109 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
country to be 2,000 pounds of ginned cotton, or four 
Georgia bales to tbe liand, and estimating tliat by a pru- 
dent cconqmy the planter produces all his own supplies. 
It actually costs liini 8 cents for every pound of cotton he 
makes.— S nl of / he Soutit 
TEXA.S OAT, ALIA-', HESGUE GRASS.— EXPEEIMEITT 
WITH RYE. 
Mkssrs. EotTORs— The unprecedented cold and dry 
Wf'ather has so retarded the growth ot my Rye that I have 
thought it advisable not to apply the sickle to it again un 
til it i'.ttained its growth or matured its seed; and shall not, 
therefore, trouble you with anotljer article upon the sub- 
ject until that period arrives. 
I will remark, however, that at present the Rye is from 
4 to 10 irn-hes high, and would probably yield 10 lbs. (the 
row). The grass (-‘Rescue”) is not yet sufficiently high 
for the grazing of hor.^es or cattle, but would do very well i 
for sheep. The chickens, I find, are beginning to show ■ 
some partiality for it, it being evidently much more deli- 
cate and tender than the Rye ever was, and is probably | 
more nutritious. ; 
In the last number of your CnUivaior, I find an article ; 
from Mr B. Y. Ivkrso.v, the vender of the so called Res j 
cue Grass seed, in reply to my first communication upon ; 
that subject— intending principally to set me aright as to 1 
the legitimate or classical name of the grass in question — 
and calling upon me for the testimony in support of the 
name which 1 there choose to give it — ■•The 7 exas Oat.” 
As there is no virtue in a name, 1 feel as though I should 
be trespassing upon the columns of your journal as well 
-as the patience of its readers, were 1 to occupy more than 
! a moinentina reply — made necessary from considerations 
i of courtesy, and in doing so shall bring Mr. 1. first upon 
■ the stand. In the history of this grass, as given us by Mr. 
I JvKRSON, in several of his pulilished communications, he 
I has informed us that Capt. Morga.v Smith, of Lowndes 
1 county, Alabama, first introduced the seed into this coun 
; try, and that from him he indirectly obtained his — and 
I that he called it the “Texas Oat,” (see his reply to “Tat 
I tier,” November ( 1854) number of ihe Soil of the S u.h, 
i oage o‘24,) but does not give its history in Capt S ’s word^ 
anyfuriher, r 7 S fo Us origin; although he says: “I have 
: heard Capt. S. state how he received his first start of 
ii’M) 
That its origin is traceable to Texas, when taken in 
connection with this history, is clear fiom the testimony : 
of the Hon. W. L. Yancy, of Ala., “Agricola” and “'J’at- j 
tier” 
In the Farmer and PZcTi/^r, (November (1 854) number, 
! page 298,7 vv, L Y. suites, “That several years since, one 
i of Capt S.mith’s neighliors removed to 4’exas, and that 
! Capt S dropped into the hand of the emignnt's son, who 
! wa* named a<ter him, a twenty-dollar gold piece. In a 
; short time afterwards, however, there came a letter from 
' the young Te.Kan, containing a few seed, wliich resemliled 
I our oat .-eed, in all liut size. ’ ‘"Agricola ’ says, (Noveni- 
j ber ( !8.')4) numlmr of ihe Southern CulUvoU r, jiage 3 7,) 
I ‘ Mr. Gii.mkr, of Red hiver. (who is a nephew of Capt 
I S’s wife) l.rought the oat fiom 4Vxas and gave it to his 
: uncle.” In the Ociober ( 18.54) number of the ,S 
South, page g9.5, “Tatler” says, -The seed w ere sent from 
' Texas as the Texas Oat to Capt. M. Smith, of Lowndes 
I county Alabama.” 
The only discrepancy in these stateme-its is as to its de- 
\ li erv — certainly not m-iierial. The seed, therefore, be- 
yond a doubt, otme from Texas and was called by Capt. 
