Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-04-08
BERMUDA GRASS HAY.

Outside of the subjects by which the stran.
ger was impressed during the recent meeting
of the National Grange, in Charleston, there
was one which escaped the general observer.
The visitors from abroad visited the Phos-
phate Works, and were struck with their mag
nitude and value. But adjoining the Stono
Phosphate Works, and on the farm belonging
to that Company, there was an eighth of an
acre of poor land, which, if properly appre-
ciated, will be Of more value to South Carroll
IA, and indeed the whole South, than these
works, employing a capital ofS400,000. This
fragment of an acre was visited and examined
by the writer in company with DR.. St. Julien
Ravenel, the discoverer of the value of the
Phosphate BEDS What Charleston and the
whole agricultural world owe to the discoverer
and the discovery, time alone will be able to
tell. 1t must be estimated BY millions of dol.
lars. This gentleman, whose modesty is equal
to his merit, has made another discovery, or
rather put imperfectly ascertained facts into
an exact shape, the results of which, though
not so wide spread as those of the Phosphate
discovery, will be of equal value to the whole
of the worn lands of the South.
The Southern planter has dreaded Bermu-
da or joint grass as a pest. Whole planta-
tions have been sold for song because they
were infested with it. Large tracts of land,
with comfortable houses upon them, near
Charleston, are now lying idle for the same
reason They cannot be sold for enough to
pay the taxes on them. Their owners are
driven away to the city to seek a meagre and
hard earned subsistence, by engaging in mer-
camille pursuits, for which their whole pre-
yious lives have rendered them unsuited
The eighth of an acre. to which reference
has been made, is in Bermuda grass. 1t is
poor land. The adjoining soil will not pro-
duce remuneratve crop of cotton or the &C.
reals, without heavy manuring. Last spring,
Dr. Ravenel had this piece Of ground we'll
torn up by narrow plow, applied fifty pounds
of Ammoniated Phosphate to it, then har-
rowed and rolled. The result was at the rate
of ten tons to the acre of well-cured hay.
This hay is exceeded in value by no other in
the market. 1t is relished by horses, cattle
and sheep. Glover and Timothy both waste,
as many of the dried stems are rejected by
live stock There is no waste i'll Bermuda
grass hay, as the stems are fine and tender.
The writer was informed that on this farm
(of the Stono Company some petted mules
were supplied with Bermuda grass for bed
ding, and their racks well filled with Northern
hay. The Bermuda grass bedding was eaten
up before the Northern hay was touched.
This hay was carefully analysed by Dr..
Ravencl The result of the analysis was an
average in four cuttings of twelve per cent:
abumenoids, or flesh forming properties, and
$50 of ash or mineral matter. The amount
of ammonia was large, the precise quantity
not recolected This analysis shows that as
animal food, and as manurial substance, it
is equal to the best, and superior to most of
the Northern grasses.
This crop, ten tons to an acre, is enormous.
The intelligent Superintendent of the Stono
works, when asked if he was sure the weight
was accurate, replied, "Yes, if there was truth
in the scales"
In the best hay section of this country, two
tons of hay to the acre is an excellent crop.
A meadow that will produce this amount in
the older States will, usually, command $500
per acre, as the hay crop would pay nand-
some interest on this sum. The average will,
however, not exceed one and half tons.
Here we have ten tons to the acre. Ii hay
is worth in Charleston thirty dollars per ton,