FOR THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



77 



Nor is this strange when its many ad- 

 vantages and points of excellence are con- 

 sidered. It will grow well on any soil 

 containing sufficient clay and not holding 

 too much water. If the land be too tena- 

 cious, drainage will remedy the soil; if 

 worn out, a top dressing of stable manure 

 will give it a good send-off, and it wiU 

 furnish several good mowings the first year. 

 It grows well between 29° and 48° lati- 

 tude. It may be mowed from two to four 

 times a year, according to the latitude, 

 season and treatment; yielding from one 

 to three tons of excellent hay per acre on 

 poor to medium land. In grazing and as 

 hay, most animals select it in preference 

 among mixtures in other grasses. In lower 

 latitudes it furnishes good winter grazing, 

 as v;ell as for spring, summer and fall. 

 After gi'azing, or mowing, few grasses grow 

 so rapidly (three or six inches per week), 

 and are so soon ready again for tooth or 

 blade. It is easily cured and handled. It 

 is readily seeded and catches with certainty. 

 Its long, deeply penetrating, fibrous roots 

 enable it to sustain itself and grow 

 vigorously during droughts that dry up 

 other grasses, except tall oat grass, which 

 has similar roots and characteristics. It 

 grows well in open lands and in forests of 

 large trees, the underbrush being all clear- 

 ed off. I have had it grown luxuriantly even 

 in beech woods, where the roots are super- 

 ficial, in the crotches of roots and close to 

 the trunks of trees. The hay is of high 

 quality, and the young grass contains a 

 larger per centage of nutritive digestable 

 matter than any other grass. It thrives 

 well without any renewal on the same 

 ground for thirty -five, nay forty years; 

 how much longer, I am not able to say. 

 It is easily exterminated when the land is 

 desired for other crops. Is there any other 

 grass for which so much can be said? 



Orchard Grass. 



RED TOP CRASS. 



(Agrostis Vulgaris.) 



This is the best grass of England, the herd 

 grass of the Southern States; not in honor of 

 any man, but probably, because so well adapt- 

 ed to the herd. It is called also Fine Top, 

 Burden's and Borden's Grass. Varying greatly 

 in characters, according to soil, location, 

 climate and culture, some botanists have 

 styled it A. Polymorpha. It grows two to 

 three feet high, and I have mown it when 

 four feet high. It grows well on hill tops 

 and sides, in ditches, gullies and marshes, 

 but delights in moist bottom land. It is not 

 injured by overflows, though somewhat pro- 

 longed. In marshy land it produces a vei-y 

 dense, strong network of roots capable of sus- 

 taining the weight of men and animals walking 

 over it. 



It furnishes considerable grazing during- 

 warm "spells" in winter, and in spring and 

 summer an abundant supply of nutrition. It 

 has a tendency, being very hardy, to increase 

 in density of growth and extent of siirf ace, and 

 will continue indefinitely, though easily sub- 

 dued by the plow. 



Cut before maturing seed, it makes a good 

 hay and large quantity. It seems to grow 

 taller in the Southern States than it does 

 further North, and to make more and better 

 hay and grazing. Red Top and Timothy, 

 being adapted to the same soil and maturing 

 at the same time, do well together and produce 

 an excellent hay. But the Red Top will finally 

 root out Timothy, and if pastured much it wiU 

 do so sooner. 



