The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 91 



India for sugar cane ; in other words, we have built up the agri- 

 culture of the South from crop plants we have obtained from all 

 parts of the world. That is particularly true of the forage crops. 

 Every forage crop we grow in the South is introduced. We have 

 been unable in agriculture to utilize a single native plant of the 

 South. 



When you bear in mind that there are in existence some 

 ten thousand species of legumes, and four thousand species 

 of grasses, it must be evident to you that there are still 

 large possibilities in finding other valuable forage grasses or 

 legumes. This is a subject which demands very exhaustive 

 investigation. In a relatively small way we have been doing this 

 in the Department for years and with some success. At the 

 present time we have under trial a number of recently obtained 

 forages, which possess various degree of promise ; and some of 

 these, I am sure, are going to make easier the forage problems 

 on the soils we are talking about. 



I might mention some of the plants that apply to the South. 

 One is a native of South- Africa, where it has created a great deal 

 of interest, and is known as "Napier's Fodder." It is a perennial 

 grass, growing in the manner of sugar cane, and produces a very 

 large amount of highly palatable feed per acre. In some of the 

 Coastal Plain states it has succeeded very well. 



We have also been investigating very carefully the dififerent 

 varieties of Bermuda grasses, and we have found one that gives 

 double the yield of ordinary Bermuda. Whether that will be the 

 case under practical pasture conditions remains to be determined. 



I might mention a lot of these legumes and grasses ; but I will 

 say that out of the enormous number of legumes and grasses avail- 

 able we have found several that are going to help solve this forage 

 problem in the South. I stated a moment ago that all the forage 

 plants we are growing in the United States are introduced. This 

 is as true in the North as in the South. The pasture plants 

 throughout that area are blue grass, white clover and red clover — 

 from Europe. The hay plants are timothy and red clover, from 

 Europe, and so on down the line. Out of the enormous agri- 

 culturally unexplored areas of the earth may come very much 

 more. 



But altogether apart from these possibilities which lie in the 

 future, my opinion, as I have stated before, is pretty optimistic. 

 I believe that with our present knowledge we can build up a prof- 



