332 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
It is not my intention to trouble you or your readers 
with any account of tlie product of this grass, or its mode 
of culture. This has, as I am informed, been done in your 
journal by various correspondents. The small field 1 saw 
planted at Mr. Peters’ could not be exceeded in luxuri- 
ance. My experience, however, in regard to all grasses 
is in favor of good soils to produce a fine growtii of any 
kind of grass. 
As this variety has been vcvy inaccurately named, and 
as it should be distinguished by some English name, whicli 
ought to be generally adopted, I would propose tor it the 
name of T.ic S::edless pavuded Millet. 1 would further 
suggest that the Means Grass be called by its true name, 
Panicled Millet {_sorgkarih halapense). This will avoid 
■much confusion. Miay 1 not farther suggest a hint that 
our cultivators, in future, do not itifiict on the public any 
new names for true species — such as Rescue Grass, Mas 
quet, Mysterious Grass, Texas Oat Grass, &c. Varieties 
they are fully entitled to aarne., but the de.signation of 
species, to avoid confusion, should be left to tlie Botanist, 
v/hose examinations will enable him to find that, iti almost 
every chse, the plant has been named already, and that, 
therefore, a new name would only create p>erpiexity and 
C infusion, 
A thought Iras occurred to me whilst penning th.is com- 
cornmumcation. Our gardeners and cotton jdutUers have 
Jet tall some rather rough expressions in reterence to the 
so-called Means Gnoss and those who introduced it. Tiiey 
good-naturedly, I trust, and m half a joke, tin-eaiened to 
lynch any man who would introduce it into their neighbor- 
hood. AH this v/hile, my good friends, Providence, who 
is better to ti.s than our fears, was preparing the way to 
give you, through the medium of this doomed plant, one 
of the most valuable summer grasses, as you admit, that 
you have ever cultivated. The Wild Crab and Wild Pear 
which I have plucked from their native woods, are so acrid 
that they will screw up the mouth like a green persimon. 
They, however, were organized to produce varieties, and 
are the parents of all those delicious varieties of Pears 
and Apples, which were recently exhibited at your Fair 
at Atlanta. So in regard to the Potatoe, the Carrot, the 
Cauliflower and all the other cultivated plants. So, also, 
in domesticated animals and poultry, as the Merino Sheep, 
Cashmere and Angora Goats, V/oburn and Suffolk Pig, 
Bremen Geese, Aylesbury Duck, the Shanghai Fowl, &c., 
whose v/ild originals still existing, abundantly testify. God 
is the creator of species, and he requires of his intelligent 
■creatures that they cultivate and improve tliem, that they 
may minister to their support, their comfort and happi- 
ness. 
Inasmuch as I am inclined to believe that we at 
the South are, or soon will be, in possession of a sufficient 
number of summer grasses to furnish us with an abun- 
dance of pasturage and hay, a very important desideratum 
is to find one or more species adapted to winter pasturage. 
1 intended when I commenced this letter to have furnished 
you with a few notes on the winter grasses that are now 
or may be cultivated with a prospect of success. But, as 
I have already swelled this letter to an unexpected size,! 
will only give a list of them, with the true scientific and 
English names of those which it is important for the farm- 
er to know, at the same time pointing out the erroneous and 
unnecessary names, wiiich • only create confusion. The 
climate and soil of our Southern States is in the higher and 
mountainous parts of the country assimilated to that of the 
Northern States, and is favorable to the culture of wheat, 
&c., and will in time become a grazing country ; whilst our 
lower country, which is best adapted to cotton and rice, 
present a different soil and climate : hence some of the 
grass, such as Clover, Timothy, &c., are less adapted to 
ithe sandy soil and warmer climate of the seaboard. The 
following are the Winter grasses v/hich at present occur 
to me. Having, however, no immediate access to Botani- 
cal books, I am obliged to draw on a fading memory to 
aid me in the recollection of their true names and cannot 
speak with a certainty of perfect accuracy: 
E.igli&h Names. 
1. Barley, Eye, Oats, 
Wiieat. 
2 I.ucei ae. 
3 Spotted Bledick. 
4 (Jldllian Lacei'iie. 
5 l.u eiue 
G Common '•edG.’i'’r. 
