1866.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
255 
cleauliaess, is gniteful to thu cow, aud will pro- 
mote the flow of milk. Now boL'iii to niilU, not 
■with a short, quick, jei-kiug motion, which is 
very tinplcusaut to the cow, and helps to form 
the habit, but with a steady, 
and with sufficient pressnre of 
the teats, with a slight downward 
pull, to c.\pel all the milk every 
time; don't let half of the milk that 
you have drawn into the teals tly 
back into the Ji/y, but force it all 
into the pail. Milk the teats you 
first start with clean, or as long as 
the milk will flow from both; but 
if they do not milk even, leave tlie 
unfinished one and milk the other 
two ; then go back to tlie fii-st, and 
finally railk the unfinished ones to- 
gether. Never milk with one liand, 
but manipulate the bag with both 
hands, even if you do not get milk 
■with but one liand. Strip the bag 
perfectly clean. During the pro- 
cess of milking, and when the bag 
is partly emptied and becomes 
somewhat pliable, let the hands 
work well up on to or against tlie 
bag, this will keep up the flow of 
milk until the bag is emptied, and 
"stripping" will not be a "nui- 
sance." Milk fast, but not in such 
manner as to cause uneasiness to 
the cow; if you do, )-ou will teach 
lier the habit, and you will have 
to " strip." A fair milker should 
be milked clean in five minutes, if 
she gives a good mess of milk. A 
steady, even motion, filling tlie teat 
with milk at every pressure of the 
hands, is the most rapid way of 
milking, and the most agreeable to 
the coir: Treat your cow with per- 
fect kindness, speak to her as j'ou 
would to a child, and when milking let 
that be the only business on liand. Try the 
above and see how it works. I practice what 
I preach. J. L. R., Jefferson County, N. Y. 
Pasture Grasses for the Southern States. 
One great cause of tlie running down of 
Southern hinds lias been the want of suitable 
grasses for both hay and pasturage. Now that 
the system of husbandry will be in a great 
measure modified from tliat of former years, the 
question, what are suitable grasses, will be- 
come a still more important one. We give a 
brief account and figures of two tliat are now at- 
tracting attention as valuable pasture grasses. 
The Berxicd.v Grass. — {Cynodon Dactylon.) 
— Our first acquaintance with this grass was 
made in Texas. After traveling all day over a 
prairie on which the verdure was browned in a 
September sun, vye stopped at a planter's ranch 
and found bis 
front yard cloth- 
ed with its turf, 
the freshness of 
which was in 
marked contrast 
with the scorch- 
ed aspect of oth- 
er plants. Since 
then we have 
seen it in other 
Southern States, regarded as a weed to be avoid- 
ed rather than as a plant to be cultivated. There 
is no doubt tliat it has a value as a paslure grass, 
in tlie South, and though it would be of little use 
where better grass will grow, it has a tenacity 
of life that enables it to endure hot summers, 
.«CHRADER S BROMUS. 
and to flourish in sterile soils — qualities that 
also render it, when uncontrolled, a troublesome 
intruder. To answer several letters, we give a 
figure and description of it. The most striking 
thing about Bermuda grass, is its strong stems 
or runners, which extend upon or just below 
the surface in every direction, and are often four 
Fij. 2. — BERMUDA GRASS. 
or five feet long. At intervals of about two 
inches, this stem throws down roots, and sends 
up stems which bear the foliage and flowers. 
These upright stems are slender, and the leaves 
are narrow and delicate, but tliey are produced 
la such abundance as to make a dense turf. 
The finall flowers are produced in 
spikes wliic-h radiate from the top of 
the stem. In its manner of flower- 
ing, it reseniliks the roramon Fin- 
ger,or Crab-grass, I Iioup:Ii the flow- 
ers of the two difier very much in 
structure; but this is a point only of 
interest to botanists. In its strong 
prostrate sltm, aud tlie readiness 
with which each joint will become 
a plant, this grass bears a s-trong re- 
semblance to CoucU-gvass {Triticum 
rf/YH.9), and these are qualities wliicli 
at once adapt it to form a turf with 
great rapidit\', and also render it 
very difiicult to exterminate when 
it is once established. The seed is 
not down in our catalogues, and it 
is doubtful if it p'roduces seed as a 
general thing. Plants that are so 
abundantly provided with other 
means for multiplying themselves 
are usually shy about seed hearing. 
As every joint of the prostrate stem 
will make a plant, cuttings of it 
are used to form a pasture or lawn. 
The plant may be chopped up and 
the pieces scattered broadcast, and 
then rolled, or sets made by di- 
viding a plant may be put in hills. 
It is sufficiently hardy in most 
Southern localities to give grazing 
during the winter, and though it 
will grow where more valuable 
grasses will not, it flourishes muck 
better on fertile soils, where it even 
becomes large enough to cut for 
making into hay. It should be 
carefully kept from spreading into 
cultivated fields, as it is diflicult to extirpate. 
Schrader's Bromtis. — Bromus Schraderi.{?) 
— This grass is the Brome de Schrade of the 
French, and the agricultural journals of that 
people seem to be as wild over it as if they had 
found a new Chinese yam. We notice that 
they have dropped the name of " Rescue," under 
which it went a few years ago, and now desig- 
nate it as Brome de Schrade. Just what this 
grass is, we will not attempt to determine until 
we have grown some specimens, but we have 
suspicions regarding its botanical character. If 
it is the old Rescue grass, the name first given 
it in Europe, it is unworthy of consideration, 
but if, as is now claimed, it is what was former- 
ly called Ceratochloa breviaristata, from the N. 
W. coast, it may possess value aud be worthy 
of trial. In France, it is stated that its excel- 
lence as a pasture grass, its productiveness, its 
endurance of cold, and its everything wonder- 
ful, will completely revolutionize their agricul- 
ture. But they are great on revolutions in 
France, aud we content ourselves with calling 
the attention of Southern agriculturists to these 
statements, and suggest that this grass is, if half 
the foreign talk be true, worthy of trial by them. 
It must be borne in mind, however, that none 
of the species of Bromus, have, as yet, been fa- 
vorably decided upon by a jury of inttlligent 
cows, and if this one should be found to their 
taste, it will be an exception. Of course, cat- 
tle will eat the ditTerent species of Bromus, but 
tbey do not afford a very nutritious food, and 
they prefer other when it can be had. Both 
figures are given of about half the natural size. 
