14 



Cultivation of the Grasses and 



This grass will live on thin land. But the 

 soil to make it valuable must be rich the 

 richer the better. It lasts for years. I have 

 known it to occupy and flourish on the same 

 spot for twenty years.' It grows as well on 

 sandy as on clay lands, requiring only fertili- 

 ty. Horses, sheep, and cattle, are very fond 

 of it during the winter and spring. Hogs 

 reject it. Orchard, blue, or meadow-oat grass 

 are either of them preferable to it, where they 

 thrive. Whatever doubt there may be as to 

 their thriving in a given locality, there can 

 be no doubt of the thrift of the Terrell grass 

 in any part of the iSouth, however hot it may 

 be, if the soil be made rich. The planter 

 living in the flat and somewhat sandy por- 

 tions of the South, who says he cannot get a 

 good winter pasture, has certainly never tried 

 the Terrell grass on rich land. The seed is 

 very light. Two bushels by measure should 

 be sowed to the acre. 



It is very frequently remarked in the thinly 

 populated portions of the South, where the 

 summer pasture or range is good, " we can 

 keep as much stock as we can winter.'' With 

 one hundred acres of Terrell grass on rich 

 land, from which stock has been excluded 

 during the summer and fall, one hundred 

 head of cattle, or five hundred sheep, can be 

 carried from Christmas to April. 



GAMMA GRASS. 



This is a native of the South, from the 

 mountains to the coast. The seed stem runs 

 up to the height of five to seven feet. The 

 seeds break off from the stem as if in a joint, 

 a single seed at a time. The leaves resemble 

 those of corn. When cut before the seed 

 stems shoot up, they make a coarse but nu- 

 tritious hay. This grass may be cut three or 

 four times during the season. The quantity 

 of forage which can be made from it is enor- 

 mous. Both horses and cattle are fond of the 

 hay. The roots are almost as large and strong 

 as cane roots. Hence, it must be meant to 

 stay where it is put. It would require a team 

 of four or six oxen to plough it up. It can, 

 however, be easily killed by close grazing, 

 and the mass of dead roots would certainly 

 greatly enrich the land. 



As the seeds of this grass vegetate with un- 

 certainty, it is usually propagated by setting 

 out slips of the roots about two feet apart each 

 way. On rich land the tussocks will soon 

 meet. Gamma grass grows equally well on 

 rich upland or bottom land. In the absence of 

 the finer hay grasses, this grass will be found 

 an abundant and excellent substitute. The 

 hay made from it is very like fodder ; is quite 

 equal to it in value, and may be saved at a 

 tithe of the expense of the former. 



CRAB AND CROW-FOOT GRASSES. 



These grasses are so well known at the 

 South that but little need be said in regard to 



them. Both of them answer a valuable pur- 

 pose, both for hay and pasture. The crow- 

 foot is confined to the lower and sandy part 

 of the Southern States. The hay made from 

 it is more esteemed than that from crab-grass. 

 Both of these grasses should be cut as soon 

 as they are in blossom. Some farmers pull 

 the hay from among the corn. This is a little 

 worse than pulling fodder. 



Any one wishing to save crab-grass or crow- 

 foot hay, should select a piece of rich land, 

 and, after the weeds have sprung up, plough 

 them under. If they spring the second time, 

 they should again be ploughed under, the 

 land then harrowed and afterward rolled. 

 This will give a smooth surface for the mower. 

 This treatment will ordinarily give a large 

 and clean crop of hay, free from weeds. Very 

 frequently of a wet season a good crop of this 

 hay may be obtained after small grain is cut. 

 But this is precarious, and the farmer will not 

 do well to rely on it. It is better by a little 

 more labor to be certain. 



The objection to these grasses as a reliance 

 for hay is, that the hay, though large in 

 quantity, is' light as compared with better 

 grasses, as it is ordinarily treated that is, 

 cut when the seed is ripe, it is inferior to 

 straw that they are annuals and make no 

 sward. 



For pasture they are of great value. For 

 this purpose, they are often badly managed. 

 Cattle and sheep are turned upon the grain 

 stubble as soon as the grain is cut. Hogs may 

 be put upon the stubble for a short time, to 

 eat up the shattered grain. They should be 

 removed, and all stock kept out of the pasture 

 until the grass has made a good start. Treated 

 thus, the pasture will be valuable until frost. 



This is a singular advantage. It is not ad- 

 visable to pasture clover and the cultivated 

 grasses closely during the heat of summer. 

 The crab-grass is an admirable substitute 

 until cool weather begins, when the stock may 

 again be turned into the artificial pastures. 

 The Northern dairyman would give a great 

 deal for a fresh crab-grass pasture in August, 

 when the grass of the spring is old, dry, and 

 perhaps burned by the sun. In the absence 

 of this reliance he must soil his cattle. 



BROMUS BROMK GRASS RESCUE GRASS 

 CHEAT, OR CHESS. 



This Bromus family would not be noticed 

 were it not for the fact that every now and 

 then some member of it produces a tempo- 

 rary excitement, and a very decided loss of 

 money on the part of the farmer. There are 

 seven varieties of Bromus. The most com- 

 mon is that pest called cheat. Some persons 

 think that the small grains, under certain 

 ircumstances, turn into cheat, as if the Al- 

 mighty ever made one thing that could be 

 turned into another. Everything that was 



made, was made perfect of its kind, and staya 



ind, 



