GARDEN' MANUAL TOR THE SOUTHERN' STATES. 



103 



spring, but can also be sown later. Under 

 the most favorable circumstances it takes from 

 60 to 90 days to sprout; requires damp weather 

 and hot sun; but when once up it grows very 

 rapidly. 



WILD RICE. 



The natural time for sowing is in the fall, 

 although it may be sown in the spring. The 

 seed should first be thoroughly soaked in 

 water so that it will sink into the desired si- 

 tuation. It may be sown in shallow water, not 

 over three feet deep, and from this depth in 

 to the shore. While it will grow in deeper 

 water, it should be allowed to work its own 

 way, the start being made in shoal water. 

 A still day should be chosen for sowing so 

 that it will not drift off into too deep water. 



RESCUE GRASS. 



Ceratochloa Australia or Bromus Shraderii. 



A forage plant 

 from Australia. 

 It grows during 

 the winter. Sow 

 the seed in the 

 fall of the year, 

 but not before 

 the weather 

 gets cool, as it 

 will not sprout 

 as long as the 

 ground is warm. 

 Sow 1^ bushels 

 seed to the 

 acre. 



It is an an- 

 nual winter 

 grass. It varies 

 in the time of 

 starting growth. We have seen it ready 

 for mowing the first of October, and 

 furnish frequent cuttings till April. Again 

 it may not start before January, nor be ready 

 to cut until February. This depends upon 

 the moisture and depression of temperature. 

 When once started its growth, after succes- 

 sive cuttings or grazing, is very rapid. It is 

 tender, very sweet, and stock eat it greedily. 

 It makes also a good hay. It produces an 

 immense quantity of leaves. On loose soil 

 some of it may be pulled out by animals 

 grazing it. We have seen it bloom as early 

 as November, when the season has favored it, 

 and no grazing or cutting were permitted. 

 Oftener it makes little start before January. 

 But whether late or early starting, it may be 

 grazed or mowed frequently, until April, it 

 still will mature seed. It has become natu- 

 ralized in limited portions of Texas, Louis- 

 iana, Mississippi, Alabama and perhaps other 

 States. It is a very pretty grass in all its 

 stages; and especially so when the culms, two 



Rescue Grass. 



or three feet high, are gracefully bending the 

 weight of the diffuse panicle with its many 

 pedicelled flattened spikelets, each an inch 

 or more long and with twelve to sixteen 

 flowers. We would not, however, advise 

 sowing this grass on poor land with the expec- 

 tation of getting a remunerative return. It 

 tillers abundantly under favorable conditions. 



JAPAN CLOVER. 



Lespedeza. Sti'iata. 



There is now so much inquiry about this 

 plant, so much confusion, lack of knowledge 

 and confounding with or mistaking for it an- 

 other worthless species, and also the same 

 errors in regard to a small genuine clover, 

 that it is deemed proper to give some correct 

 information on the subject. 



History — To botanists this plant has been 

 known for many generations in its native 

 habit in China and other eastern parts oi 

 Asia. Finding its way to Japan it encoun- 

 tered congenial climate and soil, and rapidly 

 spread over the entire country occupying all 

 waste places, which it has continued to pos- 

 sess and improve for much more than a cen- 

 tury. Here as on the continent it was oi 

 dwarfish habit and received a name indicative 

 of the fact. 



Finally, a few seeds, arriving in the United 

 States, germinated and contested a few feel 

 of soil with other native and exotic plants thai 

 had long pre-occupied the land. 



It gained strength and increased in yield 

 of seed till becoming somewhat abundant, ii 

 commenced its westward invasion, simulta- 

 neously extending its conquests northwarc 

 and southward, firmly holding all conquerec 

 territory. Since 1870 its strides westwarc 

 have been immense. It now extends fron 

 the Atlantic seaboard across the Mississippi 

 and its outposts are pushed far towards th( 

 western border of Texas. 



On rich soil it doffs the dwarf and dons th< 

 tree style, justifying the American name o 

 "bush clover," sending its long tap root 

 deep down in the subsoil and its stem two o 

 three feet up into the light and air, with it: 

 many branches thickly set with leaves, invi 

 ting tooth and blade. 



It subdues broom grass and holds equa 

 contest with Bermuda grass; in some local 

 ities one yielding, in other spots both main 

 tain equal possession; or one year one ma; 

 seem to rule, and the next year the other. 



Value — On sands, gravels, or denuded cla; 

 hill tops no other plant known to me is s< 

 valuable for grazing. Taking a succession o 

 ten years, the same assertion would not b 

 far out of the way for rich lands, while fe^ 

 forage plants on these would yield so mud 

 or so valuable hay. 



The analysis of red clover gives 16 percent 



Our Hog Farm is supplied with the Best breeding stock in the United States. 



