12 



toes here in February, and in March corn is planted among the potatoes. When the 

 «orn is half grown the potatoes are dug, then the Crab-grass grows up, and after the 

 corn is taken off the grass is cut. 



O. F. Matt ox, of Homerville, Ga. : 



Our native Crab-grass, Crow-foot, and Field Pea supply our every want as forage 

 plants. 



0. Menelas, Savannah, Ga.: 



Panicum sanguinale, or Crab-grass, is known all over the cotton belt, but is little 

 appreciated, owing to its injury to growing crops, though it is often more valuable 

 han the crops themselves. It is very nutritious, and yields heavily. What is saved 

 as hay is from the corn and cotton fields, and it is not always secured in the proper 

 condition. Few yet cultivate it as a crop. I have tried its cultivation by way of 

 simply plowing and harrowing a few acres on our creek bottoms, and doing no more 

 work until the time to mow it. In that way we not only secure a better quality of 

 hay, but the yield is at the rate of fully one and a half tons per acre. 



Texas Millet, Panicum Texanwn, PL IV. 



This grass is a native of Texas, and was first described and named 

 in 1866 by Prof. S. B. Buckley, in his Preliminary Beport of the Geo- 

 graphical and Agricultural Survey of Texas. It is frequently called 

 Colorado Grass, from its abundance along the Colorado Biver in that 

 State. In some localities it is known as Biver Grass ; in others as Goose 

 Grass, from its being supposed to have been introduced by wild geese. 

 In Southern Texas it is sometimes called Buffalo Grass, and in Fayette 

 County it is known as Austin Grass, from the fact that it was first util- 

 ized as hay near Austin. 



The most numerous and favorable reports regarding it are from Lam- 

 pasas, Burnet, and Travis Counties, along the Colorado Biver, and 

 southward through the central part of the State. From no grass so 

 little known have more favorable reports been received, especially from 

 the section where it is most abundant. It is but little known outside 

 of Texas. Of the thirty-five valuable reports in regard to it, all but 

 six were from that State, and most of them from the region above indi- 

 cated. 



The grass is an annual, growing usually from 2 to 4 feet high, and is 

 especially valuable for hay. It prefers rich alluvial soils, but stands 

 drought well,* though on dry uplands its yield is much reduced. The 

 plant is furnished with an abundance of rather short and broad leaves, 

 and the stems, which are rather weak, are often produced in consider- 

 able number from a single root, and where the growth is rank are in- 

 clined to be decumbent at the base. It is valuable for all purposes for 

 which the ordinary millets are used, and should be tried throughout the 

 South. In Texas, where most largely grown, it generally overcomes 

 other grasses and weeds, but in some of the other Southern States 

 Crab-grass and weeds have interfered with its growth. 



Fleming Moore, West Point, Fayette County, Central Texas: 



I learn from the Farm and Fireside that your Department desires information re- 

 garding ll Southern grasses." I will confine my remarks solely to the Colorado Grass, 