' Smith, “Texas Oats.” This evidence, may not be con 
cl isi ve to Mr. I vkrbon ; but it is something beyond the 
I mere “ipsedixit” which he taunts me with, 
i In explanation of Mr. l.’s surmises, noted in his reply, 
1 aa lo who 1 am, I will relieve his suspicions by informing 
him that tiuit communication was the first article I ever 
wrote touching this grass, and that I am not “unfriendly 
either to him, personally, or his grass.” But was actuated 
from the be.<t of motives in making the experiment — 
loLinded upon his own laudations of its merits — some few 
of which I will quote. In tlie August (1854) number of 
the Soil of the South, page b'24', he says ; “It is never in- 
jured by our severest cold ; which stands our summer’s 
licat; which is neither injured nor retarded by heavy 
rains, overflow's or ordinary drouths; and will do well in 
any kind of soil in the South,” &c., 6cc. Again, in the 
September (1851) number of the same journal, page G49. 
“I do, in all candor, state, once for all, that every word I 
s lid about it is true.” In another sentence — “It outgrows 
7lil!et orLnceine; it will (if sowed in the lastofSeptem- 
ter) be ready to graze horses mules, cattle, sheep, goats, 
hogs and chickens, from November to June; it will then 
(stock being w'ithdraw’n and the ground rich) yield as 
much h ly, per acre, as the best Northern article, in quan- 
titv, quality and weight, &c , &c., &c.” 
But, to return to his reply to my article,/he says : “I will 
say, however, that the fall and winter, so far, has been en- 
tirely too dry for it; as an evidence of this, I find my grass 
now not over 20 inches high, while, at the same period 
last year it wms over 30 inches in the same ground.” In 
reply to this statement, I have only to remark that it must 
be grown in a garden, or on some other rich plat of 
i^rouiid. 
The soil in which mine is planted (and they are genu- 
ine seed, unless he sold a spurious article, which opinion I 
will not entertain) would grow, with ordinary seasons, 
irom 18 to 20 busJiels corn per acre, being certainly the 
best soil for testing its \ aloe as a. renovator (also claimed 
for it) of poor land. 
As lointer food for stock it has been entirely worthless 
to me; and it now remains to be seen what is its relative 
value to Rye, in yield of hay, or green matter for turning 
in as a fertilizer. 
I sowed down (in drills) a square in my garden — say 
30 by 30 feet square — in Rye, about the first of September 
list, which has furnished a daily supply of iO to 15 lbs. of 
green food to one cow ever since the first of December, 
and promises to last at Iea:;t two weeks longer. ^^[mdriUs 
are about 6 inches wide, and rows about 18 inches apart. 
Barly is more nutritious than Rye. 
A.LGt:RNON. 
March, 1855. 
Hydrophobia ix a Horse. — A correspondent of the 
Mark Lane E.tpress, dating from Whetstone, relates the 
following case : 
Six or seven weeks ago I had a valuable cart mare bit- 
ten by a strange dog. My man was in the chaff house, 
and he was aroused by a sudden rearing, plunging, and 
unusual noise; he immediately entered the stable, and 
thought he saw a small dog jump out of the manger and, 
leave the stable; he thought tin's must have frightened the 
animal, as it was dusk. 1 told liim to bring it out to the 
light, when we observed three or four long scratches or 
incisions just deep enough to draw blood; an uneasy 
thought crossed my mind at the moment, but it was soon 
forgotten, and it was only last week that I was pleasing 
myself that the mare was improving in condition. On 
Monday last she appeared to have a sore throat. I sent 
for the fierrier, who administered some remedy, and order- 
ed fomentation, which was very frequently applied. She 
appeared something better on Thursday, morning, but 
towards evening became worse, and eventually quite 
rabid— starting and shivering at the sound of water, and 
snapping at everything within reach; and at last wa 
found it necesfiary to kill her. 
