694 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[November 



by all means, send for them. We can cure 

 snoring, when asleep, as we cure folly when 

 awake — by keeping the mouth shut. 



It may be thought that I owe an apology 

 to the clergy, for the freedom with which I 

 have treated them in the foregoing anecdote. 

 I know there could not have been accuracy 

 of detail, but, like most anecdotes, it was 

 built of materials mainly furnished gratis 

 by the architect. No man can revere the 

 body of our Virginian clergy more than I 

 do. No man can dread their snoring more. 

 They travel about so much, and there is a 

 general prejudice against snorers, that I 

 thought the anecdote might do good. As 

 for the few who ought to have their mouths 

 stopped in the day-time, they' may snore as 

 much as they please at night, if they will 

 keep out of my hearing. I ought to have 

 said, never lie on your back, snorer. Tyros 

 may soon learn the art by assuming this 

 position. Yours, C. 



For the Southern Planter. 



Grasses. 



Remarks on the Peculiar Difficult?/ of Rear- 

 ing Grass on the. Atlantic slope of Vir- 

 ginia and other Southern States — Utility 

 of the Effort Discussed — Its general Re- 

 linquishment Premature. 

 Mr. Editor : t • 



Sir — The subject chosen for the following 

 article has been so long neglected in this 

 region, that I fear not one of your numer- 

 ous readers will feel disposed to offer the 

 slightest thanks to the writer for its publi- 

 cation. The idea of hay-making, to any 

 extent, is, I fear, considered among the old- 

 est of fogie notions. Descended chiefly from 

 the dwellers in the British isles, where, from 

 the moisture of the climate, grass grows so 

 luxuriantly, and stock-raising so favorite an 

 employment, our fore-fathers very naturally 

 wished to make the same business an object 

 of their attention. I can well remember 

 that almost every land-holder had his mea- 

 dow, little or big, nearly threescore and ten 

 years ago. The grass chiefly employed was 

 timothy. The late Hon. A. B. Venable, 

 Sr., introduced on his own farm, in Prince 

 Edward, the red top or herds' grass, and 

 this soon superseded the timothy, being bet- 

 ter adapted to all moist grey lands, and 

 more disposed to scuffle for itself, as a vol- 

 unteer, where not destroyed by. the plough! 



This propensity has caused its spontaneous 

 propagation, in moist- lands, for many miles 

 around its original locality in this region. 



The- peculiar position of the region in 

 question, with mountains on the north and 

 west, and an ocean on the east, renders our 

 climate liable to sudden attacks of intensely 

 cold weather in winter, which destroy young 

 grass sown in autumn, and our liability to 

 long-continued and scorching droughts in 

 summer expose that sown in spring to equal 

 danger. So that from these two causes have 

 sprung much difficulty and discouragement 

 in the cultivation of grasses, in the country 

 designated. 



There is another difficulty arising from 

 the negation of lime and its compounds, in 

 sufficient abundance to promote a free growth 

 of grass on our soils. In much^ of our 

 mountain country, further south than we 

 are, e. g., in Roanoke, Pulaski, Wythe, etc., 

 where the grass grows with amazing luxu- 

 riance, and the cattle grow to equal any in 

 the world, we find as bitter cold in winter, 

 and as burning drought in summer, as we 

 have here. We are left to infer, that there 

 must be there some grass-fertilizing elements 

 in the soil denied to ours. 



With these difficulties constantly before 

 our people, there is no cause of wonder that 

 so many of them should have, come to the 

 conclusion that this is no grass country, and 

 have given up the effort to raise it in des- 

 pair. Some gentlemen, who owned good 

 lands, succeeded most handsomely in rais- 

 ing clover, and this tempted the owners of 

 poor land, which could never have brought 

 clover, had it never been too hot or too cold, 

 too wet or too dry, to throw away an incal- 

 culable amount on clover seed. This pre- 

 mature and unsuccessful application of clo- 

 ver seed to exhausted land has greatly con- 

 firmed the influence of the adage, that 

 " this is no grass country," and deprived us 

 generally of the benefit of clover, the king 

 of grasses, for many years to come. 



We might have learned something of the 

 art of grass-raising from the very few for- 

 eign farmers who have settled amongst us. 

 Mutual prejudice, after the revolutionary 

 war, probably kept away English farmers. 

 I have never known one in the whole land. 

 There was, formerly, a very small sprinkling 

 of German, Scotch and Irish farmers in our 

 interior counties, who were distinguished 

 for their fine meadows. These worthy citi- 

 zens are hardly to be found now. The 



