Bexar County. These springs furnish stock with water during droughts for an area 

 of 12 or 15 miles. I feel certain that for two or three months of each year not less than 

 1,000 or 1,500 stock water there, besides which it is a favorite nooning place for 

 freighters. And yet in this little valley, hardly half a mile wide, aud about 1| miles 

 long, adjacent to the spring this grass has gone on thickening and growing until now 

 the valley is the best sodded piece of land I know of, aud undoubtedly the worst 

 tramped. The habit of growth of this grass is very like the Bermuda, but it has 

 not quite such long runners. The culms and seed spikes can hardly be distinguished 

 from those of the Bermuda. I have recently noticed some small patches in the Gua- 

 daloupe and Medina valleys, and it would, I think, with attention, prove as valuable 

 in this dry country as the Bermuda does elsewhere. 



Charles N. Ely, Smith Point, Southeastern Texas : 



I regard Paspalum platycaule as the most valuable grazing grass in this part of the 

 State. With the salt-marsh grasses of the low lands on the coast it furnishes the best 

 pasture in this part of Texas. It has been spreading here for the last thirty years, 

 and is supposed to have come originally from some part of Louisiana, hence by some 

 it is called Louisiana Grass. It will stand more tramping and grazing than any other 

 grass in this part of the State, and on old uplands it forms a solid and perpetual past- 

 ure. As a drought-resisting grass it has no equal here, and on any dry sandy or loamy 

 soil its limits of usefulness will only be determined by its ability to stand severe cold. 

 It does not make hay of commercial value, but it is cub by the farmers and used as 

 rough food during severe weather. As a general thing I think it is cut too ripe. If 

 cut when first coming into bloom I think the quality of the hay would be much im- 

 proved, and the sward sooner recover itself, and the new growth be of more value for 

 pasture than if left uncut. Like Paspalum dilatatum this is slow in starting, but after 

 it gains strength it spreads over the surface, multiplying by suckers, and by the seed 

 which is scattered by the wind. It spreads very fast, but is easily destroyed when 

 the land is desired for cultivation. 



Guinea Grass, Panicum maximum, Jaq. ; (P. jumentorum, Pers.), 



PI. II. 



This is a native of Africa, which has been introduced into many trop - 

 ical countries, and in the West Indies is extensively cultivated. It has 

 been introduced into Florida and other places along the Gulf coast, but 

 is still little known in the United States. It requires a long season, is 

 very susceptible to frost, and ripens seed only in the warmest part of 

 the country. It has often been confounded with Johnson grass, and 

 many of the replies intended for this evidently referred to that plant. 

 The two, however, are entirely distinct. A sufficient point of distinc- 

 tion is the fact that Johnson grass spreads by underground stems, while 

 Guinea grass does not, but remains in bunches. 



Its chief value is for hay or soiling, and it should be cut frequently 

 to prevent it becoming too coarse and hard. The roots are perennial, 

 if protected from severe freezing, which may be done by a covering of 

 earth if necessary. 



The plant is propagated either by divisions of the crown or by seed. 

 By the former method they may be started earlier in the season, and 

 will furnish an earlier cutting. 



In 1873 the Department procured from Jamaica, West Indies, a sup- 

 ply of seeds of this grass, and distributed it for trial. Hon. Thomas 



