SOEGHUM. 113 



getting a good stand will not want to destroy it. It will 

 bear cutting three or four times a year, and in fact, it has to 

 be done, for when it matures the seed, the stem and leaves 

 are too coarse and woody for use. 



Jno. B. McEwen, Esq., of Williamson county, procured 

 a bushel of seed from Dr. Gardner, and last year cut it four 

 times, getting a large amount of hay each time. He is de- 

 lighted with it, and says it is the best hay he raises, and his 

 dictum is of value, as he stands deservedly among the best 

 of our farmers. 



The ground must be well prepared as in other grasses, and 

 in September, the earlier the Better, let it be sown, one 

 bushel to the acre. 



It can be propagated also by the roots, by laying off the 

 rows each way and dropping a joint of the root two feet 

 apart and covering with a drag. 



It gives the earliest pastures we have, preceding blue 

 grass or clover a month. Hogs are fond of the roots, and 

 any amount of rooting in it will not injure it. In fact it is 

 a stick tight. It not only thrives well on bottoms, but it 

 will grow just as well on upland, and though poor upland 

 will make but little hay, yet it makes a fine pasture. It 

 disappears in the winter altogether, but the first warm 

 weather brings it up, and it grows with astonishing rapidity. 

 On our lands and in our climate it will grow from five to 

 seven feet high, while in South Carolina it will grow 

 twelve feet high. 



For soiling purposes it is not equaled by any grass in our 

 knowledge, as it can be cut every two or three weeks. 



There is a vast amount of land in Tennessee now de- 

 voted to gullies that would pay at least the taxes, and after 

 a while richly remunerate the owner, if put in this grass. 

 It is not a pre-requisite that the land should be broken up 

 to start it. A few sprigs of the roots set here and there in 

 the richest spots, will secure a good stand, 

 8 



