940 CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



29. Gama Grass. 



Gama grass, Tripsacum dactyloides, is a native of the 

 southern parts of the United States. It has, however, been 

 found wild as far south as the banks of the Connecticut. It is 

 a stout and very remarkable grass its growth and produce are 

 prodigious indeed almost incredible, and could not be believed 

 were the statements not made by gentlemen in whose veracity 

 the fullest confidence may be placed. Although stout and very 

 coarse, all kinds of graminivorous animals, it is said, eat it with 

 avidity. Dr. HARDEMAN, of Missouri, it appears, was the first 

 cultivator of this plant in the United States. He states that a 

 single root, covering a circle, the diameter of which was two 

 feet, yielded at one cutting fifty-two pounds of green hay. 

 We infer from this, that this plant has as great if not a greater 

 affinity for moisture, than the willow. Mr. J. MAGOFFIN, who 

 first introduced its culture in Alabama, where it is said to 

 abound in its wild state, says that when all surrounding vegeta- 

 tion was destroyed or burnt up by drought, this grass was green 

 and flourishing, and that during the month of July it grew 

 forty-three inches. He cut it on the first day of each month 

 during the drought, and it was found to range from three and 

 a half to four and a half feet in height. The editor of the 

 American Farmer received a blade of the gama grass in a let- 

 ter, measuring thirty-two and a half inches in length, the 

 growth of twelve days. 



Plant the seed in either of the fall months, the earlier the 

 better, in a bed or garden, or some sheltered spot. They will 

 come up mostly in the spring. At one year transplant the 

 roots to any description of rich soil, except a very wet one. 

 Set them two feet apart each way, and the second year from 

 transplanting they will quite cover the ground. The meadow 

 will now afford a very heavy crop of grass, either for soiling 

 or hay, once a month, for five or six months during each year. 

 The roots penetrate the ground to such a depth as almost to 

 defy frost or drought; this property of the root renders the 

 grass valuable for covering the steep sloping banks of railroads 

 and canals. If suffered to go to seed, it becomes too coarse for 

 hay. It is also raised from the seed, but the unusual length of 

 time it requires to vegetate its seed, is a very serious objection 

 to this mode of cultivation. 



This grass is a great favourite with many of our southern 

 cultivators; but how it is generally received, and what pro- 

 gress has been made in its culture in the southern states, where 

 alone, we presume, it can be cultivated to advantage, we are 

 not informed. 



