112 THE GRASSES* OF TENNESSEE. 



no guardian and no means, the president had a gentleman 

 appointed guardian who went to Marion to see if his wards 

 had anything. In the meantime the plantation was left 

 alone, no one caring for it, and it was unrented. He found 

 it a large place, and almost entirely covered with the 

 Means grass, the winds and stock having set it everywhere. 

 Being a shrewd man, he saw its capability and at once ad- 

 vertised it as a stock farm, and soon rented it to Mr. E. C. 

 Gardner and J. C. Copeland, Esq., of Nashville. They saw 

 their opportunity, and at once, securing a number of baling 

 presses, set to work cutting and baling hay for the Southern 

 market. 



The hay proved popular and sold well wherever tried, as 

 stock delighted in it, leaving all other kinds to eat it. Ap- 

 plications naturally poured in for some of the grass, and so 

 they sold immense quantities of the seed, and also of the 

 roots, getting large prices for both. So great was its popu- 

 larity that at the end of their five years lease a company of 

 Northern men out-bid them, and have resorted to steam to 

 assist in the baling process. 



Egyptian Sugar Cane, as its proper name is, is a daughter 

 of the Nile, where it grows fifteen or twenty feet high. So 

 great is its luxuriance there that it has filled all the upper 

 Nile so that a canoe cannot be driv ? en through it. Great 

 numbers of cattle and wild animals resort to it, and, in fact, 

 it is the chief sustenance of ruminants in that country. 



When young it is very tender and sweet, the ,pith being 

 full of sugary juice. The leaves are as large as corn fodder, 

 and very nutritious. It has a perennial root, and so vigor- 

 ous that when once planted it is a difficult matter to eradi- 

 cate it. So care must be taken to plant it where it is not 

 intended to be disturbed. The roots are creeping and 

 throw out shoots from every joint. It is a fine fertilizer, 

 and sown on a piece of poor washed land will, in a few 

 years, restore it to its pristine fertility. But there is really 

 not much difference where it is sown, for a farmer once 



