condition to "work.” "As soon as the soil is dry 
enough it should be forked over and by the 
use of a fine steel toothed rake, made free from 
clods and lumps and in condition to receive 
the seed. Should the seed become sprouted 
before the weather or the condition of the seed¬ 
bed will allow sowiug, it should be placed in 
the cellar, where if kept covered over with a 
damp cloth the seed will not further sprout or 
take injury for a number of days. It is net 
advisable to allow the seed to sprout much, 
for the long sprouts will be broken in sowiug. 
Chemung Co., N. Y. G. a. g. JR. 
-- 
BERMUDA GRASS AND WIRE GRASS 
IDENTICAL. 
T. S. L., Smithfield, Va., asks in Vol. XLI., 
No. 1673, “ What will enough Bermuda Grass 
cuttings to set ten acres cost?” Your reply 
is: “ Inquire of P. J. Berekmans, Augusta, 
Ga..” Please allow me space to iuform T. S. 
L. that he can find this grass abundant very 
near him, if not actually on his own farm. 
Nearly tha whole of eastern or tidewater Vir¬ 
ginia is overrun with “ IVire Grass,” trouble¬ 
some indeed to the cultivator, but a most 
excellent renovator of worn soils. This ‘‘Wire 
Grass” is the true Bermuda—Cynodon dac. 
ylon.” I was thoroughly convinced of this 
oy an analysis made last Bummer of Wire 
Grass in Gloucester Co., Virginia. In Eastern 
Virginia its habits are rather different from 
that grown in the South. Here it is prostrate, 
spreading rapidly by root stocks, forming a 
dense sward and rarely reaching a bight of 
six inches. In Virginia it is diffuse, thin, of¬ 
ten reaching 10 to 12 inches in the growiug 
corn. The Identity of these grasses has been 
fully established. See Dr. Pollard’s (Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture for Virginia! re¬ 
port. 
If this Wire Grass is absent in the Isle of 
Wight Co. it is abundant in the coun¬ 
ties of the Peninsula and of the Mid¬ 
dle Plantation, and I am quite sure a num¬ 
ber of farmers' will be glad to get rid of 
it, and their only charge will be the cost of 
transporting it, the cultivator and the har¬ 
row gathering it with every round made in the 
Spring preparation of the land for corn. 
Wm. C. Stubbs, Prof. Ag. Chemistry. 
Ag. Coll., Auburn, Ala. 
■ ■ — - 
Rye and Chinch Bug's. 
1 noticed an article in the Rubai, last Fall 
urging farmers to sow rye in place of wheat 
where there was danger of the chinch bug. 
Having tried Winter rye for the past two sea¬ 
sons, I found that, the little pests take to it 
readily and injure it badly. I would there¬ 
fore say to farmers in the infested districts, go 
slow and be cautious. My first crop gave me 
a return of about 15 bushels per acre of fair 
grain; that of last year was injured very bad¬ 
ly and only gave me a yield of 7>-a bushels 
per acre. I tiled sowing rye iu June of 1861, 
expecting to have a spleudid pasture for milch 
cows in August; but when August came the 
bugs had been there and the rye was as dead 
as last year’s stubble. I believe chinch bugs 
will eat any kind of grain if they can’t get 
wheat. A. D. Partridge. 
Fayette Co., Iowa. 
- - ■ - 
The Cow Parsnip. 
In the Rural of February 11 is a very 
pretty cut of the Hcracleum lanatum, or 
Wild Cow Parsnip. This plant is often found 
growing in Virginia in rich, damp places, and 
the r5ot is considered very poisonous to cattle. 
I am sure that I have lost cattle from eating 
it—exposed by hogs rooting in the meadow. 
The root has a strong, disagreeable odor, and 
a very ncid taste. The leaves and root both 
excite icdness and inflammation when applied 
to the ekin. Dr. Biglow considers the plant 
poisoncu?, especially w hen it is gathered from 
a damp situation. J. A. Reid. 
Orange Co., Va. 
-»♦-»- 
Hulless Oats. Any who are thinking of 
sowing these oats had better let them severely 
alone. They can’t yield more than eight to 
ten bushels per acre: when hot weather comes 
they blight; only a few heads under the others 
get ripe. They weigh from 40 to 50 pounds to 
the bushel. At first I gave $10 per bushel for 
them. We hereabouts have tried them three 
or four years and all of us have given them 
up. Although it will not pay to raise them, 
however, they are the best grain raised for 
horses, hogs and chickens. M. s. C. 
