266 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
matter. The ground about buildings is generally 
rich, and weeds grow profusely. Where weeds 
grow, grass will grow. Let these weeds be kept 
mowed, and some Orchard-Grass seed sowed, and 
these spots will furnish many a wagon load of fresh 
grass for the cows and horses during the season. 
Fence rows may be kept clean by leaving a broad 
headland unplowed, and keeping it in grass, aud 
mowing this for hay or for green fodder. The fre¬ 
quent cutting will kill the weeds and encourage the 
grass. The broad path will furnish a wagon road 
around the field, which will always be convenient. 
Damp spots may be drained by digging a well in 
the center and filling it with stones and leveling the 
hollow with the cast-out earth, as shown in the ac¬ 
companying engraving, where the light shading 
shows the filled-in earth. Stone heaps may be 
buried out of the way, and clumps of bushes may 
be cut down or trimmed up and made at least orna¬ 
mental to the landscape if not useful for any other 
purpose. We have before suggested, as an excel¬ 
lent method of disposing of such rubbish as will 
neither bum or decay, to dig a well, provide it with 
a proper cover, and deposit here all broken crockery, 
useless tinware and such rubbish, where it will be 
out of sight, and where they can do no injury. 
Velvet-Grass—Meadow-Soft Grass. 
Among the numerous specimens of grass sent us 
to be named, none occur more frequently than the 
Velvet-Grass,or Meadow-Soft Grass (IIolcus lanatus). 
This grass is in itself so handsome, and so unlike 
in appearance to other grasses with which it may 
grow, that it is sure to attract the attention even of 
those who are not especially observant. Though 
the books generally speak of it as occurring in 
moist meadows, we have often found it on the 
poorest sandy knolls, where little else flourishes. 
It grows in tufts, a foot or two high from a per¬ 
ennial root ; its leaves and sheaths are of a very 
pale green, being densely clothed with short soft 
hairs, which make them velvety to the touch, and 
have suggested the common names given above. The 
( Fig. 1.— VELVET-GRASS OR MEADOW-SOFT GRASS. 
or flowers, as they are popularly regarded, is so 
peculiar that the grass may at once be identified by 
those who look closely at such things. Figure 1 
shows the form of the panicle or flower cluster and 
the foliage. In figure 2 a separate spikelet is given, 
of course greatly enlarged; below are seen two 
empty chaffy scales, the glumes; the uppermost of 
these has a very minute bristle just below its point. 
Within these glumes are {woflorets, one above an¬ 
other, and separated by a short stem. In the plant 
these florets are enclosed by the glumes, which in 
the engraving are bent back that the parts may be 
more plainly seen. Each floret cousists of two 
chaffy scales, the palets, within which the stamens 
and pistils are seen in the lower floret, while in the 
upper floret are stamens only. Besides this differ¬ 
ence in the two florets, the upper one has upon one 
of its palets (the lower) a curved bristle, as seen in 
the engraving. These characters, aside from its 
marked velvety softness, will allow the grass to be 
readily distinguished. Those who are attracted to 
this grass by its showy appearance, are disappointed 
to learn that it is worthless as a forage plant. The 
European writers upon grasses mention it as a 
weed, the introduction of which into meadows and 
pastures is to be avoided. This grass presents one 
among many instances where a plant may be worth¬ 
less in one locality, and of value in another. While 
it is stated that animals will eat all the surrounding 
herbage and leave the Velvet-Grass untouched, we 
have had letters saying that animals preferred this 
to all other grasses. Both statements are true ; the 
first has reference to localities where there is an 
abundance of better grasses, and the other from 
states where the grasses are few in number and 
generally of a quality inferior to this. As we ad¬ 
vise our friends upon the northern border to grow 
crab-apples if they can raise no others, so we say to 
those living far south, raise Velvet-Grass, if that is 
the best that will grow with you. But it appears 
that Velvet-Grass has other uses. In that very 
creditable Report on the Grasses of Tennessee, by 
Col. Killebrew, the State Commissioner of Agricul¬ 
ture, it is stated that this is unequalled as a grass 
for lawns. It has been very difficult to find a grass 
suitable for lawns in the Southern States, and should 
this do as well further south as it is reported to do 
in Tennessee, it will meet with great favor. Ac¬ 
cording to the Report: “a yard turfed over with 
this grass presents a most lovely appear¬ 
ance, and looks as if spread with a vel¬ 
vet carpet.” The same Report quotes 
Mr. Gregory, of North Carolina, in 
favor of its utility as a hay crop ; he says 
that “ Orchard-Grass in the same field 
will not compare with it.” There now 
comes from North Carolina a still more 
important statement as to the value of 
Velvet-Grass. Prof. A. R. Ledoux, who 
is doing much good work as Chem¬ 
ist in charge of the Experiment Sta¬ 
tion at Chapel Hill, N. C., sends us an 
interesting letter from one of his cor¬ 
respondents—one who is evidently in¬ 
telligent and has given much attention 
to the relation of grasses to the agri¬ 
culture of the State. This gentleman 
writes in reference to Velvet-Grass: 
“ I have come to the conclusion that it 
is about the only thing that it will pay 
to use to recuperate the worn-out lands 
of the South. I believe this grass to 
be very valuable ; on the driest lands or 
on the wettest bottoms, it grows about 
as high as oats on the same land, and 
where it is too poor for other grasses 
to grow. I sow it with Red-top on poor 
lands, mow occasionally for two or 
three years, and then turn under and 
sow Orchard-Grass with Clover; I let 
these stand for some time, and when 
they are turned under, my land will 
bring eight or ten barrels of corn to the 
acre. I usually keep 80 acres in grass, 
80 in corn, and 80 in coiton, rotating as 
the sod gets too tough. Orchard-Grass, 
Clover, and Timothy, will not grow 
upon land so poor as where this grass 
(the Velvet) will make a fair crop.”— 
This is a more important matter to 
Southern farmers than those who 
have no difficulty in raising a crop 
of grass can understand. If this 
Velvet-Grass, turned under, will pre¬ 
pare poor land for Orchard-Grass aud Clover, 
it is a great boon to Southern agriculture, and 
we thank Prof. Ledoux for allowing us to make 
use of the above quoted letter in advance of his 
annual Report.—A word to Southern farmers. We 
every now and then hear that the Commissioner of 
Agriculture, or the Department of Agriculture of 
Tennessee, of North Carolina, or of Georgia, is 
about to be discontinued by the Legislature as a 
needless expense. Don’t allow it to be done. Tire 
American Agriculturist talks politics so far as this. 
Send to your Legislatures men who will legislate 
in favor of farmers. We who are at a little dis¬ 
tance can see the great good already done in Ten¬ 
nessee, in North Carolina, and especially in Georgia 
because the oldest, by their respective Departments 
of Agriculture under the several efficient Commis¬ 
sioners. We look upon their work with the great¬ 
est interest, and can perhaps see better than those 
close at home, the real benefits that have resulted 
and are likely to result from their labors. Econo¬ 
mize elsewhere, but not in your school fund to edu¬ 
cate your children, or the small expenditure for 
your Departments of Agriculture, which are edu¬ 
cating the farmers. The farmers have this mat¬ 
ter quite iu their own hands, and they should elect 
men who will sustain these most useful agencies. 
American jute.— (Abutilon Avkennce.)—See previous page 
