OF THE 



GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS 



AT THE SOUTH.* 



This manual has been written at the re- 

 quest of a number of persona to whom the 

 subject of which it treats is practically new, 

 and who are without experience in regard to 

 it. This class of persons say that the usual 

 articles written in books, or in agricultural 

 papers, by those who understand the subject, 

 are too general, taking too much for granted 

 as to the knowledge of those whom the ar- 

 ticles are designed to benefit. They desire 

 instruction as to the minutest details. This 

 minute instruction the writer will attempt to 

 afford. He begs that the purpose of this 

 manual will be borne in mind by those who 

 are familiar with grass culture, and who might 

 otherwise think the attention to details un- 

 necessary and wearisome. It is written not 

 for the informed, but the uninformed reader. 



The ignorance referred to should really not 

 occasion surprise, although occurring among 

 intelligent men The present race of planters 

 has grown up in a condition of things which 

 looked to cotton as the sole market crop. The 

 deadliest enemy of cotton is grass. They have 

 therefore been accustomed to regard it as a 

 pest, to be extirpated with slave labor. It was 

 so easy and pleasant to make money that the 

 cotton planter did not care to inquire how the 

 rest of the world were managing their lands. 

 As he commanded his own labor, which was 

 movable at his pleasure, and as lands were 

 cheap, it was not material if he exhausted the 

 soil. It was a very easy matter to buy and 

 clear more lands, for which sometimes the 

 first cotton crop paid. 



But things are very different now He has 

 no money with which to buy new land. If 



*Entered according to Act of Congress, by C. W. 

 Howard, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, 

 at Washington, D. C. 



he had the money to buy it, he could not pay 

 hands to clear it. And if he could pay them, 

 the work of clearing is too heavy for the in- 

 dolent free negro. It is almost impossible to 

 induce him to split a rail 



The planter's land, which is now his only 

 capital, is worn. Only in exceptional cases has 

 it been found profitable to make cotton with 

 hired negro labor. This compels him to in- 

 quire into some other method than exclusive 

 cotton planting, by which to turn his land to 

 valuable account As a result of this inquiry, 

 he finds in agricultural books and papers 

 much said about the cultivation of the grasses 

 that great attention is paid to them in coun- 

 tries in which agriculture most flourishes, and 

 to his amazement he learns that the hay crop 

 even of this country alone, exceeds the value 

 of the cotton crop by some fifty or sixty mil- 

 lions of dollars. He therefore desires natu- 

 rally to be informed as to this crop, and all 

 the details of its management. It is proper 

 that we should fully discuss in the first place, 

 as a preliminary, 



THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 



In the plantation States, land to a great ex- 

 tent is almost unsaleable, or saleable^at a very 

 low price. In some cases this low price is due 

 to the effects of the war. For instance the 

 rice lands which before the war commanded 

 from $150 to $300 per acre, are now com- 

 paratively valueless. The same result ^has 

 followed in the case of the rich Mississippi 

 bottom lands, which were worth $40 to $50 

 per acre. 



These high prices of lands were excep- 

 tional instances. Before the war, the average 

 value of lauds was very low. In the State of 

 Georgia, with which the writer is most farnil- 



