SOTTTHEEN CULTIVATOE. 
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.Address; V/m. S. Jonro, , i}n . 
^EE TERMS OR LAST PARE. 
IMfistabai! tlr'CeiiGiiiii otil) .jlliscdianr,. 
OaASSKS FOR THE SOUTH. 
G'JIHEA CiEASS-MEAllS GRASS. 
UY K; JOHN BACHMAN, ». l>., OF CH ABLKSTON. 
Epitorr Southfhn Cf'f.TiVATOR— In my yesferday’s 
.■■"visit to the Agricultural Fair nt Atlanta, the pleasure I de- 
rived from meeting with many old tVitnds, and otliers 
■^known to me by characters, and whom I was desirous of 
meeting, was somewhat marred on bemg reminded of my 
OAVJi negligence, in not IrjAuiig refdied to several corres- j 
pondents, who, for two years past, have written to me for 
my' opinion of the grass recently introduced into the 
Southern States, uadt-r the name of Guinea Grass. 1 I'.ave 
several excuses which rny partial friends', among th.e rest 
Col. SuivuvjKK, who had written very pressingly on the 
subject, would, I am sure, readily accept ; but I think it 
the best and shortest mode to plead guiliy to the charge of 
negligence, to promise amendment and to give an evidence 
ofit in this corotriunication, which I am sure you will 
publish, iffor no otixer purpose tban that of enabling me 
to tnuke an apology to those who were entitled to better 
treabneBit at my hands. 
I’o nrturn to tlie grass, I will endeavor in somewhat of 
-a professioiial habit, to show ; 
1st. What it js not. 
2nd. What it is. 
l3rd. Offer a few reflections on this singular and provi- 
- dential production 
4. It is not the Guinea Grass. Of this I can speak very 
positively. The Guinea Grass {flolms Polycyamnvi) bears 
a general outward resemblance to this variety — it is not 
■ unlike it in the shape of the leaves and in the rapidity of 
its growth, but in ail other essential particular.^ it dilTers 
■ very w-ktely. J culdvaled a square in my garden in 
Charleston, of the true Guinea Grass for more tban 25 
■ye-ars. J procured the seeds from my neighbor, the late 
.Mr. Poinsett, having, at that time, no other object in 
A view than that of obtaining for ray herbarium specimens 
ofa gra.ss that had contributed so largely to (he then pros- 
'^oerKy of Jamaica and other West India isi-ands. So lux- 
uriant, however, was its growth, that I was induced to cul- 
fivate it as green food for ray cows and horses- The great 
diiticulty was in preseiving the seeds, which dropped as 
soon as they ripened, and the roots were invariably killed 
by the first frost of winter. At length, I adopted the plan 
of taking up a boxful of roots and i-emoving them to the 
green house during the Avinter, to be sub-dividfid and trans 
; planted in spring. Such, however, AA'as the character of 
'the delicate fibrous roots th*at, like those of the lemon 
grass, {A.ndrrypogG-n, ^ch<z%(miliui) similarly constituted, 
a great majority of the plants perished by the re 
snoval. hly next end only successful plan Avas to 
; GUiTe'r a small patch to remain uncut, and run to 
-seed, these, being very caducous, fell to the ground 
as fast as (hey ripened. The eartlx was, in autumn, cover- 
ed with straw to prestu've the seeds from frost. On being 
removed and the ground raked over in spring the seeds 
vegetated, and the little plants were set- out in rows. 
When, however, the F.gyplion Millet was introduced, the 
seeds of which were easily preserved, J substituted it for 
t!ie Guinea Grass. The true Gni'ijea Grass is a tropical 
plant — has a xielicate fibrous root iille the Avheat and rice, 
atid not lulieimis, idee liic vaiicty which now, very impro- 
perly, goes undm- the same name. The latter has also a 
light sa-i[)e rumiing fongitudiiKiIly apng the midrib of the 
leaves, by whicti it may easily be distinguished. There 
are many otlier cliaraciers which it k scarcely necessary 
to notice, here, that dra'vv a iiroad lilje of separation be- 
tween these two very distinct spedes. As the grass 
rccendy caliivated under the name oil Guinea Grass is a 
diflerent specie.'^, it is right ami propA that our present 
cultivated grass should not usurp a ihme to which it is 
not legiinna'ely emitled. All honestl men prefer to be 
calk'd by their projier names and an rg.’Vt.s alv/ays awak- 
ens suspicion. Our boutliern planters Ivould be laughed 
at were they to send specimens of tliis vtriety to 
Fnrope as tin.' Guinea (irass. ! will, before I cose this 
letter, give fartlier reasons wliy this erroneous narn should 
j no longer be •ettiined. 
’2. What is il l In an address I delivered t Co- 
lurnliia, S. C , during (lie meeting of tlie Legislajre in 
18.53, [added a m.Ue, c'h tlie Grasses, in wliich . inci- 
dendy leilrred to tliis variety, named Guinea 'rass, 
which i had then not seen, in these Avords: “ am 
inclined to th.inK tlnit the productive grass unde the 
above name, spoken of by gentlemen in the inte'er 
as producing no seed and is not injured by frost, ‘an 
scarcely be Guinea Grass, and must be some Oier 
species.*’ The opportunity has now been afforded toie 
of proving iliat rny conjectures Avere Avell founded. 
To save our Cotton planters from falling into hysterig 
on having the ghost of an old enemy conjured up befi? 
their affrighted imaginations, I vidil premise by sayinj 
that it is one of the most productive grasses th 
has, as yet, been cultivated in our Southern countrA 
and that there is no danger of its spreading in the Cotto 
fields. 
The grass is a distinct and, evidently, a permanen 
variety of the yianiclcd Millet \^So-rghv.’m kalapcmc') and a 
native of Nubia, Syria and Greece, and is, in fact, a vari- 
ety which has sprung out of the old and much bated and 
mis-named Means Grass. 
When this grass Aims originally introduced, I pursued 
■ tlie plan I usually adopt under similar circumstances. I 
finst endeavoised to find out its name, and the country in 
wliidi it had uriginated. After much trouble, I found it 
described in a single line in Linn.eus’ I2lh Edition. 
{Ilnlcus kalapcvse, in Tom. .3, page Gfifl). I next 
submitted it to the test of an experiment. I planted 
it in a square in my town garden. The soil was rich ; 
and the product was immense — equal to that of the best j 
Guinea (;s'rass or Egyptian Millet. It possessed, however, 
tsvo properties that prevented me from recommending it. 
The seeds came up wherever they Avere dropped, and the 
tubers threw out runners, like the Nut Grass, and extend- 
ed in one instance, by rny own measurement, to the dis- I 
tance ©f thirty feet. In deference to the very reasonable j 
fears of my neighbors who were threatened, as they i 
erroneously supposed, by an enemy more annoying than ' 
the Nut Grass or Canada Thistle, I had the whole bed 
rooted up, which Avas no difficult task. My neighbors i 
were as thankful for the riddance, as my pig was for an ' 
abundant supply of his choice food. One other slight dig- ' 
ing up of stragglers exterminated the last root ; so, having ■ 
only kept it for an experiment, as a man keeps a rattle- 
snake or a pet bear for his own amusement, I could look 
