I860.] 



THE SOUTHER 



N PLANTER. 



695 



cheapness of rich lands in other portions of 

 our Union, or mayhap misrepresentations of 

 our slave labor keep them away. The im- 

 migration of many of such as I have known 

 is desirable. 



It is certainly wise to be governed by 

 maxims which are really true. We are al- 

 ways liable to error when we give credence 

 to such as are not well founded. That this, 

 in its present condition, is not a good grass 

 country, may safely be admitted. But we 

 might fall into error, and suffer much inju- 

 ry, if we determine never to aim at the cul- 

 ture of grass at all. It requires but little 

 inquiry into the workings of nature to learn 

 that she is continually providing for the nu- 

 triment of new vegetation from the decay 

 of the old. And we must either trust to 

 her slow process of renovating exhausted 

 soils, by means of poverty grass, running 

 briers, broom straw, and old field pines, for 

 the restoration of fertility to our lands, or 

 we must, by ploughing in what are called 

 green crops, bring about the same result 

 much sooner. And we must do this, not 

 because we expect to make this a fine grass 

 country, but because it is the cheapest and 

 most speedy way of making it a fine agri- 

 cultural country, and, perhaps the only way. 

 We are not compelled to pursue plans re- 

 commended by .others in the prosecution of 

 this object. The culture of grass has been 

 but little attempted in this country, and is 

 comparatively new. It is highly probable 

 that new plans of operation, and different 

 from those adopted in Europe, might suit 

 our peculiar condition better. The writer 

 having failed so often, when sowing grass- 

 seed in spring and autumn, has, for many 

 years, chosen to sow in summer. He has 

 preferred the last week in August, or a little 

 sooner, if the weeds in his stubble-fields 

 were advancing rapidly. He has never yet 

 failed, when sowing at this time on wheat or 

 oat stubble, after running seven-toothed 

 harrows once or twice over the ground, or 

 dragging it with a twenty-toothed rake. 

 This year he has simply sown the seed with- 

 out using any implement of culture, the 

 rag-weeds having grown too thick and high 

 since the rainy season commenced in Au- 

 gust, (the 13th,) for the use of the rake or 

 harrow. He expects to succeed, as he nev- 

 er believed that the slight cultivation of rake 

 or harrow could do much good on hard stub- 

 ble land. The clover and grass thus sown 

 have uniformly come to maturity in due 



time the next year. The seed are sprouted 

 and the young plants rapidly advanced by 

 the fall rains ; and having no plants of small 

 grain to contend with, and being protected 

 by the dead weeds, are almost certain to 

 withstand the winter. 



Another idea is thought worthy of con- 

 sideration. Heretofore but a small variety 

 of grasses has been brought into cultivation 

 amongst us. Perhaps, by increasing the 

 number, we might find some kind which 

 would suit our soil and climate better than 

 any before tried. The writer, however, has 

 failed egregiously in an attempt of this sort. 

 He has recently been experimenting some 

 which promise better things. He thinks 

 the Orchard grass, the Randal grass, the 

 mountain evergreen, will all do well if pro- 

 perly nursed. He purchased, at a high 

 figure, a bushel of what was sent to him for 

 Italian rye grass, which, when pure, is an 

 annual; but, as it proved to be perennial, 

 he supposes it to be English rye grass — 

 which failed, in his hands, niany years ago. 

 Be it what it may, it will not do here. From 

 very small experience, he is greatly pleased 

 with the English fox-tail grass. On moist 

 sandy land it will certainly do well. He 

 has now, under experiment, several varieties 

 of Virginia wild rye grass, which he thinks 

 may become valuable. It springs early, 

 and grows late in the fall, and flourishes 

 on soil of moderate fertility. Its seed-stalks 

 arise from two to more than six feet in 

 height. As an indigenous grass, it is worthy 

 of attention. It seems to be relished by 

 stock, and grows as well, seemingly, in dry 

 seasons as. in wet. I greatly prefer it to the 

 far-famed Rescue grass. It might prove 

 beneficial, if any gentleman would thus ex- 

 periment on small patches of grass, and if 

 the seedsmen would, at moderate prices, 

 supply small parcels of seed. 



But it may be asked, why seek for less 

 valuable grasses when we have clover, the 

 king of grasses, which we may cultivate 

 successfully, if we take pains enough? 

 The plain answer is, because we may thus 

 more certainly rear clover, and derive great- 

 er benefits from it. With a good field of 

 any forward grass, on which to sustain our 

 stock, in early spring, until our clover at- 

 tains its full growth, we may not only derive 

 an hundred fold benefit from the clover, but 

 may save it from total destruction. Mr. W, 

 Gilmer, of Albemarle, at a meeting of the 

 Agricultural Society, some years ago, in 



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