144 BERMUDA GRASS, AND COCOA GRASS, AND SHEEP IN MISSISSIPPI. 
upon a piece of ground in hills,, tyro.feet apart each 
way, it will spread over the whole ground in one 
season. Or it may be set in an easier and more ex¬ 
peditious manner, by taking up the sods and chopping 
them into small pieces, and sowing them over the 
ground and covering them with a plow or harrow. 
The tenacity of life in it is so great, that some people 
object to admit it upon their land, for fear that they 
never could get rid of it again. In fact, it would 
seem that they would prefer to see their land taking 
its rapid course down the millions of gullies through 
which some of the finest soil in the world is sweep¬ 
ing its way rapidly towards the Gulf of Mexico, 
rather than risk the trouble of getting this grass into 
their cultivated fields. 
I grant that this grass is a troublesome customer 
among corn and cotton; but a crop or two of peas 
will exterminate it, as it cannot live in a dense shade, 
and that is what adds to its value. It grows the best 
in the hottest sun , no matter whether on wet or dry 
soil, hill or dale; keep it free of shade, and it will 
afford more pasturage or hay than any other cul¬ 
tivated grass in a southern clime. In addition to its 
invaluable quality for food for stock, whether green 
or dry, it has in Mississippi another and still greater 
value. For be it known, this is the land of gullies. 
That the whole of the hill counties have not 
already floated away, is only because the land has 
been held together by cane and other roots, which all 
decay as the land becomes cultivated ; and even now 
before the stumps of ihe original forest have disap¬ 
peared from the ground, thousands and tens of thou¬ 
sands of acres have become so gullied that their cul¬ 
tivation is abandoned, and in many cases large tracts 
are turned out to the common as past all profitable 
use, and considered by the owners as almost value¬ 
less ; while the annual accumulation of these waste 
acres under the present system of cultivation is per¬ 
fectly astounding to one who has been accustomed to 
seeing better management. Now the very worst of 
these waste gullies can be reclaimed into the best of 
pasture, and the further waste prevented by Bermuda 
grass alone, and that in one, or at furthest, two years. 
It will even adhere to the perpendicular sides of 
banks, and in the bottom of ditches it will grow and 
collect the wash, and again grow up through the ac¬ 
cumulating dirt, and again collect another coat of 
wash, so that it not only prevents the further waste, 
but in a measure will fill up many of the smaller 
gullies already formed. 
The Bermuda is an exceedingly valuable grass, and 
ought to be cultivated universally upon road-sides, 
embankments of canals, railroads, and levees, to bind 
them together and prevent their washing away. It is 
now to be found in the greatest abundance around 
Natchez and through the hilly land of Adams county. 
It is also abundant around Vicksburgh, and is con¬ 
siderably spread through several of the river coun¬ 
ties of the lower part of the State. Its cultivation 
ought to be encouraged and extended through every 
county of this State, as well as all the other 
Southern States. I do most earnestly recommend 
every one of your southern readers to take immedi¬ 
ate steps to procure a start of this grass, and if they 
can procure but a single root to begin with, be sure 
to get that, and they will soon be able to get a stock 
from which they can in a few years make the most 
valuable pasture of any other in the south. 
Cocoa Grass .—There is another grass that is greatly 
despised and dreaded here, because, when it takes 
possession of the land, it can no longer be cultivated 
in cotton, and not well in anything else. This is 
the bitter Cocoa. That it is destructive to cultivation 
I will not dispute; but that the land should be aban¬ 
doned, as it often is, on account of it, and suffered to 
go to waste, I shall dispute ; because it will take a 
world of argument and some experience to convince 
me that a cocoa plantation cannot be made more pro¬ 
fitable than a cotton plantation. Throughout all the 
heat of summer it affords an abundance of most luxu¬ 
riant pasturage; and throughout the winter it not 
only affords an inexhaustible supply of food for 
hogs, but they will actually become fat upon the nut¬ 
like roots. In addition to this, it can be plowed up 
in the fall and sowed with rye or winter oats, making 
' the same ground carry a most abundant coat of rich 
pasturage throughout the year, excepting the few 
days required to sow the grain and leave it to germi¬ 
nate. Now is this the curse that it is generally ac¬ 
counted here ? or is it not rather a blessing sent to 
drive this cotton crazy community into a system of 
husbandry that will produce wool almost as cheap 
per pound as cotton ? 
Other Grasses —In addition to the above grasses, 
there are two kinds of winter grass that afford pas¬ 
turage all winter, to say nothing of a kind of pars¬ 
ley, called chickweed, that clothes the fields in one 
of the richest coats of pasturage several of the win¬ 
ter months; while no one who has contended in the 
cotton crop with the undying crab grass, as well as 
nimblewill, &c., &c., will dispute the fact, that even 
without the aid of the unfailing Bermuda grass, they 
could find feed for sheep in summer. 
Wool in Mississippi. —Now, in this view of facts, 
is not Mississippi as well situated for a wool grow¬ 
ing country as it is for cotton growing; and instead 
of grumbling at low prices, cursing the cocoa where 
it has already taken possession of the land, and look¬ 
ing at its onward march with dread; or witnessing 
the yearly washing away into gullies of field after 
field; would it not be more rational and advisable to 
begin in time to prepare for raising another kind of 
staple than cotton ? And now, ye kind-hearted Mis- 
sissippians, from whom I have received so many 
welcomes, and derived the information that has ena¬ 
bled and induced me to give you this advice, don’t 
forget that it is given in all good-will by your old 
friend Solon Robinson, now at Log Hall, Hinds 
Co., Miss. 
March 21, 1845. 
P. S. Since writing the above, I have read the 
article in your March Number upon Bermuda grass. 
The description given corresponds with the speci¬ 
mens now before me. Dr. Phillips (at whose house 
I now am) has grass from Natchez and Cuba which 
are identical. But instead of “ spikes four and five,” 
they are three, four and five, and he thinks he has 
seen six. Dr. Phillips also says that in a conversa¬ 
tion which he has just had with Dr. Naylor, of War. 
ren county, he was assured by that gentleman that 
he has cultivated land upon his place for four years 
that was well set in Bermuda grass; and, although 
he does not exterminate it, that it gives him no seri¬ 
ous difficulty in cultivation, and he thinks it is fa? 
more dreaded than it should be. 