-- 
Panicum Gibbum, 
This grass is scarcely known in the North 
any farther than by reputation. It is most 
common in the lowlands of the Southern 
States from North Carolina to Florida. There 
is much nutritious matter in this grass, and it 
may prove to be of real value for fodder. How 
it would succeed on elevated land we cannot 
say. The panicle is three to five inches long. 
The leaves are smooth, sometimes slightly 
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hairy, and about a half inch broad and six 
inches long. It is of a deep green color, and 
the flowers do not remain long on the stem 
Flowers of Panicum Gibbum.—Fig. 97. 
after their first blooming. A good idea of the 
appearance of this grass may be obtaiued from 
the engraving, Fig. 98. 
lijcrDsman. 
SORGHUM CANE AS FODDER. 
The facts concerning my little experiment 
with Northern sugar cane as food for live 
stock are as follows: 
milk and work horses are fed grain also, but 
the other stock have subsisted upon cane fod¬ 
der alone since the middle of November. Prior 
to that time I had been feeding corn fodder to 
my milk cows, with two feeds of com bran per 
day. Upon substitutingcanefodder an increase 
of about 25 per cent, in my butter product was 
at once perceptible. I planted 10 acres of corn 
for fodder about the same time the cane seed 
was planted, and upon the same character of 
soil. The former grew only about three feet 
high and dwindled to about nothing under 
the combiued effects of drought and heat, 
while, as has been heretofore said, the cane 
flourished and produced a large crop. Both 
cane and corn were sowu broadcast and cov¬ 
ered with an ordinary farm harrow. 
In repeating the experiment I should prefer 
to use a wheat drill, as I am satisfied the crop 
would be improved by this method The cane 
came out of the stack in prime condition, and 
I observed no tendency to rot or mold A 
friend of mine who made the test, describes 
the stalk as tasting like sweet pickle. I think 
I made a mistake in not sowing more seed to 
the acre, a little over a-half bushel beimr the 
amount I used; but even under this mistake I 
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PORTER BLANCHARD'S SONS, CONCORD, N. H. 
Panicum Gibbum.—Fig. 98. 
Earl}- in May. 1881, I purchased of Mr. 
Isaac A. Hedges, of St. Louis, ten bushels (six 
hundred weight) of sorgho seed—I think he 
called it “Early Amber”—and sowed it 
broadcast ou old Timothy sod, plowed under 
to a depth of about eight inches, between the 
15th of May and the 20th of the same month. 
From the time of planting until about 8th 
of August, when I cut the crop, the rainfall in 
St. Louis County was almost imperceptible. 
Notwithstanding the dry season the eane 
grew finely and maintained a rich green color. 
The crop was cut with an ordinary mower 
just after the cane tasseled, and after 1} ing 
on the ground for four or five days 1 had it 
bound in large bundles and stacked it as I 
would have done with wheat or oats. About 
the middle of November I hauled one stack 
into my barn and commenced feeding it to 
my stock, consisting of cows, horses, Shetland 
ponies and sheep. They all ate it ravenously, 
and I have never seen them in better health 
or looking better at this season. My cows in 
never saw land cleaner and better prepared 
for a sowing of grass seed than this was when 
the crop was removed. 
I cannot, of course, say what would have 
been the result if the season had been wet in¬ 
stead of very dry. It is possible and probable 
that the process of curing would have been diffi¬ 
cult and the percentage of loss in consequence 
greater; but my experience has taught me 
that for the purposes for which I use it, cane 
fodder is in every respect superior as food to 
Hungarian, German mill'it, or fodder corn. 
St. Louis Co., Mo. Taos. T. Turner. 
OOOLEY OREAMGRS. 
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WELLS, SIOHABSSON & CO’S 
NEW DISCOVERY, 
For sovcral ye ars we have furnished the Dairymen of 
America with an excellent artificial color Tor butter; so 
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receiving the highest (and only; prizes at both Interna¬ 
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WELLS, RICHARDSON A CO’S 
IMPROVED 
BUTTER COLOR 
The Advantages Are 
IT WILL NOT COLOR THE BUTTERMILK. 
IT WILL NOT TURN RANCID 
IT GIVES A BRIGHTER. COLOR. 
TT T8 THU CIUEATEST COLOR MADE . 
It has these good qualities because it is the strongest 
and brlghter.t color, and, while prepared in oil, it is so 
compounded that it iriruposslblo for itto become raucW- 
BEWARE of all initiations, and of allother oil col¬ 
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WELLS, HIClIAJvDSON JL CO., Rurllwgt.il, Yt. 
