Proceebings of the Farmers' Clvb. 261 



sunflowers. 



Dr. J. C. V. Smith. — When I was in Egypt, I noticed something 

 very peculiar in the soil; and afterward, in conversation with 

 Baron Humboldt, in Berlin, he told me that the fertility of that 

 country is owing to a slime, the product of fish. But I rose to 

 speak more particularly on the value of the sunflower. If I were 

 a farmer I should plant it. When De Soto discovered the Mis- 

 sissippi he found that there were a civilized people in what is now 

 Tennessee, who were governed by a queen, who sat on a throne. 

 Nor were the people at all like the aborigines. Among the great 

 variety of beautiful crops which they raised, he noticed the sun- 

 flower had great prominence, the product of which was used for 

 butter, lard, di'essing leather, and for lamps, having the same quali- 

 ties as olive oil. A quarter of an acre would make a prodigious 

 yield. It is preferred by poultry to corn, as it is in some degree 

 animalized, and it can be made into cake suitable for feeding 

 horses and cattle. 



Mr. Alfred Spear. — When I was farming in the West, we all had 

 the sunflower fever, and huge quantities were raised; but there 

 were two difficulties, one was to get the seeds from the hulls, and 

 the other to find any market for the seed after we got it out. We 

 fed it to our poultry, and in this way found it very useful, for they 

 decidedly preferred it to corn. 



TEXAS GRASS. 



Mr. J. L. Hughes, Austin, Texas, sends some specimens of this 

 grass to the Club. It is a long, coarse grass, resembling dwai'f 

 sorghum. It grows luxuriantly first during the summer, and in the 

 latter part of winter. The summer or bottom grass makes hay 

 superior to Northern timothy; cattle eat it up clean, and the cav- 

 alry officers prefer it in making contracts. Here it is called Fes- 

 cue. I intend to send seed to friends in Mississippi, to have it 

 tried there, and if you have friends in the Southern States who 

 would like to make a trial, I will assist them in getting seeds if • 

 they will write to me. I want to see the farmers flourish, and l^ave 

 good grasses which furnish good milk and butter. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — This Club is much obliged to this gen- 

 tleman for sending us this specimen of grass. It may not flourish 

 so far North, but I would like to try it; and we are always pleased 

 when others send us what they may think would become important 

 additions if generally disseminated. I have become convinced that 



