Forage Plants at the South. 



29 



SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE SELECTION OF A 

 GRASS OR STOCK FARM. 



There seems to be little to choose as to cli- 

 mate. At the South in each of the planta- 

 tion States we have three different climates 

 that of the mountains, the interior and the 

 coast. For live stock the mountains have 

 the advantage in summer, the low country in 

 the winter, while the middle country has a 

 share of advantages and disadvantages of 

 both, without the special excellencies or 

 defects of either. 



As a general rule a clay soil is best suited 

 to growing good grass A soil with a good 

 deal of sand may, however, by manuring, be 

 made to yield very good grass. A piece of 

 worn and unraanured sandy land will pro- 

 duce a light crop of crab-grass ; the same soil 

 well manured will produce a heavy crop of 

 that grass. The soil that will yield a heavy 

 crop of crab-grass will be pretty certain to 

 produce a good crop of other upland grasses. 

 Still, other things being equal, the clay soil 

 is to be preferred. 



The lands most likely in the judgment of 

 the writer to produce heavy crops of Timothy 

 and Herd's grass hay, are the rice lands of 

 the coast. They are very rich, and have am- 

 ple command of water. If the rice planters 

 would apply to their land the agricultural 

 system of Lombardy, they would attain a 

 value of which they have not dreamed. Do 

 they know that the Marcite, or lands in grass 

 irrigated in winter near Milan, rent for from 

 $60 to $100 per acre, while hay sells at $10 

 per ton ? 



After the rice lands, the best meadow lands 

 of the South have been as yet almost wholly 

 untouc'ied by the ax or plow. Reference is 

 made to the immense bodies of bottom land 

 sometimes from five to eight miles wide on our 

 rivers, after they pass from the rolling lands 

 into the flat country. These lands are suffi- 

 ciently rich, sufficiently moist, and are usually 

 of a compact nature. Being too low for culti- 

 vation in cotton and corn, they have been left 

 uncleared. They are worth now generally not 

 more than one dollar per acre converted into 

 meadow they would pay a heavy interest on 

 $200 Where they are not within reach of 

 railroads the hay can usually be taken cheaply 

 to market by steamer or flat-bottomed boats. 

 The wealth of the South is to be largely in- 

 creased from this now useless source. 



Nothing is said of the range portions of the 

 South, because where there isanexclusivereli- 

 ance upon the range, nothing but range stock 

 can be sustained. The object of this Manual 

 is to give suggestions as to the rearing of good 

 live stock and the cultivation of good grass 

 for hay or pasture. 



If hay is the chief object, proximity to mar- 

 ket or river or railway transportation is a ma- 

 terial object. If summer and winter pasture is 



the leading featufe, proximity to market is 

 not so important, as stock can be cheaply 

 driven. 



Upon grass farms sheep and cattle are the 

 most profitable stock. Colts and hogs require 

 too much grain. 



A. level surface of upland, without running 

 water, with an excess of sand, is the most 

 unsuitable for a grass farm, and of course for 

 stock-raising. 



The perfection of a grass farm, so far as 

 natural requisites are concerned, are enough 

 bottom land to yield the meadow hay that is 

 required for sale or consumption, enough level 

 land to meet the home necessities of grain, and 

 also for lucerne, and the rest rich broken land. 

 In our climate the steeper the hills of our pas- 

 ture lands the better, provided they may be . 

 rich. The reason of this is that in summer 

 the grass will be exposed to the sun only a 

 portion of the day, and in winter the north 

 hillsides are always most natural to grass, 

 and the south sides give stock a sufficiently 

 warm exposure. 



To young men at the South entering upon 

 agricultural life, grass farms offer great induce- 

 ments. They require so little labor and so 

 little outlay. If a young man begins with ex- 

 clusive cotton culture, he must buy a number 

 of mules and farm implements. He must lay 

 in a stock of food for his mules and laborers. 

 This requires much ready money or running 

 into debt. 



These expenses are largely avoided on a 

 grass farm. If a return must be had the first 

 year, grass seeds can be sown with small grain 

 the whole expense is then the cost of the 

 grass seed. Afterwards the farm will provide 

 for all its own expenses. The commencement 

 of a stock of sheep and cattle is a trifle as com- 

 pared with the cost of a number of mules and 

 food for them. 



The pleasure of life on a grass farm is in- 

 comparably greater than on a plantation de- 

 voted exclusively to cotton. The latter exacts 

 our whole time; the former gives leisure for 

 reading, study, and the amenities of social 

 life. 



The indolent negro is a constant thorn in 

 the side of the cotton planter. It is not neces- 

 sary to rise before day to fret at our live stock 

 because they will not eat and grow, or with 

 the grass because it will not shoot up its 

 beautiful green blades in the spring-time. 

 Neither the stock nor the grass quarrel with 

 us at Christmas about wages or their share of 

 the crop, or threaten to carry us before a 

 magistrate. 



CONCLUSION. 



Sound political economy requires that the 

 South should raise its own horses, mules, 

 sheep, cattle and hogs, and prod ce its own 

 wool, butter, cheese and hay. When we add 



