plants fur- 

 ther remarks upon the genus Tripsacum that they 

 aregra-sses, used for provender in the JVest India 

 islands, an expression somewhat loose, as only one 

 species of the genus is said to grow in the West 

 Indies, but indicatuig the opinion of the writer 

 that all the species might be employed for that pur- 

 pose. And to this conclusion 1 have been led by 

 my subsequent inquiries of those who have culti- 

 vated the grass. For one gentleman assures me 

 that the grass which he cultivates as the Gama 

 grass has the spikes aggregated, and is therefore 



* Occasionally a little hay is made in the south from 

 what is called the " crab grass" (Eleusine indica.) But 

 this grass will grow only in cultivated soils. 



the Trispacura dactyloides; another that the S[)ikes of 

 his grass are cylindrical and solitary, and is there- 

 fore the T. monostachyon if indeed "it be not theT. 

 cylindricum of Michaux. I left Florida l)efore 

 the grass there cultivated had evolved its spikes, 

 and therefore could not ascertain to which of the 

 species it belonged, though it must be to one of the 

 last two. Which of the three species is the true 

 Simon Pure I will not undertake to determine, but 

 my conclusion is that all of them may be employ- 

 ed with almost equal benefit. Perhaps the two 

 last species may be less rough than the first, and I 

 apj)rehend that if the grass be not frequently cut, 

 it becomes too rough, and will be refused by horses, 

 if not by black cattle. But the great value of the 

 grass is that it grows with great rapidity and luxu- 

 riance even in the sandy soils of the south, if mo- 

 derately rich, and bears cutting, it is said, every 

 month during the summer and fall. The publish- 

 ed accounts say that it will yield from 75 to 90 tons 

 the acre ; and I learn from a gentleman who cul- 

 tivates it (W. B. Meares, Esq., of Wilmington,) 

 that it does well both in sandy and clay soils. It 

 appears that one of the species, is found native in 

 Florida and the AVest India islands, and the two 

 others along the Atlantic coast from the Delaware 

 River to South-Carolina and probably to Florida, 

 and also " in the vast prairies of the western states," 

 as JMr. Nuttall informs us. It is therefore proba- 

 ble that this is one of the few valuable grasses that 

 adapt themselves to every climate and every soil. 

 Those among us who wish to obtain it, have on- 

 ly to search for itdurmg the ensuing fall along our 

 river shores. If they have once seen and observ- 

 ed the seeds of one of the species they will be in 

 no danger of mistaking the plant, for it has a de- 

 cided character. n- b. c. 



CHIXA LEAVES VS. WEAVELS ly WHEAT. 



From the Southern Planter. 



Mr. Editor, — As the prospect is bright for a 

 heavy crop of this useful grain, and as the rava- 

 ges of the weavel are so destructive, that little is 

 produced through the winter ; I conceived I might 

 do service to the community by communicating 

 the result of experiments made in conquering so 

 deadly a foe to the lovers of good biscuit. I had 

 read in some agricultural work that the leaves of 

 the Elder and of the Lombardy poplar were a pre- 

 ventive. 1 tried the elder, — no, I speak falsely, I 

 put a few twigs on the top of a hogshead of wheat, 

 and found no benefit. This is a good deal like ma- 

 ny of my attempts, which have been pronounced 

 trials. The fact is, I was too lazy to experiment 

 properly and test the prescription as I ought to have 

 done, aiid some of your read-ers may be like me. 

 O, I had tried the elder, I said, and it was a mere 

 notion. 



In 1831 I raised, say 300 bushels wheat, and 

 had it thrashed out early and put in a room 18 feet 

 square, ground floor. The last of July I examin- 

 ed the pile and found the black weavel was thick 

 at the bottom, and the flying ones about. The 

 idea struck me that if the scent of the elder leaf 

 was a. preventive, that of the china leaf as strong- 

 er, would be more likely to answer. Large par- 

 cels of the twigs were mixed with the wheat, and 

 in one fortnight, the next time I was at my plan- 

 tation, not a weavel was to be found! So it was 

 not only a preventive but a remedy. 



Last year several persons tried my prescription 



