124 How THE FARM PAYS. 



noticed, it is well to give the botanical name of it, viz., Panicum 

 jumentorwn. It is a native of Africa, and was originally brought into 

 Florida from the West Indies, and is rapidly coming into use all over 

 the Southern States. It is a perennial and reaches a height of six 

 to ten feet, with wide leaves, almost like corn blades, two feet long; 

 but it is cut several times in the season, when at a height of two feet, 

 for green fodder or for hay, or is pastured repeatedly until frost 

 arrives, when the herbage is cut down to the ground. Its culture is 



SOBGHUM HALAPENSE (JOHNSON GRASS). 



as follows: The root throws out a thick mat of stolons, like those of 

 common Quack Grass, but much thicker. These are taken up and 

 cut into pieces, each having a bud. The cuttings are set out in 

 March or April in furrows, and covered with the next turn of the 

 plow. The crop is ready for the first cutting in May, when it is very 

 tender and sweet, and can be fed or cured for hay. Upon fairly 

 good land it yields a cutting every six weeks until it is cut down by 

 the frost, when the root remains in the ground safely and sprouts 



