Queries and Answers. 



271 



from what part of the vine the second crop is produced. Mr. Barnet has not 

 answered the question directly; but he has sent us a plant, and some cuttings, 

 from the letter accompanying which we make the following quotation : — " Lou- 

 don's seedling grape is a very excellent variety, producing a second crop from the 

 fourth or fifth eye beyond the joint at which it has been pinched off in summer. 

 In cases where it is grown in stove heat, the plant is seldom without clusters 

 of fruit. I am not acquainted with any variety of the vine that seems to have 

 this property." — J. B. Experimental Garden, Edinburgh, A2ml 1. 1836. 



The Gavia Grass. — Messrs. Jacob Wrench and Sons, seedsmen, London 

 Bridge, having received a bag of the seeds of this grass, and having requested 

 us to give them some account of it, we think it may be useful, more especially as 

 this grass is at present making a consider- 30 



able noise in the United States, to lay 

 some particulars respecting it before our 

 readers. The Gama grass was so named in 

 honour of the Spanish gentleman who 

 first introduced its culture into Mexico. 

 Its scientific name is Tripsacum 6?acty- 

 loides L. {fig- 30.) ; and there is a variety 

 of it, T. monostachyon W. {fig. 29.), 

 which by some is considered as a species. 

 T. rfactyloides was introduced into England 

 from Virginia in 1640; and T. monosta- 

 chyon was brought to this country from North Ame- 

 rica in 1825 ; though we have not been able to ascertain 

 where a plant of the latter species is to be found. 

 There are plants of " T. rfactyloides in the grass 

 collection at Kew, which have been there a number of years. It is there a 

 robust perennial grass, requiring no looking after as regards its cultivation, 

 because neither heat nor cold, wet nor dryness, appear to aiFect it. It is late 

 in beginning to shoot ; and its flower stems do not show till late in the summer. 

 They are spreading, and from 3 ft. to 4 ft. in length. They continue green 

 till destroyed by the cold nights in autumn. It does not appear that the seeds 

 are sufficiently ripened to vegetate ; at any rate, no plants have been raised at 

 Kew from seeds ripened there. — J. S. Kew, April 12. 1836." 



In the Gard. Mag., vol. x. p. 570., a New York correspondent states that the 

 Gama grass is considered the best of all grasses for soihng, in the neighbourhood 

 of that city. It is also strongly recommended for this purpose in the Genessee 

 Farmer, vol. iv., for 183*. It is there stated, that Dr. Hardiman of Missouri 

 appears to have been the first cultivator of this grass in the United States ; 

 but that whether he found the seed there, or procured it from the Spaniards, 

 is uncertain. It is said to be a native of various parts of the Union, and to 

 be found on the sea coast as far north as Connecticut; and in the interior, on 

 the Schuylkill, 25 miles above Philadelphia. Various accounts ai-e given of the 

 produce of this grass. From " seventy to ninety tons of green hay, and from 

 twenty to thirty tons of cured hay, to the acre," are said to have been grown in 

 North Carolina. The flower stems attain the height of 7 ft. or 8 ft. ; and the edi- 

 tor of the American Farmer says that a blade sent to him in a letter measured 

 32i in. in length. One of his correspondents observes : " When all surrounding 

 vegetation was literally burnt up, the Gama grass was green and flourishing ; 

 and during the month of July it grew 43 in. It was cut on the first day of 

 every month, ranging from 3i ft. to 4^ ft. in height." It is said to grow well 

 in both sandy and clayey soils; to taste like the leaves of Indian corn (a taste 

 of all others the most agreeable to animals) ; and, when mixed with a little 

 salt, and given to mules, to render the addition of corn for them quite un- 

 necessary. {Genessee Farmer, vol. iv. p. 4.) In a subsequent page of the 

 same volume, the editor states that the seed requires an unusual length of 

 time to vegetate ; in some instances, as much as fourteen months. Some 

 seeds, which the editor of the Northern Farmer kept constantly wet with water, 



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