Forage Plants at the South. 



13 



mer, when harvesting, double that number. ) stroyed by the sun, OP by the grazing of live 

 In the autumn, I usually scarify both ways 

 with sharp, steel-toothed harrows, and sow 

 over the stubble a peck of red clover per acre, 



which, with volunteer vetches, come off about, 

 the middle of May. The second yield of 

 clover is uniformly eaten up by grasshoppers. 

 The top root remains to fertilize the then 

 coming Guinea grass, which should be cut 

 when from two to three feet high. 



My barns will contain two hundred and 

 fifty tons of hay. I know of no point this 

 side of the Island of Jamaica, where the seed 

 of the Guinea grass can be obtained. The 

 Guinea grass would not answer in a Northern 

 climate. On such land as mine, it will afford 

 three or four cuttings if the season is propi- 

 tious. 1 use an average of five tons of gyp- 

 sum, soon aft^r the first cutting, and about 

 the same quantity of the best commercial 

 fertilizers, in March or April. 



I use mowing machines. The grass which 

 is cut at noon, is put up with horse sulky 

 rakes, in cocks, before sundown. 



I believe in shelter and paint for the pre- 

 servation of every tool. I have wagons built 

 in 1852 and 1853; also, carts and harrows 

 of like age, now perfectly sound. My ex- 

 perience and observation teach me that 

 farmers, as a class, to be successful, require 

 more brains than any of the so-called learned 

 professions. Very respectfully, 



N. B. MOORE. 



NATIVE GRASSES. 



The native grasses of the South are an in- 

 teresting subject of study. We have much 

 to learn in regard to them. Our absorption 

 by cotton has heretofore prevented due atten- 

 tion both to them and the cultivated or arti- 

 ficial grasses. It is very certain that the 

 famous Texas grasses once covered the sur- 

 face of the richer portions of the older 

 Southern States. These, when desirable, may 

 be restored by the restoration of the soil to its 

 former fertility. But both the experience 

 and reading of the writer have satisfied him 

 that none of these Texas grasses are equal, 

 either for hay or pasturage, to some of the 

 artificial grasses now in cultivation at the 

 South. 



It is doubtful whether we may expect to 

 find any native evergreen grass at the South, 

 the value of which h not known. It is possi- 

 ble that such discoveries may be made in 

 swamps inaccessible to cattle, by examinations 

 made during the winter. The possibility is 

 of sufficient importance to justify attentive 

 observation on the part of those who own this 

 description of land. 



A grass, to be valuable either for hay or 

 pasture, must take a firm hold of the soil by 

 its roots. A grass that pulls up easily, how- 

 ever promising it may appear to be, is of 

 little worth. It will be either easily de- 



stock. 



Little value can be attached to a grass, 

 which is an annual, requiring annual re- 

 sowing. Grasses which seed themselves, as 

 crab-grass and crow-foot, are more valuable 

 than those which require re-sowing. 



The field of inquiry as to hay grasses is 

 much larger than that of the winter grasses. 

 It is quite possible that some valuable hay 

 grasses have been heretofore overlooked 

 by us. 



Because a grass is rejected, when in flower, 

 by live stock, is no evidence that it will not 

 make a good hay. Turn cattle into a meadow 

 of herdsgrass or timothy when they are ready 

 to cut, and they will eat them with reluctance. 

 But if turned upon timothy or herdsgrass 

 when they are young and tender, both will be 

 eaten with avidity. 



It seems to be a general, though perhaps 

 not an universal rule, that any grass of 

 which live stock are fond when it is young, 

 if it grows tall enough to cut, will make hay 

 of more or less excellence if cut and cured 

 when in flower. 



Some of our young men, who are begin- 

 ning to see with their own eyes and not the 

 glasses of others (and there are many such), 

 would do a public service if they would at- 

 tentively examine the tastes of cattle and 

 horses while grazing, observe the grasses of 

 which they are fond in the spring, transplant 

 some of them into an experimental plat, and 

 in the proper season cut and cure them for 

 hay. Their value, or want of value, will be 

 quickly determined when offered to horses or 

 cattle. 



Among our grasses, which are green all 

 winter, are the two varieties of Lyme grass 

 or Elymus. There are six varieties of this 

 grass in the United States. Only two of them 

 have been observed in Georgia, and the differ- 

 ence between them is not material. The Ely- 

 mus is known among us as Wild Rye, or 

 Terrell grass. The first name was given to 

 it popularly on account of the resemblance of 

 its heads to rye. The other, as Dr. Terrell, 

 of Sparta, Georgia, brought it prominently 

 into notice many years ago. This grass is 

 native from the mountains to the seaboard of 

 Georgia. Wherever cattle have unrestricted 

 access to it in the winter and spring, they 

 destroy it biting it into the earth and pre- 

 venting its seeding. Hence in the older parts 

 of the South, it can be found only in frnce 

 corners, where it has been protected by bu>hes 

 or briars In such localities it can be found 

 all over this State. I have seen it growing 

 luxuriantly in the blue limestone lands of 

 northwest Georgia, on the sand hills near 

 Augusta, in an old fence row, and on the rich 

 alluvial land of Hutchinson Island, opposite 

 Savannah, and among the small cane on the 

 coast generally. 



