4 : 64 : 
[December, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
whatever.” This is strong language, and the 
positiveness of these gentlemen makes us wish 
for more evidence. It is in such cases as these 
that we see the great need of Experiment Sta¬ 
tions in this country. Half a dozen cattle fed 
in the ordinary way, and the same number fed 
solely upon Barn-yard grass, for their fodder at 
gon , is a large one, there being several hundred 
species, a dozen or more of wdiich are found 
within our own territory. They are peren¬ 
nials, w'ith erect, branching, and mostly rigid 
stems and coarse foliage; the flowers are 
crowded in axillary or terminal spikes, and are 
of two kinds: staminate or neutral, and fertile; 
quite absent, there being not even a rudiment 
of it, though the stalks upon which it should 
stand is there. This plant is a variable one, and 
presents so much difference in size and in the 
disposition of the flowers, the sheaths, leaves, 
etc., that it has been given several different 
names. There are two or three related species, 
barn-yard grass. —(Panicum Crus-gddi.) 
broom sedge. —(Andropogon Virginkus.) 
least, would, with frequent weighing, give pos¬ 
itive results. It is only by actual tests that the 
real feeding value of cattle foods of different 
kinds can be estimated, and few private farm¬ 
ers have the time, if they have the ability, to con¬ 
duct such experiments. We need Experiment 
Stations, and we need experimenters as well. 
Broom Sedge—( Andropogon Virginicus). 
“ Broom Sedge,” which is not a “ sedge,” but 
a grass, is to many southern farmers and plant¬ 
ers a great bugbear. As soon as a field is 
thrown out of cultivation it is overrun with 
this plant, which spreads rapidly and encroaches 
upon cultivated land if carelessly permitted to 
do so. We have had numerous enquiries from 
readers in the southern states as to the best 
methods of getting rid of this weed, and occa¬ 
sionally we have specimens of different grasses 
sent to us as “ broom sedge,” showing that in 
some localities this name is given to other plants 
than the one to which it properly belongs, 
and adding another to the many instances 
which show the confusion that exists among 
common names of plants. Though sometimes 
called “ broom grass," it is generally known as 
“ broom sedge,” its proper botanical name being 
Andropogon Virginicus. The genus, Andropo- 
these flowers, (or spikelets), are placed on the 
stem of the spike, or cluster, in pairs of one 
sterile and one fertile one. The fertile flower 
terminated by a long bristle or awn, has sta¬ 
mens and a pistil, and is placed directly upon 
the stem of the spike ; the sterile flower, which 
may contain stamens only, or be empty, and a 
mere rudiment of a flow r er is lifted above the 
other upon a little stalk of its own. The cen¬ 
tral stem of the spike, and the little stalk of 
the sterile flower are covered with long silky 
hairs; the sterile or male flower is often hairy 
also, a circumstance which gave the name to 
the genus, Andropogon, being from the Greek 
w r ords for man and beard. These are the chief 
characters of the genus; the species differ in 
points not readily given in a popular descrip¬ 
tion, as the plants arc considered as difficult 
even by botanists. The “ broom sedge,” ( A. 
Virginicus), is found from southern New Eng¬ 
land southward, being most abundant in the 
warmer parts of the country; it grows in 
clumps, the usually erect stems being two to 
three feet high, and with the leaves, are at 
flowering time of a purplish-brown color. The 
flower spikes, sometimes nearly concealed be¬ 
neath sheaths, and often upon slender stems, 
are about an inch long, in pairs, and so clothed 
with very soft, dull-white hairs, as to conceal 
the flowers ; in this species the sterile flower is 
that have much the same general appearance, 
which are no doubt included under the same 
common name, and so far as the farmer and 
planter are concerned, may be regarded as the 
same, but the “ broom sedge” of th^ Carolines, 
Georgia, and Florida, is the one here given. 
The engraving gives the upper portion and the 
base of the stem, of the natural size ; the leaves, 
wdiich are mostly erect, are here curved, to 
bring them within limits. By means of the 
hairs attached to the flower and its stems, the 
seed is readily distributed, and the plant soon 
takes possession of idle ground. Intelligent 
farmers regard the plant as useful rather than 
as an evil, and say that its presence indicates 
that the land is of good quality. 
When burned in wdnter it grows up from the 
root and furnishes a good and very acceptable 
pasture for horses and cattle early in the spring. 
It is a trouble only to poor farmers, good ones 
regard it as a valuable green crop for plowing 
under, and easily get rid of it when they wish 
by turning the sod. The stems answer as a 
substitute for ordinary straw for various uses, 
and southern nurserymen prefer it to that for 
packing trees in bundles. Broom Sedge never 
establishes itself as a weed in cultivated fields, 
except when permitted to do so by the most 
careless cultivation, in which cases the farm¬ 
ers and not the weed are to be blamed. 
