(85) 



It seems especially adapted to the Southern States, not 

 ;flourishiug above 36°, growing with great luxuriance on the 

 poorest soils and retaining vitality in its roots in the sever- 

 est droughts. It is said to be a fine plant for grazing, and 

 being perennial in warm climates, needs no re-sowing and 

 but little attention. On soils unfit for anything else it 

 furnishes good pasture and supplies a heavy green crop for 

 turning under and improving the laud. It cannot stand 

 severe cold, and in high latitudes cannot be depended on as 

 a good pasture grass, although it comes up and supplies an 

 abundant forage for a few months. It should be sown in 

 •January or February in the Southern States, and about one 

 bushel of seed to ten acres is required to secure a good stand 

 the first year. It is said to be an excellent renovator of old 

 -fields, and to bring them up to a high degree of fertility in 

 an incredibly short space of time. 



Mr. E. M. Pendleton, of Georgia, speaking of it, says : 

 " I am willing to concede to it several things that do not 

 ■apply to any other plant we have ever grown in this lati- 

 tude : 



1. "It grows on poor land with more luxuriance than any 

 other grass or weed I have ever seen ; and as it has a small 

 leaf, rather contravenes the general idea of vegetable physi-. 

 -ologists, that large leaved plants feed mostly on the atmos- 

 phere. I suppose, however, that this deficiency is counter- 

 acted to a large extent by the number &i leaves, for they, 

 are legion. 



2. " It has great powers of endurance, so far as the roots 

 are concerned ; but the branches and leaves will parch and' 

 die out under a burning sun very soon, especially where it 

 grows sparsely. During a wet summer it luxuriates where- 

 -ever ppopegated on poor hill-sides as well as meadow lands- 

 It loves, however, rainy seasons on thirsty lands, and I fear 

 will not prove to be all we desire in such localities. It, 

 however, reminds us of an anecdote of Mr. Dickson, when 

 he was showing some gentlemen his farm during the pre- 