7 White Clover. 
S Orchard Grass. 
Cocksl'oot (trass. 
9 Short Awue 1 iJorn 
Grass. 
10 Ivild Eye. Lime 
Grass. 
11 Italian Rye Gr, 3. ss. 
12 Common Itye Gra s. 
13 Meadow Soft Grass 
14 Lewis Grass. 
15 Mea'’ow Oat-like 
Grass. 
I-”' Hard Grass 
17 American Canary 
Gi-ass. I 
Classical Names, 
J Ad i cn CIO N f ird 
Me Ur«(./o M i Mdta. 
Medi. a'jo ? 
MediA-,rg(, JudraUf. 
TriJ' linvi PrfUnAe. 
Tnfoli mil 
Dactyli« Glomeraia. 
Names that 
should be omittei. 
French Clover. 
Ye’low Clover. 
Afalfa 
Yeilovr Clover. 
i 
) 
j- Cirat :cMca brevixt i tata. Rescue Grass, 
j- Elijir.us Virginiem, 
LoUnm ralicvm. 
L’limv. Peieu, e. 
Uokuis LOTXf UH. 
Stipa Sparta. 
1 T Ueruvi patm'.ri 
[Tony. Av.-'na jxinL. 
( ifi.s\ A' , 
J }-ii 'enn, Edi- ft. 
Rvtboiia (Jemi iata. 
PliUla', in Ameii'Mna. 
Mosqueet Grass. 
Musqueet Gra.ss. 
13 Common Oat like [AnPenaih rumaran DdHYa^Grass^Mv'- 
[a eum. 1 terious Grrss, ’ Miu- 
J t quet Grass. 
Several of my triends near Cinuleston, as well as my- 
self, are now culuvutmg the Short Horn Grass, the 
common Oat Grass, the Lewis Grass and some others, 
to test their adaptation to our soil and their produc- 
tiveness. The notes I have made on the Winter 
Grasses adapted to our Southern climate will perliaps be 
worth publishing, when the result of these experiments 
are ascertained ; at present they afford notliing of much 
value. I will just observe in regard to the kinds noticed 
under the head of No. 1. They were productive in the 
ordea- above stated — the Barley furnishing the greatest pro- 
duct of green food. 2. The Lucernes have succeeded bet- 
ter with me than the Clover. 4. The Chilian Lucerne, if I 
should judge from a single gigantic specimen in my gar- 
den, will probably be found to be so marked a variety that 
I would recommend its culture, since I regard it as having 
become naturalized to a climate somewhat similar to our 
own. 9. Some gentlemen have written to me to inquire 
whether the Short Awned Horn Grass was the same 
species as that called the Tall Oat Grass of Texas. They 
are very distinct and widely separated species. 13. The 
Meadow Soft Grass, notwithstanding it succeeded in a 
few places in the South, generally dies out about the 
second season — unless it is planted in the garden and the 
roots separated in spring, by which mode I have some- 
times preserved it for several years. Sinclair says: 
“Cattle prefer almost any other grass to tliis; it is seen in 
pastures with full grown, perfect leaves, while the grasses 
that surround it are cropped to the roots. Its nutritive 
matter consists entirely of mucilage and sugar, while the 
nutritive matters of grasses most liked by cattle are either 
sub-acid or saline”— (Hort. Gram. 164. No. 14.) Lewis 
Grass {Stipa Sparta). This species has, in some way, 
been lost sight of by those who have written to me on the 
subject of grasses. The specimens they sent to me sup- 
posing tiiat they were Lewis Grass were all of one species, 
viz: The Common Oat like Grass. The specimens, how- 
ever, given to me by Mr. Cloud at Columbia, S. C., at the 
meeting of the Society and Legislature in tlie autumn of 
1853, were not the Oat Grass. I have, at this moment, lying 
before me the very bundle of this grass with Mr. Cloud’s 
name attached. This is the species I have referred to, 
Stipa Sparta. Its history is as follows : — The Stipa Junc- 
ca is a native grass of Europe. Muhlenburg (lescribes 
it as inhabiting Canada, (p. 182). It is given in Eato.n 
(p. 57.) Nuttall, in his travels in Missouri; found what 
