AGRICULTURAL TOUR SOUTH AND WEST.—NO. 4, 
117 
which is produced in great profusion, is an exhaust¬ 
less store to the Indians, who push into the thick¬ 
est of it, and bending over the ripe heads, with two 
or three strokes of the paddle on the dry stalks, 
rattle the grain into.their light canoes. The wild 
ducks, geese, and swans, which yet frequent those 
waters, fatten on this grain throughout the fall and 
winter. 
Tussac Grass , (Dactylis cespitosa,) is a luxuriant, 
salt-marsh grass, growing in large tufts, and is 
found in perfection on its native soil, in the Falk¬ 
land Islands, between 51° south, and about 8° east 
of the straits of Magellan. Captain Ross de¬ 
scribes it, as “ the gold and glory of those islands. 
Every animal feeds upon it with avidity, and fat¬ 
tens in a short time. The blades are about six feet 
long, and from 200 to 300 shoots spring from a single 
plant. About four inches of the root eats like the 
mountain cabbage. It loves a rank, wet, pea bog, 
with the sea spray over it.” Governor Hood, of 
those islands says : “ to cultivate the tussac, I would 
recommend that the seed be sown in patches, just 
below the surface of the ground, and at distances 
of about two feet apart, and afterwards weeded out, 
as it grows very luxuriantly, and to the height of 
six or seven feet. It should not be grazed, but 
reaped or cut in bundles. If cut, it quickly shoots 
up, but is injured by grazing, particularly by pigs, 
which tear it up to get at the sweet, nutty root.” 
Arundo Grass (Arundo alopecurus).—Mr. 
Hooker, from the same island says: “another grass, 
however, far more abundant and universally distri¬ 
buted over the whole country, scarcely yields in 
Its nutritious qualities to the tussac; I mean the 
Arundo alopecurus, which covers every peat bog 
with a dense and rich clothing of green in summer, 
and a pale, yellow, good hay in the winter season. 
This hay, though formed by nature without being 
mown and dried, keeps those cattle which have not 
access to the former grass in excellent condition. 
No bog, however rank, seems too bad for this plant 
to luxuriate in; and as we remarked during our 
survey of Port William, although the soil on the 
quartz districts was very unprolific in many good 
grasses, which flourish on the clay slate, and gene¬ 
rally speaking, of the worst description, still the 
arundo did not appear to feel the change; nor did 
the cattle fail to eat down large tracts of this pas¬ 
turage.” 
I have purposely devoted several pages to the 
description of such new grasses as are indigenous 
to this continent, and which, by their superior 
value in their native localities, would seem to com¬ 
mend themselves to a thorough trial in similar situ¬ 
ations elsewhere. There are doubtless, others of 
great merit, which experiment hereafter, will de¬ 
monstrate to be of singular benefit to the American 
farmer. Most of these yet remain to be classified 
iby the botanist; and what is of much more utility, 
• to be thoroughly tested by the crucibles of intelli¬ 
gent chemists and the experiments of enlightened 
agriculturists, to determine their absolute and rela¬ 
tive value for economical purposes. The subject 
of grasses has been but slightly investigated in this 
country, in comparison with its immense impor¬ 
tance ; and for this reason, with few exceptions, we 
are at a loss for the true comparative value, of the 
foreign and indigenous grasses, to American hus¬ 
bandry. 
As an instance of the want of a well-established 
character to some of our most generally cultivated 
grasses, we quote the opinions of Dr. Muhlenburg, 
of Pa., who has written ably on the subject; and 
the late John Taylor, a distinguished agriculturist 
of Virginia, both of whom place the tall oat grass, 
(Avena elatior ,) at the head of the grasses; yet, 
from the investigations made at Woburn, it appears 
among the poorest in the amount of nutritive mat¬ 
ter yielded per acre. *Dr. Darlington, also of Penn¬ 
sylvania, does not mention it, but gives the follow¬ 
ing, as comprehending “ those species which are 
considered of chief value in our meadows and pas¬ 
tures, naming them in what I consider the order of 
their excellence : 1. Meadow or green grass (Poa 
pratensis). 2. Timothy (Phiearn pratense). 3. 
Orchard grass (Dactylus glomerata). 4. Meadow 
fescue (Festuca pratensis). 5. Blue grass ( Poa 
compressa ). 6. Ray grass ( Lolium perenne). 7. 
Red top ( Agrostis vulgaris ). 8. Sweet-scented 
vernal grass (Anthoxant/ium odoratum ) ” 
The Sweet-Scented , Soft Grass , or Holy Grass , 
(Holcus odoratus,) according to the Woburn table, 
is nexf to the tall fescue and Timothy in point of 
nutritive matter to the acre, when cut in seed, and 
it is placed as far in advance of all others, in the 
value of its aftermath; yet scarcely any other 
authority mentions it with commendation.— Allen's 
American Farm Boole . 
AGRICULTURAL TOUR SOUTH AND WEST.—Ho, 4. 
Between Woodville and Bayou Sarah, 24 miles, 
is a railroad that would be of vast benefit to the 
cotton planters, if the company had learned the se¬ 
cret connected with low freights. Short crops and 
low prices of cotton, combined with the fact of 
several planters in the hill lands between Wood¬ 
ville and Bayou Sarah, having been very successful 
in the cultivation of cane the past season or two, is 
creating considerable excitement about making su¬ 
gar in a region that it would have been considered 
only a few years since, madness to talk about. It 
is said that Dr. Wilcox, eight miles from Bayou 
Sarah, makes this year 400 hhds. of sugar upon a 
place that has not lately yielded over 150 bales of 
cotton ; and that his neighbor, Mr. Fort, is making 
two hogsheads to the acre from land that only af¬ 
forded half a bale. [It is to be remembered that' a 
hhd. of sugar is 1,000 lbs. and a bale of cotton is 
400 lbs.] It is also known that Mr. Ruffin Barrow, 
Dr. Perkins, and others have been successful in 
making sugar upon hill lands. As not one cotton 
planter in a hundred is making simple interest upon 
his investments, it is no wonder that every success¬ 
ful effort to cultivate sugar cane further north, and 
away from the immediate alluvion of the river, 
where it was long thought it could only be cultiva¬ 
ted, should create considerable excitement among 
the upland cotton planters. And although the pre¬ 
sent low price of sugar does not offer a golden 
harvest equal to California il placers,” yet it is an 
ascertained fact' that brown sugars, at three cents, 
produce a better result than cotton at six. And it 
is very evident that either owing to the seasons or 
acclimatization, the culture is continually extending 
