238 GRASSES FOR THE SOUTH. 



groat burns for six months of tlu* year, rcjjuirinj^ costly feed and 

 attention. 



** At the Soutli, in eacli of tlio p'.intation States, we luive tlireo 

 dllTerent olimates — tlnit of the mountains, the interior, and the 

 coast. For live stock, tlio mountains have tlie advanta^'e in 

 summer, tlie low country in winter, while the middle country 

 has a share of advantages and disadvantages of both without tlio 

 special excellencies or defects of either. As a general rule, a 

 clay soil is best suited to growing grass. Any land that will 

 bring good wheat will bring good clover, and any land that will 

 bring good oats will bring good grass. The lands most likely to 

 ])roduce heavy crops of Tiniothy and herd's grass (red top) hay 

 are the rice lands of the coast. They are very rich and have 

 ample conunand of water. Do the rice planters know that the 

 grass lands of Lombardy, near i^Iilan, where irrigation is prac- 

 ticed, rent for from ^(5 to ^100 i)er acre, while hay sells at !!<10 

 per ton? A level surface of iipland, without running water, 

 with an excess of sand, is the most unsuitable for a grass farm, 

 and of course for stock raising. 



"The writer has seen the various useful forage plants and grasses 

 tried from the mountains to the coast of Georgia. He has been 

 closely obser\ing in regard to this important interest for more 

 than twenty years. As a conclusion he does not hesitate to say 

 if ground be made sufficiently rich and as well i>repared, that if 

 judgment be exercised in sowing and in adaptation of species to 

 particular locality, and proper subse({uent management be 

 observed, that so far as soil and clinuite be concerned the South 

 has unusual fitness for successful cultivation of the valuable 

 grasses. The grass of the South will have some difficulties to 

 contend with, but none so formidable as those which are incident 

 to cotton and wheat. Broom-sedge, and crab-grass in the stub- 

 ble, gives excellent summer pasture. Bermuda grass is excellent 



