The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1875-12-01
SORGHUM HALAPENSE, AND
OTHER GUINEA GRASSES.

grass The Enclosures generally
prove to be Sorghum halapense,
alias Guinea grass, Means grass,
Cuba grass, Egyptian grass, etc:
We are glad to note the interest
which has been awakened on the
subject of grass growing, and the
evident disposition which exists,
with alarge and increasing number
of farmers, to seek information con-
cerning the various forage plants,
and to try experiments with the most
promising. We shall be glad to be
of use to them in their laudable
endeayors.
So much has been said in these
pages about Guinea grass, that we
can add little to the stock Of knowl-
edge which careful readers Of the
Rural Carolinian already possess.
They are aware that Sorghum
hala pense, the particular species of
Guinea grass of which we are now
speaking, (and it is the kind most
widely known under that name, is
aperennial, with underground stems
or rootstocks, (rhizomas) by means
of which it spreads like Bermuda
or Joint grass. These underground
stems or 'sroots,' as they are
generally called, are very large
and strong, and extend themselves
rapidly in every direction. The
plant also propagates itself by
means of seeds, so that it will
be readily understood that if this
grass is 80 good a friend, it is,
like fire, q dangerous enemy; and
one should consider well before in
PRODUCING it on a plantation Or farm,
whether he is willing to give it full
possession of a certain part of his
land, to have and to hold forever,
for he will find it next to impossi-
Bile to eradicate it; but if he
wants forage plant, good for all
time, without replanting, and, on
good land, making a heavy yield
year after year, this is the thing.
Mr.. n. B. Moore, Of Augusta,
Ga., has one hundred acres of
Guinea grass meadow, which once
in two years he harrows thoroughly
both ways, with sharp steel tooth
harrow, sows a peck Of clover seed
to the acre, and adds a fertilizer
consisting of one hundred pounds
of gypsum, and an equal weight
of the best commercial manure to
be had, to each acre. He gets
a crop of clover in the Spring,
which has grown while the Guinea
grass was dormant; when the lat
ter comes on, and is cut several
times during the summer, yielding
heavy return for the little labor
required in its culture. We gave
directions for planting this grass
in our last number, in reply to a
correspondent.
There is said to be a "Guinea
grass" like the one here described
in every respect, except in being
seedless. We have never seen it.
Roots have been sent US purport-
ing to be of this seedless kind,
but the plants produced seeds here.
Possibly the same plants, growing
in a more northern latitude, would
have produced no seed.
Another Guinea grass, formerly
grown here in the coast region Of
South Carolina, and lately re-intro-
troduced from Jamaica by way Of
Florida, is Panicum jumentorlum.
This has the advantage Of being
easily gotten rid of when no longer
wanted. It grows IN clumps or
stools, like wheat, and we have no"
in our yard a "stool' from a single
seed, consisting of more than fifty
stalks. It makes, on rich soil, an
immense growth, and may be fre-
quently cut. For the lower South,
this may prove to be one Of the
most valuable of the large grasses.
but our experience with it is too