20 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
The Wire Grass of the Southern States. 
We know of nothing more annoying than to 
come across a vegetable product of any kind, 
and to he unable, for the want of pro¬ 
per materials, to trace it to the plant 
which furnishes it. In commerce there 
are many exotic woods, the source of 
which is still unknown, and though 
Cuba bast had long been known in 
trade, and there were tine specimens 
of it in the Kew museum, it was years 
before Sir William Hooker could get 
on its track and ascertain the plant 
which furnishes it. With exotic pro¬ 
ducts this difficulty is not to be wonder¬ 
ed at, but it would seem that there need 
be no trouble in tracing up all native 
things of the kind to their origin. Yet 
we have sometimes met with no little 
difficulty in this. Several years ago 
we were in one of the southern cities, 
and seeing a very neat basket, inquired 
as to the material; all that we could 
learn was that the basket was woven 
by the negroes “ up country,” of some 
kind of grass. The owner, seeing our 
interest in the basket, made us a pres¬ 
ent of it, and it has been a constant 
source of dissatisfaction for the reason 
that we did not know what it was made 
of. In a notice of the recent Georgia 
State Fair, given last month, mention 
is made of a collection of native pro¬ 
ducts exhibited by Dr. P. Stotesbury, 
of Clinch Co.; in looking over the 
collection, we came across a bundle of 
the very material of which our basket 
was woven, and learned that it was 
“Wire Grass.” There are two plants 
called by this name at the north, 
Elensine Indica, a low flat-leaved in¬ 
troduced annual, and Poa compressa, 
with short leaves and a flattened stem, 
but this “wire grass” was neither of 
these. This as exhibited, was a bundle 
of cylindrical leaves as round as a wire 
and tapering towards the end, 18 inches or so 
long, and quite unlike any grass we had ever 
seen growing, or at the time could call to mind 
in herbarium specimens. Of course we endeav¬ 
ored to find out something about it, and the 
discussion concern¬ 
ing it brought to¬ 
gether a number of 
intelligent gentle¬ 
men from different 
parts of the state, 
from whom we 
found that the plant 
was perfectly well 
and most favorably 
known, and we 
could learn every¬ 
thing about it, ex¬ 
cept its name. Some 
were quite sure that 
it never bore any 
flowers or seed, 
others thought they 
had seen something 
on it like an oat, 
but not one could 
give any satisfac¬ 
tory account of the 
only part by which 
it could be identi¬ 
fied — the flower. 
Engaging several gentlemen to watch it next 
spring, and send the flowers, should any appear, 
we felt hopeful that we should some time find 
out the name of this mysterious' grass. Soon 
after our return home, we, to our great delight, 
received from Dr. Stotesbury a letter containing 
a specimen of the Wire-grass with its flowers, 
and the whole matter was cleared up at once. It 
is Aristida strida, which we had never seen 
growing, but of which there were in the herbari¬ 
um specimens from several southern localities. 
more in the far west; the structure of the flow¬ 
ers is very simple, and so unlike that of other 
grasses, as to be readily recognized. A single 
spikelet is shown at the lower part of the en¬ 
graving; it consists of two glumes, (or 
empty chaff), and a single floret of two 
palets, which enclose the seed; the up¬ 
per palet is included in the other, and 
not visible, but the large lower palet is 
terminated by .three bristles, or awns, 
which in this species are nearly the same 
length, but in others vary greatly, but 
in all they are manifest. The northern 
species all grow in the most sterile soils, 
and are regarded as altogether worth¬ 
less, the only one that has a common 
name being known as “ Poverty Grass.” 
The Wire-grass is a perennial, and is 
disposed to form large tufts, with 
numerous radical leaves from 12 to 18 
inches long; the blade is rolled in from 
each edge, so that instead of being flat, l. ! 
as in most grasses, it is cylindrical and 
wire-like; an enlarged section of a leaf 
is shown in the engraving. The flower 
stalk, 2 to 3 feet high, is leafy, and 
bears a spike-like panicle of flowers of 
the character we have described; the jl 
engraving shows the plant much re¬ 
duced in size, with the flower and stalk 
bent, to get it within bounds. This 
grass grows in the pine districts of 
Georgia and other southern states, and J 
is not found north of Virginia; it is 1 
held in the greatest esteem as a food 
for cattle, and in Georgia “ wire-grass 
beef ” is boasted of as being superior 
to that produced in any other part of | 
the country; it is the great reliance of ! 
stock-growers in the districts where it 
is abundant; like other perennial grass¬ 
es, it does better for annual burning off, 
and this is usually burned in order to 
get a tender growth for the calves. 
This grass is regarded as valuable in 
sheep pastures, not so much for the 
food it affords the sheep directly, as for 
the protection it gives to more tender herbage. 
The Shrubby St. John’s-Wort. 
Probably almost every one who notices weeds 
at all, is acquainted 
with the common 
St. John’s - Wort, 
Hypericum perfora¬ 
tum , which, though 
introduced ' from 
Europe, has made 
itself quite at home 
throughout most of 
the older states; it 
is a rather pleasing 
plant, on account 
of its neat habit, 
but while it is show¬ 
ing its prettily dot¬ 
ted leaves, and clus¬ 
ters of yellow flow¬ 
ers, it is all the 
while at work be¬ 
low ground, push¬ 
ing out its roots and 
gaining a footing 
upon the soil from 
which it is very 
difficult to dis¬ 
possess it. Those 
who have had to contend with this weed, 
will be surprised to learn that any of its im- 
straw shelter for cattle.— (See page 19.) 
1 There are about a dozen species of Aristida in I 
I the Atlantic states, north and south, and^many I 
southern wire grass.— (Aristida stricta.) 
